TerraLiner:12 m Globally Mobile Beach House/Class-A Crossover w 6x6 Hybrid Drivetrain

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9. Beach-Glamping with Larger Expedition Motorhomes


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The only problem is that even a 6x6 Landrover like Nyathi is still a comparatively small vehicle. The vehicles pictured above are sand-capable, to be sure, and perhaps the Earthroamer campers shown in the first row have CTIS, a Central Tire Inflastion System? What one wants is a TerraLiner-sized expedition motorhome that can do at least this much: that can deflate tires with CTIS, and drive right onto a large beach if necessary, especially if that seems like a good place to glamp.

Oddly enough, on the Internet there are not that many photos and videos of larger, expedition-type vehicles “surf glamping” or “beach camping”.

To be sure, there's Casa Azul – see http://www.overlandhardware.com/oh_products.html , http://www.overlandhardware.com/oh_coolstuff_5_07.html , http://www.overlandhardware.com/ca-specs.html , http://www.overlandhardware.com/ca-image.html , http://www.overlandhardware.com/baja-image.html ,http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/showthread.php?6080-BIG-TRUCKS-Casa-Azul , http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/975667-casa-azul.html , http://www.truckconversion.net/forums/f97/casa-azul-2014-pre-baja-modifications-7274/ , post #184 at http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...pedition-RV-w-Rigid-Torsion-Free-Frame/page19 , and post #1227 at http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...edition-RV-w-Rigid-Torsion-Free-Frame/page123 :








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There's the ActionMobil “Robusto” GlobalCruiser 7400 – see http://www.actionmobil.com/3-achser/globecruiser :








And then there's Romouald Koperkski's 4x4 MAN-KAT conversion, photographed on a beach in Portugal – see https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romuald_Koperski ,








But otherwise, on the web I haven't come across all that many larger expedition vehicles demonstrating their “beach-sand capability". Even though the web is packed with images and videos of large Actionmobil, Unicat, and Armadillo 6x6s -- and even 8x8s -- demonstrating their ability to handle deep sand in the Sahara desert.

The only video that I've come across of a large expedition motorhome both driving and camping along a beach, is the following:






Luckily, it's an excellent video, with good music, wonderful quad-copter "bird's eye" views, and detailed shots of its CTIS. It provides a good idea of what beach-glamping with a large, expeiditon motorhome might be like, and indeed, how desirable it would be. The whole point to having a “surf glamper” or “beach glamper” like the TerraLiner is that it should be able to do exactly this, anywhere in the world.

Here is another excellent, high-quality video produced by the same couple, this one with excellent French and German electronic music:






Of course there are safety reasons why the TerraLiner might not want to “wild camp” in this way outside of the First World. But on a big beach in the Australian outback, as per this 4x4 on the Cape York peninsula, this sort of Beach Glamping must be a central TerraLiner capability -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_York_Peninsula .


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PART Cii:

Fundamental Assumption Two -- CAUTIOUS WILD-CAMPING


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1. "Wild Camping" in First-World Countries


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As already suggested, at various points in this posting series I will “zoom in” a bit, imagining what it might be like for the TerraLiner to glamp in particular locations.

In the course of writing these hypothetical but “concretely grounded” explorations of possible TerraLiner glampsites, I realized that what I am actually imagining is a mobile house, and not an expedition motorhome. I am imagining an unusually “autonomous” expedition vehicle that produces its own water and electricity, and that burns its own waste, so that it can very easily stop for two or three months in some beautiful spot, and temporarily put down roots without moving an inch.

Now First-World countries have extremely well-developed systems of motorhome camp-sites, whether located in national and regional parks run by the government, or camp-sites managed privately. In the previous pages we've seen examples of both: Curry Hammock State Park in Florida, and various private RV Parks in Tuscany. In First-world countries with low population densities like Canada, Australia, Sweden, or Norway, there is also the potential option of “free camping” or “wild camping”, camping on remote land until somebody shows up and tells you to get off.

In western European countries with higher population densities this kind of free camping is also possible for a day or two in a tent, or a day or two at a road-side pull-out, or in a shopping mall parking lot. But in the densest countries in western Europe it is not advisable to try to free-camp with an RV for extended periods on land where one has not made prior arrangements with the locals. Continental Europe is just too heavily populated in most areas, even in comparatively low-density France and Spain. However, as I already mentioned above, in Spain there seems to be at least one major exception: the northern Spanish coast during the winter, i.e. prime surfing season.

As the following Guardian article makes clear, “wild camping” is a legal grey area in most European countries, and tolerated in many places, as long as one's stays are short (dawn-to-dusk, or just a few days), one camps at least 100 m away from the road, and one camps out of sight, e.g. with low-lying tents – see http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/may/15/wild-camping-europe-uk-legalities . Something not possible in principle for most motorhomes.

Note that as per the United States, where Wal-Mart allows RVs to camp on on the margins of its parking lots, in Europe very large shopping centers allow much the same. The biggest ones will have areas specifically set aside with long spaces to accommodate RV's. As per Wal-Mart, the incentive here is pecuniary: they figure RV owners need to eat and buy stuff, which helps support the stores in the shopping center. Rest-stops on highways also have huge spaces set aside for trucks, spaces that can just as easily accommodate RV's.


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2. For the most part, the TerraLiner will not “Wild Camp” or "Free Camp" in Second- and Third-World countries


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By way of contrast, many Second-World and Third-World countries completely lack government-run and/or private RV camping-sites. Their middle-classes are simply not rich enough or large enough to buy the motorhomes that would then generate a demand for campsites, government-run or private.

For instance, the Dominican Republic is a reasonably prosperous Second-World Caribbean country. The Dominican Republic is nowhere near as rich as the Bahamas, the Cayman islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the various French islands, and Trinidad & Tobago. But the Dominican Republic is also not as desperately poor as Haiti, and central-American countries like Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala:






Puerto Rico's GDP per capita, for instance, is about 5 times as high as the Dominican Republic. And yet Puerto Rico lacks extensive national parks, and has only a few forest reserves. Whereas the Dominican Republic has an enviable and well-run system of massive national parks (by Caribbean standards), forest reserves, and scientific research areas, a system that still seems to be growing.

But according to most websites, these parks have virtually no facilities for camping, not even for tent-camping:

Despite the abundance of opportunities for enjoying the flora and fauna of the Dominican Republic, there is little in the way of traditional and independent camping…… Although there are 16 national parks in the Dominican Republic, there are no official campgrounds within the reserves due to an absence of regulatory measures and protocols” – see http://caribya.com/dominican.republic/eco.tourism/ .

As we'll se much later in this posting series, this is not completely true. But it's true enough.

And because like most Second and Third-World countries the Dominican Republic can be dangerous, it is not advisable to just try to “wing it” and free-camp either. The Dominican Republic has lots of beautiful, remote, still-undeveloped beaches, and it might be tempting to try to free-camp or wild-camp some of these. Technically speaking it's not illegal. But it's also not advised, because it's not safe – see http://wetravelandblog.com/2014/whe...n-republic/camping-in-the-dominican-republic/ . The Dominican Republic is not especially crime-ridden, certainly nothing like Honduras, Guatemala, or Colombia:






But the Dominican Republic is not exactly safe either, certainly not as safe as Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, and St. Lucia.

In the first chart the United States comes across as comparatively safe, but compared to other OECD countries, most of them European, the United States has a much higher murder rate, and is a far more violent and unsafe country:







So from a European perspective, the murder rate in the Dominican Republic should give one cause for concern, as should the murder rate and general crime rate in most Second and Third World countries.

Recall that we need not consider “Fourth-World” countries, namely, countries in equatorial Africa, because such countries don't even have many half-decent gravel “bad roads”; usually just mud tracks. The TerraLiner will be a “bad-road” motorhome, not an “off-road” motorhome. Whereas at least the Dominican Republic has good roads, and even a few very modern expressways.


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3. Why Free-Camping is safe in just a few countries, but not the majority


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Free-camping or “wild camping” in Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Greece, or the middle of the Australian outback – as per Rob Gray – is probably something advisable only in these countries: low-density First-World countries that have low crime-rates – again, see http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/may/15/wild-camping-europe-uk-legalities . Even when Rob Gray free-camps in the most remote corners of Australia, the safety enjoyed by Rob and his wife is still provided by the long arm of the Australian State, and the general prosperity and justice of Australian society, with its excellent GINI coefficient and comparatively low crime rate. Rob's rig is not likely to get attacked by desperately poor, starving locals who happen to spot the Wothahellizat 2 hidden in the bushes.

Wilderness types in the United States, Canada, Australia, etc. often like to imagine themselves getting “back to the wild” and “escaping civilization”, in what they fantasize is a natural landscape unencumbered by government, police, the military, the dense population of other human beings etc. But they are fooling themselves. Just because one is camped in a remote valley in Montana, and just because one cannot literally “see” the influence of the American government, does not mean that it's not there. The American government is still there, in that remote Montana valley, and its presence has a profound impact on one's level of safety when camping in the middle of nowhere.

Sure, someone may still try to steal one's belongings or even take one's life when one camps in American wilderness. And yes, I've seen Deliverance (1972) -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliverance , http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/ , https://genvideos.org/watch?v=Deliverance_1972#video=ESGd4YYS2aHCtELEeBcjgMJ1c8EKjee4uynb4kG-mBE :



[video=youtube;Qf3wrZ-M35Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf3wrZ-M35Y [/video] [video=youtube;XvM9Poviy-Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvM9Poviy-Q [/video]
[video=youtube;pRxUbv90lLI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRxUbv90lLI [/video]


But the potential penalty for crime anywhere in the United States is very high, because it's highly probable that one's assailant will eventually be caught and incarcerated. Whereas in Second and Third World countries the state typically does not have the same capacity to control criminality, and especially not in remote areas. The police are usually unresponsive and ineffective, if not totally corrupt.

Survivalist politically "libertarian" types in the United States will like to imagine that in the middle of nowhere they are finally "free" of American Federal taxes, the socialist "nanny state", and the FBI. But have they every imagined what would actually happen if centralized authority in the United States collapsed? At least one person has, Jon Davis, the author of the following fascinating piece in Slate magazine -- see http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/20...op_if_the_united_states_all_declared_war.html .

Furthermore, although I am a card-carrying World Federalist and proud EU citizen, in the absence of a single, democratically accountable world government with military capability, the United States remains the next-best option. It's the U.S. military that is responsible for keeping many of the world's regions safe and stable. It has long provided military protection for Japan, for instance, and so too for Australia and Canada, even if many Australians and Canadians are loathe to admit as much. So when Australians and Canadians boondock in safety in the middle of nowhere, and they foolishly imagine that they have "escaped" the Australian or Canadian "nanny states", not only are they wrong about that; they also forget that they have not escaped the very, very long arm of U.S. military protection -- see http://www.heritage.org/research/lecture/why-the-world-still-needs-americas-military-might , http://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/27/a-world-without-power/ , https://www.quora.com/What-would-happen-if-the-USA-stopped-trying-to-police-the-world , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_America_Made , http://www.amazon.com/World-America-Made-Robert-Kagan/dp/0345802713 , http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-America-Made-Robert-Kegan/dp/0307961311 , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kagan , http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/books/the-world-america-made-by-robert-kagan.html?_r=0 , https://www.washingtonpost.com/ente...robert-kagan/2012/02/21/gIQAGj5d1R_story.html , https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2012-05-01/world-america-made , http://realtruth.org/articles/120416-001.html , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Without_US , http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Without-US-Ferguson/dp/B000Z961UO/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8 , http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-feffer/the-world-without-us_b_4156045.html , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_Ferguson , and http://www.amazon.com/Niall-Ferguson/e/B000APQ8G0 :



[video=youtube;U3T39bR5duY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3T39bR5duY [/video] [video=youtube;VgV5T_fH_yc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgV5T_fH_yc [/video] [video=youtube;Py4jVOJDwXU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py4jVOJDwXU [/video]
[video=youtube;kLVTpspTtk0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLVTpspTtk0 [/video]



Once again, I am a proud European center-leftist, and I vote Labor. But I am also quite capable of being a geopolitical realist. And when imagining the sociology of Wild Camping outside the First World, only a fool would not be a geopolitical realist.


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4. Approaching Safety Issues in a Nuanced Way


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However, being a geopolitical realist does not mean being a geopolitical alarmist. Or put more simply, it doesn't mean being a crime alarmist, or safety paranoid.

Consider reported car theft. The countries that have the highest rates of reported car theft are all First-World and very rich:





Probably the best indicator of the relative safety of a country is a statistic known as the "Global Peace Index" -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Peace_Index . This is a compilation of a a whole slew of subsidiary statistics, from political instability and terror to the prison population size; from the level of organized crime to homicides per 10,000. This map more or less correlates with everything that I've read and personally experienced:





For instance, while Colombia is very unsafe, Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua next door are comparatively peaceful. Chile and Argentina are also quite safe, as safe as Spain or Italy. So too southern African countries like Namibia and Botswana are quite safe -- safer, in fact, than South Africa. Indonesia and Malaysia are reasonably safe as well. One could say that China, central Asia, Turkey, and Belorussia would be safe for the TerraLiner to drive, in so far as they are as safe as the United States. Indeed, most of Latin American is as safe as the United States, with the big exception of Colombia.

Now if one were German, Scandinavian, Canadian, or Australian, and if one is habituated to expecting very "dark green" levels of safety and security, then the bottom line is this: one should not try to travel the world in an expedition motorhome. Most of the world is not like Germany or Canada. If that's the standard of public safety and order on expects, better to stay at home, or better to travel via hotels and package tours. However, if instead one were willing to accept a "yellow" level of safety, then huge swathes of the Second and Third World open up for TerraLiner travel, including most of French West Africa.

I also tend to follow the travel advisory produced by the government of Canada, because one of my passports is Canadian -- see http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/travel-warnings/ :







I am not American, so the U.S. State department's travel advisory will not be as applicable to me, as it might be to an American traveling in countries that are otherwise relatively safe, but that have bad political relations with the United States. So as long as one keeps in mind maps and databases such as these, it seems to me that the TerraLiner could travel far and wide in relative safety.

Road safety is also a concern, because road travel will occupy much of one's time. Here is an excellent map of countries with the most dangerous roads -- see https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-the-countries-with-the-most-dangerous-roads/ :







If this map is anything to go by, the Dominican Republic seems to be a very dangerous place to drive!!



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5. If one wants safety when travelling globally with a large motorhome, one has to be willing to pay for it


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Now in the above maps the Dominican Republic is shaded green as a safe country for tourists to visit, but yellow in terms of the "Peace Index". And a we saw in post #1551, although the Dominican Republic is not Colombia or Honduras, it's not exactly Costa Rica either. So how to glamp the Dominican Republic? Should the TerraLiner give it a miss?

On my own view it is possible to camp in countries like the Dominican Republic, and I will explain how much further along in the thread. On my own view, it should in principle be possible to camp in spectacular, reasonably safe spots throughout the Second and Third World. But it will not be possible to “free-camp” or “wild-camp” in such spots. In the Second and Third World, if one wants safety from crime, one has to pay for it.

Put another way, one can't expect to spend 1 million USD on a globally capable motorhome, and then “free camp” or “wild camp” the world as if it were Australia or Canada.

In the world of yachting, this would be like spending a million USD on a boat, but hoping that one will never have to use a marina. It's like expecting that one will be able to just “free moor” in protected bays that never cost a cent. In the world of yachting, the general rule of thumb is that the total per-annum cost of upkeep, mooring, etc. will be about 10 % of the yacht's value. So if a yacht costs 70 million, one needs to be prepared to spend 7 million a year to maintain it. And if one doesn't have 7 million per annum to pay for such a yacht, then one shouldn't buy it. Same goes for a yacht that costs 1 million: if you don't have 100,000 surplus income per annum to pay for the yacht, then you shouldn't buy it.

So I am beginning from the assumption that roughly the same should hold true for the TerraLiner: if it costs one million USD, then its owners should be prepared to spend somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 per annum for fuel, repairs, storage, cross-continental shipment, and….. renting land from campsites, eco-lodges, eco-farms, and just plain farmers, on which to glamp. Renting such land will cost money, yes, but it also buys one security.

The TerraLiner may still “wild camp” or “free camp” on occasion; but not often. And only in countries like Australia, Canada, and Norway/Sweden/Finland, where there is lots of space, where wild-camping is legal, and where it is safe. Otherwise, the TerraLiner will spend lots of time renting land from farmers.


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PART Ciii:

Fundamental Assumption Three -- GLAMPING ON COASTAL FARMLAND


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1. The TerraLiner will try to glamp/boondock mainly on Coastal Farmland


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The trick, I think, is to have a motorhome that’s off-road-capable enough to drive into a farmer’s field; and a motorhome that is autonomous enough, such that it could then camp in such a field for 2 months continuously, without needing to resupply with fuel and water from the “hookups” provided on standard RV pitches.

Potential length of stay might be important, because all farmers will make “cost/benefit” calculations in their heads: the amount of hassle involved, versus the amount of money they will receive in rent. A longer stay will involve less hassle (entry/exit), relative to rent received. A longer stay will also increase a farmer’s motivation to protect his source of rent. So designing the TerraLiner for maximal autonomy will be key, for all sorts of reasons, but also for this eminently practical one: to make possible a 2 month stay in a farmer’s field without moving.

Standard RVs are massively dependent on the First-World network of RV pitches and hookups. And even an expedition RV that’s designed to remain autonomous and “boondock” for 2 or 3 weeks maximum, could still be described as dependent on outside injections of fuel and water, and dumping stations for blackwater. But because the TerraLiner will be comparatively so much more autonomous, it won’t need the usual hookups of a camping pitch. So it should be able to remain fixed and rooted with enough power and water to last at least 2 months. And because it will have an incinerating toilet system, it won’t leave a mess of blackwater behind when it leaves.

The TerraLiner’s owners should then be able to make arrangements with farmers and ranchers to rent a bit of land for a few months, in spectacular locations where typical motorhomes could not settle in, for additional reasons. For instance, the TerraLiner will have huge Michelin XZL tires, or the appropriate equivalents for sand. So the TerraLiner will be able to drive right into the center of a fallow farmer’s field, not something advised for standard motorhomes that have to stick to paved road surfaces.

Would at least 50 % of farmers worldwide be well-disposed towards the TerraLiner occupying a bit of their land for a few months?

Well, consider: across the planet small farmers eveywhere are converting their properties into what Italians call “agriturismi”, farms that provide cheap accomodations for tourists. And many of these agriturismi have places set aside for people to pitch tents. For instance, there are at least 10 such recently converted farms in the Dominican Republic, and there are thousands in Italy. Most of these agriturismi don’t have formal RV facilities, because that would mean setting up all the paving, plumping, and wiring necessary for a full-service RV pitch. But that’s not what the TerraLiner needs. Because of its autonomy, all the TerraLiner needs is the protective cover – the “security blanket” if you will – that comes with paying a bit of rent for use of a farmer’s land, where the owner and his family will be around to keep watch and maintain security while the TerraLiner’s owners are off exploring the surrounding countryside.

Furthermore, for every small farmer who has made the transition to becoming a part-time hotelier running an agriturismo, there are probably 10 times as many farmers who would be willing to supplement their earnings with a bit of rental income from a totally self-sufficient motorhome that just sits on their land for a few months. And many of those farmers have spectacular coastal properties.

Note that in France there is an expression “Camping à la Ferme”, or “camping on a farm”. But even this expression connotes something more formal than the the kind of farm-based boondocking that I’ve been describing here:

"Camping à la ferme" is a label offered to farmers who offer a small area for camping, with a maximum of six pitches; the similar "aire naturelle de camping" is an area with a maximum of 25 pitches. They must all provide toilets and wash basins, electric power points, and dustbins, as well as at least one warm shower.

See http://about-france.com/tourism/camping.htm .


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2. Disappearing Coastal Farmland?


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Here's another problem: how much costal farmland is actualy left?

It has to be granted that huge stretches of coastline worldwide have been completely ruined by reckless development. For instance, as already mentioned earlier, the Italians and the Spanish have destroyed at least 90 % of their Mediterreanean coastlines by filling them with one little crappy 2-star “albergo” or 1/2-star “trattoria” after another. What were once called the “Coasta Brava”, the “Costa Blanca”, and the “Costa del Sol”, should now be called the “Costa Concreta”: a continuous concrete strip-city that's over 10,000 km long, and in most places just barely 100 m deep. Ugly everywhere, except perhaps Barcelona, since its harbor was redeveloped…..

The same is true of the northern Italian coast from the border of France down to Livorno, with a happy reprieve in south-western Tuscany, in the area already discussed called the “Maremma”, in the province of Grosetto. Lots of huge beautiful beaches in Grosetto, backed by forests, which seem almost a miracle, if you know Italy as well as I do. But the costal strip-city begins again at Civitavecchia north of Rome, and continues down from there to the toe of Italy with only a few let-ups, such as the Cilento peninsula. Yes, I've done the drive. Generally speaking the only places on Italy's mainland coast in the north that remain in any kind of semi-natural or rural state are parks and forest reserves, like the Parco Regionale Migliarino San Rossore in Tuscany, or the Portofino peninsula.

Generally speaking the only places on Italy's mainland coast in the north that remain in any kind of semi-natural or rural state are parks and forest reserves, like the Parco Regionale Migliarino San Rossore in Tuscany, or the Portofino peninsula.

If you want to experience “The Mediterreanean as it Used to Be”, do believe the marketing hype, and check out Croatia instead – see http://www.northadriayachts.com/hrv-hrvatska-je-zaista-mediteran-kakav-je-nekad-bio/ and http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/tr...s-island-croatia/story-fnjjva7d-1226984706041 . It's astonishing, and so much more beautiful than most of the contemporary Mediterranean coastline of Spain and Italy.

And yet even in Italy there are still stretches of coastline in Puglia and Sardinia that get “5 sail” ratings from Legambiente (Italy's most prominent Green organization), coastlines that are still in the hands of farmers – see http://www.legambiente.it/contenuti/articoli/guida-blu-2015 , http://www.legambiente.it/guida-blu/2015 :








Elsewhere in Europe, as we've already seen the Atlantic coasts of Spain and France; some parts of Cornwall; the northern-western coast of Ireland; and just about anywhere in Norway, there are coastlines where the crappy little hotels and pathetic little restaurants that open for only 3 months a year, have not yet destroyed vistas that could have remain beautiful for 12 months a year. In England especially, the National Trust owns some beautifully preserved coastline in far western Cornwall and Wales.

So too, if one looks at a population-density map of Greece, although here again many “choice locations” in the island chains have been ruined by crappy 1-star and 2-star coastal development, Greece has too few people and way too much coastline to make a total mess of things, as per Italy and Mediterranean Spain. It's not widely known that Greece is a fairly under-populated contry, with a low population desnity when compared to Europe as a whole:






It has been this way ever since the 1600's:






Just use Google Maps to pan along the coast of much of mainland Greece, and one will see that lots of farmland still meets the sea, and lots of coastline in Greece has remained undeveloped. Especially along the sunset-facing coast of the Peloponnese, which for various reasons interests me personally the most.


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3. Different Kinds of Coastline


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Furthermore, there are many other places on planet earth where much of the coastline remains owned by farmers and ranchers. As we will see when we “zoom in” on certain choice locations for TerraLiner glamping, this generalization seems to hold true in most countries. In one country after another, all one has to do is use Google Maps and a bit of intelligence, and very quickly one can identify some really beautiful spots for coastal glamping, as long as the local farmer or rancher would prove agreeable.

Here are two good, albeit not very detailed maps that show the various states of coastlines worldwide:





Almost the entire stretch of Latin America's coastline up to Columbia, and then beginning again in Mexico, could be described as “Least altered”. Most of the coast north of Chile is desert until one reaches Ecuador, and in southern Chile it's spectacular fjords and parkland. But even the eastern seaboard of South America does not classify as “Most Altered”, as per most of the coast of the United States and Europe. Rather, it classifies as orange, or “Altered”. Notice again how Britain fares poorly, completely circled in red, whereas Norway and northern Spain are “Least altered”. And so too the coasts of Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and indeed most of Africa are “Least altered”. The Indian coastline is a mess, but the coasts of Myanmar and Sumatra facing the Indian Ocean seem relatively intact, although their interiors are being subject to heavy deforestation. And, as one might expect, most of the coast of Australia and New Zealand are “Least altered”.

To pick just one area: on the maps above the coast of Chile that has a “Mediterranean” climate, one that is famous for wine-growing, and it is classified orange, or “Altered”. But what does such a coast actually look like?

We'll go into much greater detail further along. But for now, let's examine the coast immediately south of Punta de Lobos, Chile's most famous surfing spot. This is spectacular farm-glamping country, with huge ranches directly abutting the ocean, ranches that have enormous beaches:








The coastline here reminds me of Big Sur in Calfornia, or perhaps the coast of Marin County further north, because it's so green:








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Yes, the coast of Chile below Punta de Lobos seems just a little bit incredible, doesn't it? It's really easy to imagine the TerraLiner camping in complete isolation on one of these huge beaches, at the end of a track that a rancher or farmer uses to move his equipment. But google it: almost all of the above images come from Google Maps "Panoramio", and Google's satellite images confirm the same.

For Europeans and Americans Chile is such a distant place to go for a vacation, so it's perhaps unsurprising that the only First-Worlders who know much about this incredible coast are surfers. Surfers are willing to travel to remote places -- to the very ends of the earth -- in search of great waves. Whereas there's nothing necessarily all that "uniquely valuable" about Chile's Mediterranean and desert-climate coast for anyone who is not a surfer.

And then there's the Humboldt current: the water along the Chilean coast is cold. So unless one is a surfer, or Chilean, this coast might not be worth the trip. A bit like northern Spain, which escaped the wretched mass tourism that ruined the southern, Mediterranean coast of Spain, precisely because northern Spain is wet, cold windy, and pounding with big surf......:wings:


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This will be a major assumption in everything that follows: that farmers who live on coasts will be amenable to earning a bit of extra cash, by allowing a completely autonomous motorhome to camp on their land for a few months. They earn a bit of extra cash, and the TerraLiner buys itself safety, security, and a great view of the ocean. If anyone thinks that this assumption is completely misguided and wrong-headed, please post!!

It would be great to get feedback from those who've tried making arrangements with farmers in the Second and Third World to camp on their land for a spell. If you have such experience, please post!!



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PART Civ:


Fundamental Assumption Four -- COASTAL EXPLORATION


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1. The TerraLiner will be designed for Coastal Exploration, and will carry a fairly large Hydrojet RIB


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What this actually means concretely, in practice, is that the TerraLiner will have to carry a boat. And not just any boat: it will have to carry a decent-sized RIB (rigid-inflatable boat), big enough to handle coastal seas. This means a boat at least 5.5 meters long, and potentially 6.5 meters long. A huge number of posts in this series explore in exhaustive detail the design considerations generated by the requirement of such a boat.

Some, who have little interest in lakes, oceans, diving, sailing, or boating, may consider perverse the lengths to which I am willing to go to “design around” this Hydrojet RIB requirement. So be it: to each his own. But I grew up on the water, and for me the most interesting places on earth are where land meets water. The most interesting and least provincial cities on earth are all maritime cities, cities located on coasts, as opposed to cities that are more landlocked. And the most beautiful landscapes and sunsets that I have seen in my life, are all coastal landscapes and coastal sunsets.

If you're a flat-lander or a mountain person who has no interest in water, then many of posts in this series will not be for you. You might have already gathered as much, having read the entries on "Sunsetology", "Surfing in northern Spain", and "Coastal Farmland in Chile." Throughout I will continue to mix posts about water, coastlines, surfing, meteorology, over-water transportation logistics, and watersports, with posts about more "standard" expedition-vehicle topics like solar-cell arrays and 4x4 SUV tire sizes. I will mix things up in this way, because in my TerraLiner design process, such topics are always intertwined. If they're not intertwined in your conception of overlanding, and the landlocked kinds of places you would typically want to go with your expedition motorhome, then so be it. These posts won't be for you.

For instance, when I discuss Tibet again in this post, I will be discussing Tibetan lakes as potential playgrounds for a Hydrojet RIB that has a turbocharged diesel engine, of the kind made by Williams, for instance:






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The Williams YouTube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/user/WilliamsTenders .

But the Hydrojet tenders made by Williams would be just a design starting-point.

What I have in mind is something more like a cross between a Williams turbocharged diesel Hydrojet, and a military specification "Hurricane" RIB made by Zodiac MilPro -- see http://zodiacmilpro.com , http://zodiacmilpro.com/sitemap/ , http://zodiacmilpro.com/ZodiacMilpro_Catalog.pdf , http://www.inlandliferafts.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/TDS-EN-SRMN-range-IT.pdf , https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/attach/130/130206 , http://issuu.com/marinemegastore.com/docs/zodiac_milpro_-_professional_and_military_boats , http://issuu.com/securityindustryemag/docs/zodiac_milpro_full/1 , http://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/zodi...product-25507-241603.html#product-item_384823 , http://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/zodiac-milpro-international-25507.html , http://lncmarine.com/zodiac-milpro/en/ , http://www.western-marine.com/Zodiac Catalogues 2011/ZODIAC_MILPRO2011.pdf , http://lncmarine.com/zodiac-milpro/en/rigid-inflatable-boats/ , http://zodiacmilpro.com/rigid-inflatable-boats/sea-rib-aluminium/ , http://zodiacmilpro.com/rigid-inflatable-boats/technical-specifications/ , http://zodiacmilpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/TDS-EN-SRA-range-IT.pdf , http://lncmarine.com/zodiac-milpro/en/zodiac-hurricane-ribs/ , http://www.shockmitigationdirectory.com/inner-category/1/59/402/ , http://zodiacmilpro.com/hurricane-ribs/ , http://zodiacmilpro.com/hurricane-ribs/turnkey-solution/ , http://zodiacmilpro.com/hurricane-ribs/customization/ , http://zodiacmilpro.com/hurricane-ribs/products-innovations/ , and http://issuu.com/marinemegastore.com/docs/zodiac-milpro---zodiac-hurricane-ribs---outboards/14 :






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[video=youtube;WmKz8nWWON4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmKz8nWWON4 [/video] [video=youtube;D5Et3OIj1S0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Et3OIj1S0 [/video]
[video=youtube;TFBH0OMjj1c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFBH0OMjj1c [/video] [video=youtube;YV3kG13_PG0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV3kG13_PG0 [/video]
[video=youtube;JjfLHKInn-Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjfLHKInn-Q [/video]


With some serious Euro-med styling thrown in, as per Pirelli's P-zero line of RIBs, for instance -- see https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0G6C0E9Wd6W7mMVwu8bTxg :






Also see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZdGfZg-shE , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEKEbxz8lps , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84pJJRQ8xto , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsGS8dkx-Ow , and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-FRHzQd_Og .

This 14 m Pirelli RIB is of course much too large, and not what I have in mind from a size point of view. As I will explain further along, the ideal length for the TerraLiner's RIB would be more like 5.5 - 6.5 m. But Americans in general tend to be unfamiliar with the performance advantages of large RIBs, even though the American Armed Forces have used such boats for decades. Zodiac's attempt to introduce civilian Americans to the high-performance possibilities of large RIBs, via the CZ7 Hurricane, notoriously crashed and burned. So I included these videos of the Pirelli 14 m to "shock" American readers out of their ignorance.

"RIB" or "rigid inflatable boat" does not mean "toy boat." RIBs are the most lightweight-relative-to-performance, most seaworthy, and most versatile power-boat type that exists. Which is why the Zodiac RIB Hurricanes used by the U.S. Coast-Guard will outrun the Cigarette or Magnum "Go Fasts" used by drug-runners, any day of the week -- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-fast_boat . It's also the reason why the U.S. Navy will use Zodiac Hurricanes for fast SEAL insertion and extraction. And why the TerraLiner will want to carry something similar to this boat -- just more "glamped out", comfortable, and Euro-med -- for coastal and lake exploration, including high-altitude lake exploration. Hence, a turbocharged diesel engine.

For someone like me, even a plateau as landlocked as Tibet is "boating country", because it has so many large lakes. And the Altiplano all the more so, because Lake Titicaca strikes me as a wonderful place to explore dense marshes with a Hydrojet RIB.

Yes, by the time you are finished reading this posting series, you may feel completely water-logged. But if you love water and the ocean as much as I do, then this posting series will make your heart sing.....:wings:



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