by Tunnel Rabbit, Survival Blog:
This Bug Out Trailer (BOT) as it is presented here is intended to be a concept rather than a set of building plans. This is a low-cost structure that only requires only common tools and materials. The photos provided can say more than I could describe in a multi-part article.
The BOT can be a single-purpose utility or a multi-purpose platform that is lightweight and inexpensive to build. In essence, it is a modern version of the horse-drawn wagon trailers used beginning around the 1860’s that became the modern RV. It is an example, of what the Marine Corps advocates: That we should improvise, adapt, and overcome a problem in the best way we can with what we have, and where we are located. At its heart, it requires a can-do attitude that allows us to use our ingenuity.
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During World War 2, the German high command was intimidated by the ability of American troops to create solutions in the field that allowed us to continue to fight even though the Nazis had destroyed our equipment. That is the kind of American we need to be today: tenacious, ingenious, and unstoppable.
Of course, this trailer would not be necessary if one could run out and buy a commercially made enclosed trailer. Fortunately, as I am a modern-day hillbilly of sorts, an old-fashioned American, this sort of thing comes naturally. I would have no problem toughing it out in Third World living conditions. Wherever my alternate retreat location might be, having food, tools, and shelter in hand, like our pioneer forefathers, I could carve out an existence even now, in my old age.
If I owned an alternative retreat location, then it would be best to deliver this trailer there now, offload the contents, and then return with the same trailer bed to use it once again to deliver, yet more supplies to the same or another alternative retreat location. This approach is cost-effective. I cannot afford to purchase multiple trailers of any kind, but I can easily build this in less than a week and then reuse the trailer. Of course, I do not recommend becoming a refugee. This is a way to avoid that outcome. This a method for establishing a survival location at an alternative retreat located relatively near one’s primary retreat location.
The trailer bed is a car hauler with removable sides that measures approximately 7×16 feet. Each axle is rated for a maximum of 2,500 pounds, therefore the GVWR might be around 5,000 pounds if the tires are also rated for the weight. To avoid overloading it, I would load it with no more than 3,000 pounds of cargo. The heavier the structure built upon the bed, the less weight that can be the equipment and life-sustaining supplies carried inside.
The idea here with a BOT is to use it to transport as many of the bare necessities as possible. The trailer should be used to transport food, tools, and shelter. Once at a location, the supplies can be off loaded and the shelter can be used on the trailer. Or it can be slid off of the back of the trailer by chaining it to a tree and sliding the trailer out from underneath the shelter. As pictured, I believe that four men could pick it up it up and walk it off the trailer. It is much lighter than it looks. A standard camping trailer could be used, however, since many more pounds life-sustaining supplies can be fit inside an enclosed trailer.
A converted camping trailer or enclosed utility trailer would be a more efficient means of transporting the supplies and tools which would keep us alive, and for a longer time, while we adapt to our new retreat. A larger used travel trailer that has a good roof, but an interior that has deteriorated could be gutted to the stud walls or remodeled with a chainsaw and used similarly. A trailer like this might be dirt cheap to purchase. Slap new tires on the wheels, add a wood stove, and it would be good to go. Of course, your current travel trailer that is in good condition could also be used as well.
