Surfing the Apocalypse

The Apocalypse can be fun. If we didn't think so, survivalism would not be our hobby.
So with that in mind I set out to design a plan that would allow me to actually roam around, see the sights and document the apocalypse, and do some in the field reporting.
Now to do that, first you need to pick an apocalypse, and I selected Z Day, since it is the most fun. And we will say that it happens all at once and only one out of 200 are not affected.
So then we can use the studies "Life After People" and Population Zero, to imagine what the environment would be like.
We could also use the book One Second After, the story of an EMP burst over America, to get a feel for things.
So the power goes out, people are now acting like apes, some buildings are catching fire as the pots on the stove overboil, or fat friers in restaurants ignite whatever happens you can be sure fires will start.
And with no firemen the fires will spread quickly. Chemical plants explode, Nuclear spent fuel ponds evaporate and explode. Trains derail, release chlorine gas. And these things are ongoing.
Some tanks don't explode right away and over a period of years these continue to happen making the environment a dangerous place to be even if there were no people.

In this situation we will assume there is no major military presence as the CME has also affected their brains and they are now acting on the level of intelligence of an ape like most people.
So my solution was to obtain a Brink's truck. And to take it to a shop and as quickly as possible get it into shape to travel.
Now I have looked at different layouts and depending on what you want to do in terms of picking up passengers, that would determine the layout. You have to assume everyone outside the truck has the plague.
You have to assume there is fallout every time it rains and in any dust situation.
And the air may be toxic. In the case of smoke, it may just be a lack of oxygen, and it may be a ruptured chlorine tank from a pulp and paper mill. Unknown to you until you are dead if you do not have detection equipment.

I could also use some suggestions in improving this rig. And the way in which it is managed.

So here is a picture of the rig after it has been in the fabrication shop. There are two drawings of the interior and two example sizes of Brink's truck. Ideally the big rig would be excellent but chances of acquiring one that large is pretty slim.
The suits I would get are Demron

and the air filtration Sanuvox and the atmospheric detection system something similar to the Kore Mass Spectrometer and a Geiger Counter And a portable radio like the FT-817ND and one Wouxun KG-UVD1P so what else do I need?

reply to post by Rocketman7


Ohhh. We need to make this fun. We need guns, ammo, and I like the whole bazooka, shoulder mounted rocket launcher gizmo. Then we need video cameras for documentation, just in case there's anyone or any time where history might matter, and a way to get a supply and ability to carry with us fuel--this will be all important. Sorry, more technical than that, I'm hopeless, but I like the way you are thinking

Dude, your thread title had me thinking about an epic wave someone would ride in the event a meteor hit the ocean.

Originally posted by tetra50
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

Ohhh. We need to make this fun. We need guns, ammo, and I like the whole bazooka, shoulder mounted rocket launcher gizmo. Then we need video cameras for documentation, just in case there's anyone or any time where history might matter, and a way to get a supply and ability to carry with us fuel--this will be all important. Sorry, more technical than that, I'm hopeless, but I like the way you are thinking

edit on 8-10-2011 by tetra50 because: (no reason given)

edit on 8-10-2011 by tetra50 because: (no reason given)

Guns and ammo. Agreed. And the Brink's truck has ports in the side that you can shoot out of, factory installed.
So gun fanatics, what is a good hand gun, or good gun to go outside the truck into a grocery store supply depot in the industrial part of town?

What sort of guns do we need and what sort of ammo?

Cameras, what about a really cool night vision camera for the top dome...someting cool here maybe

I forgot the smoke detector and the chlorine gas detector, which have alarms. And an oxygen bottle and mask in case the chlorine detector goes off.

Here is another floor plan for if you pick up a hitch hiker. A quarantine cabinet
sleeping area

reply to post by Rocketman7

Honestly I don't know, but everyone is saying that in the event of an EMP, none of the post 1984 vehicles will work because of computer chips. Does anybody really know for sure????

Originally posted by juveous
Dude, your thread title had me thinking about an epic wave someone would ride in the event a meteor hit the ocean.

Well if the dinosaurs didn't make it. Have you seen the Fukushima footage of the tidal wave? And that was slowly rising something like 30 feet. Lets hope that doesn't happen. I live about 15 feet above sea level.

Originally posted by visualmiscreant
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

Honestly I don't know, but everyone is saying that in the event of an EMP, none of the post 1984 vehicles will work because of computer chips. Does anybody really know for sure????

I heard it was exaggerated. But if a vehicle is in an underground parkade it might be safe or in a metal building like a quonset hut.

If the cement floor above a wharehouse, has metal hardener in the cement, that might be enough protection too.
Apparently all you need is to protect it with a layer of tin foil. Like if something like a hard drive was in a box and the box had a tin foil liner, job done. It would be hit and miss. We will assume for the sake of argument I find a Brink's truck that works.

reply to post by Rocketman7


LOL quarantine for the hitchhiker--just until we can access them. Ok. I'm saying nine millimiters and 45s. But gotta have some grenades and bazookas. And we haven't solved carrying fuel yet. And also, with a certain supply if chemicals that take up less room than food, who needs that--it's the apocalypse after all--we won't even get hungry and well be assured of a really good end of times time. No offense intended, of course. You can always stick me in the quarantine cage with the chemicals and forget the hitchhikers...

I read about something called orgonite tonight. Supposed to nullify EMP crap. Gotta have a lot of that. And put a trailer hitch on the brinks truck and get a day sailor, 25 ft or so, whatever can be comfortably pulled in case of tsunami? Not the same as brinks truck, but we coud put gun turrets in that, too.....no room for quarantine for hitch swimmers, though.

I think it was '73-'74 that american made vehicles switched to the electronic ignition that is susceptible to emps. If you're going to the expense of buying an armoured vehicle after the mid '70's Id get replacements for the chips, starters and solenoids and keep in a faraday cage. And if you're going that far I'd pick up a mark-19 to mount on the top for road blocks, while you're at it get 2! 2 is 1, 1 is none. And don't forget a flame thrower!

reply to post by ludshed


Need to build a faraday cage around the brinks truck, so we can travel with it

reply to post by Rocketman7

Well as far as weaponary is concerned, it all depends on how reliably you can shoot.

If your a good shot and have good nerves then anything with a reasonable calibur would be suitable for indoors use, such as handguns e.t.c.

For outdoors you would want a reliable rifle of some sort, kinda pointless having an assault rifle as they use a lot of ammo and the range/accuracy would be unreliable.

If your not a good shot and/or don't have good nerves then a shotgun (sawnoff or combat variant) or some kind of SMG would be suitable. the shotgun would probably be a better choice for indoors situations as you wouldn't need range and the spread would be useful.

For outdoors use a SMG would be useful as you can spray an area and have a better chance of hitting something, range would be an issue however with both SMG and Shotgun, although more the former then the latter.

The amount of noise your making would be another issue. So with this in mind, a .22 would be useful, it does lack stopping power but your also not going to be alerting everything for a mile in every direction to your location.

Molotov cocktails would be quite useful as they are difficult to get past, after all your priority is avoiding danger as opposed to creating/being danger.

Gas is the easiest thing to come by. Those trucks are usually diesel though so you have to just siphon a diesel truck tank. Or use a hand pump hose deal. Trucks usually carry a lot of diesel and can go a long way on a tank.

A water tank welded to the back bumper is essential. And you can use a vario filter for drinking water or any filtration system like reverse osmosis if you want to install it. One thing is for sure, you will need a lot of water. So you have to know how to open a fire hydrant and insert a hose into the main and pump water out.

If you just need gas, punch a screwdriver through the bottom of the tank, fill a pan, fill a can, pug the hole with putty.

Need to start a car in 3 seconds but the doors are locked? Screwdriver in door lock, wham with a mallet, breaks the lock, turn screwdriver, enter the car repeat in the steering column and you are gone as soon as you turn the screwdriver to start the car. (Someone did that to my buddies van)


The main thing to remember is to is to wash everything as soon as you enter the truck. Your suit, yourself and your stuff. And keep the interior free of radiation and contamination. The doors up front don't even open.

Only the side door and the back.
And at the back, you have an area that is separate from the rest of the vehicle and the side door has a small separate area with a shower as soon as you walk in.

I like the idea of a quarantine area because you know you will meet people and you will want to give them a ride.

Many though you will have to drive away from, leaving them to die. There is nothing much you can do.
If you want to ferry people to safety, then pull a trailer.

Like if I was doing that locally, I would have 2 trailers. I would go out and get people, drive them to the armory and then dump that trailer, let them clean it, take a second trailer go get more people.

Originally posted by Raivan31
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

Well as far as weaponary is concerned, it all depends on how reliably you can shoot.

If your a good shot and have good nerves then anything with a reasonable calibur would be suitable for indoors use, such as handguns e.t.c.

For outdoors you would want a reliable rifle of some sort, kinda pointless having an assault rifle as they use a lot of ammo and the range/accuracy would be unreliable.

If your not a good shot and/or don't have good nerves then a shotgun (sawnoff or combat variant) or some kind of SMG would be suitable. the shotgun would probably be a better choice for indoors situations as you wouldn't need range and the spread would be useful.

For outdoors use a SMG would be useful as you can spray an area and have a better chance of hitting something, range would be an issue however with both SMG and Shotgun, although more the former then the latter.

The amount of noise your making would be another issue. So with this in mind, a .22 would be useful, it does lack stopping power but your also not going to be alerting everything for a mile in every direction to your location.

Molotov cocktails would be quite useful as they are difficult to get past, after all your priority is avoiding danger as opposed to creating/being danger.

So what about a hand gun and an over and under?
And maybe some fireworks, for shock value, smoke grenades in case the bad guys have a rocket launcher. oopsy.

What do we do now if they have a rocket launcher? Are we toast?

Something like this maybe? Blaser BBF 97 12 ga over 308 (short barrel version)


Over and Under

reply to post by Rocketman7


Well the Armoured vehicle with it's onboard heavy weapons would be the counter for a rocket launcher.

The weaponary i talked about would be for the scavenging aspects of survival, for people and animals and stuff.

If someone has a rocket launcher then chances are they are not alone and you'd be best getting away from them so i'd say drive fast and find line-of-sight blocking cover.

Besides the average rocket launcher/bazooka is not really intended for firing at individual people it's more for vehicles and buildings.

On the list from my previous reply: Crossbows and Bow's would be very useful for all situations if you don't like the noise a gun is making. and simple Sparkler/pipe bombs would be useful to create distractions, though pipebombs would also get doors open if you needed them to.

Originally posted by Rocketman7
Something like this maybe? Blaser BBF 97 12 ga over 308 (short barrel version)


Over and Under

Yeah, that looks pretty functional. you don't wanna be wasting ammo, that stuff is heavy to carry.

Originally posted by juveous
Dude, your thread title had me thinking about an epic wave someone would ride in the event a meteor hit the ocean.

Yeah i thought 12 ft long board with supplies last in the center.

armored car seems like a failed plan from the start.

Originally posted by tetra50
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

LOL quarantine for the hitchhiker--just until we can access them. Ok. I'm saying nine millimiters and 45s. But gotta have some grenades and bazookas. And we haven't solved carrying fuel yet. And also, with a certain supply if chemicals that take up less room than food, who needs that--it's the apocalypse after all--we won't even get hungry and well be assured of a really good end of times time. No offense intended, of course. You can always stick me in the quarantine cage with the chemicals and forget the hitchhikers...

edit on 9-10-2011 by tetra50 because: (no reason given)

Things go better with coke? lol "Well it is the end of the world"

I can see it now.

There is no smoking in the truck. You can however use an electronic cigarette. A quart of e-fluid will last you a million years so you won't be trying to bum smokes off the zombies like I would have been before I bought an e cigarette.
Drugs grenades and bazookas. That won't end well.

Originally posted by Raivan31
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

Well the Armoured vehicle with it's onboard heavy weapons would be the counter for a rocket launcher.

The weaponary i talked about would be for the scavenging aspects of survival, for people and animals and stuff.

If someone has a rocket launcher then chances are they are not alone and you'd be best getting away from them so i'd say drive fast and find line-of-sight blocking cover.

Besides the average rocket launcher/bazooka is not really intended for firing at individual people it's more for vehicles and buildings.

On the list from my previous reply: Crossbows and Bow's would be very useful for all situations if you don't like the noise a gun is making. and simple Sparkler/pipe bombs would be useful to create distractions, though pipebombs would also get doors open if you needed them to.

Why not plastic explosives? If everything is in chaos and there is lots of stuff to be had, if the military also are just as affected as everyone else and their communications are down and they are in disarray?
Maybe they might see everything as futile and just desert, go looking for their own families.

I think it wouldn't hurt to paint a red cross on the side of the truck. Or maybe CAUTION BODY DISPOSAL UNIT, stay well back. Hazardous material. Or BODY RECLAMATION UNIT. Bring out your dead.

Then just tell everyone you are on your coffee break.