The Moose are out and active

[peakbagger]

I was making a run up through Pinkham Notch around 6 PM last evening and had a yearling moose come trotting out of the woods and across the road with no regard for social distancing. Luckily I didn't get to see how a 5 1/2 ton Unimog would fare with a 500 pound moose. The winter tick most likely had a high mortality on young moose (I have not seen any numbers yet). Given the lower traffic count, it will be interesting to see if motor vehicle/moose mortality increases or decreases. I havent seen tracks on the end of my road adjacent to RT2 so it may be early.

BTW, NH is doing fairly heavy speed enforcement in the region.

 

[egilbe]

you have an Unimog? Why have I never seen that driving around? Its not like those don't stick out.

 

[TomK]

Given the lower traffic count, it will be interesting to see if motor vehicle/moose mortality increases or decreases.
...

BTW, NH is doing fairly heavy speed enforcement in the region.

Despite the speed enforcement, I wonder if there will be fewer collisions, but the ones that occur are more damaging.

TomK

 

[Jazzbo]

HA!!! Good opportunity to test out photo insertion features of new software. Which one were you driving? This one?

Or this one?

You should seek help for you have too many vehicles.

 

[egilbe]

HA!!! Good opportunity to test out photo insertion features of new software. Which one were you driving? This one?

Or this one?

You should seek help for you have too many vehicles.

I think the top one, in the Guard, we called a CEE. Pretty amazing vehicle. It had an air compressor with pneumatic tools, including a chainsaw. That thing wouldn't even slow down cutting up timbers. We had a few AT's where that was the most requested piece of equipment for engineering missions.

 

[peakbagger]

Thanks for the photos Jazzbo. The Ambulance is now a cargo body (flat bed with swing up sides). Folks turn the ambulances into overland adventure vehicles. It had a 40 thousand BTU furnace in the back with room for four stretchers and jump seats for two. The cargo body is a little more practical than the ambulance (which came equipped with the complete interior including stretcher racks sitting in the weeds to the right). Its rated for about 40" of water depth for fording. For some reason I expect the 4 K committee might frown on my using this as my standard vehicle for judging where a hike should start. There is an importer in Effingham NH so there are several of them that I know about in NH. The cargo body is the last series that didnt have electronics in it which makes it more practical to fix. Sadly its too wide to be allowed into Baxter. The Special Emplacement Excavator (SEE) is US army surplus, they ordered 2000 plus from Mercedes through their Freightliner division to fight a ground war in Europe against the USSR, by the time they got delivered and sent out to the troops the Soviet Union was gone. They mostly sat in storage for 25 years, this one had 430 hours on the engine and 400 miles on the odometer. The hours and miles are probably mostly from periodic operational testing.

Sadly I ran out of VFTT stickers so I cant put one on them so someone recognizes it in parking lot.

 

[skiguy]

Thanks for the photos Jazzbo. The Ambulance is now a cargo body (flat bed with swing up sides). Folks turn the ambulances into overland adventure vehicles. It had a 40 thousand BTU furnace in the back with room for four stretchers and jump seats for two. The cargo body is a little more practical than the ambulance (which came equipped with the complete interior including stretcher racks sitting in the weeds to the right). Its rated for about 40" of water depth for fording. For some reason I expect the 4 K committee might frown on my using this as my standard vehicle for judging where a hike should start. There is an importer in Effingham NH so there are several of them that I know about in NH. The cargo body is the last series that didnt have electronics in it which makes it more practical to fix. Sadly its too wide to be allowed into Baxter. The Special Emplacement Excavator (SEE) is US army surplus, they ordered 2000 plus from Mercedes through their Freightliner division to fight a ground war in Europe against the USSR, by the time they got delivered and sent out to the troops the Soviet Union was gone. They mostly sat in storage for 25 years, this one had 430 hours on the engine and 400 miles on the odometer. The hours and miles are probably mostly from periodic operational testing.

Sadly I ran out of VFTT stickers so I cant put one on them so someone recognizes it in parking lot.

You must be enjoying the drop in the price of Fuel.

 

[egilbe]

Thanks for the photos Jazzbo. The Ambulance is now a cargo body (flat bed with swing up sides). Folks turn the ambulances into overland adventure vehicles. It had a 40 thousand BTU furnace in the back with room for four stretchers and jump seats for two. The cargo body is a little more practical than the ambulance (which came equipped with the complete interior including stretcher racks sitting in the weeds to the right). Its rated for about 40" of water depth for fording. For some reason I expect the 4 K committee might frown on my using this as my standard vehicle for judging where a hike should start. There is an importer in Effingham NH so there are several of them that I know about in NH. The cargo body is the last series that didnt have electronics in it which makes it more practical to fix. Sadly its too wide to be allowed into Baxter. The Special Emplacement Excavator (SEE) is US army surplus, they ordered 2000 plus from Mercedes through their Freightliner division to fight a ground war in Europe against the USSR, by the time they got delivered and sent out to the troops the Soviet Union was gone. They mostly sat in storage for 25 years, this one had 430 hours on the engine and 400 miles on the odometer. The hours and miles are probably mostly from periodic operational testing.

Sadly I ran out of VFTT stickers so I cant put one on them so someone recognizes it in parking lot.

Do you have the unit stenciled on the bumpers? I see the co-driver's name is on the windshield.

 

[peakbagger]

No bumpers on the SEE, the numbers on the loader arms are it. The 1300 had its ID removed but I traced it to a military hospital in Bavaria.

The price of fuel is not much of an issue. They are road going tractors, not much horsepower but plenty of torque and the gearing is numerically high. The tires limit both of them to 62 MPH. The short wheelbase and loader bucket hanging off the front of the SEE means much over 35 MPH is not something I want to repeat. The 1300 runs out of gearing around 56 mph.

 

[NHClimber]

What do you use them for? Not that here needs to be any purpose. I saw one in front of the Starbucks in N. Conway last year as we were driving by.

 

[peakbagger]

83 Acres of steep wood lot in Randolph, possibly a snow plow for a driveway on same lot. The 1300 may become a camper in a few years. Unlike a similar capacity newer vehicle, these are designed to last a long time and be repairable. No computers. I paid less for the SEE than a small size Kubota with backhoe and loader and got a lot more capacity. Not obvious is its got a rock bucket on the backhoe with ripper claws and hardened steel tips that work real well in the rocky soil up north plus it has an auxiliary hydraulic system with hose reel to run hydraulic power tools, it came with a rock drill and jackhammer. The US paid around $110K for the SEEs in 1987.

 

[NHClimber]

83 Acres of steep wood lot in Randolph, possibly a snow plow for a driveway on same lot. The 1300 may become a camper in a few years. Unlike a similar capacity newer vehicle, these are designed to last a long time and be repairable. No computers. I paid less for the SEE than a small size Kubota with backhoe and loader and got a lot more capacity. Not obvious is its got a rock bucket on the backhoe with ripper claws and hardened steel tips that work real well in the rocky soil up north plus it has an auxiliary hydraulic system with hose reel to run hydraulic power tools, it came with a rock drill and jackhammer. The US paid around $110K for the SEEs in 1987.

Thx. I checked out the website for the dealer in Effingham. Very interesting. I wish I had a need!

 

[Jazzbo]

83 Acres of steep wood lot in Randolph, possibly a snow plow for a driveway on same lot. The 1300 may become a camper in a few years. Unlike a similar capacity newer vehicle, these are designed to last a long time and be repairable. No computers. Not obvious is its got a rock bucket on the backhoe with ripper claws and hardened steel tips that work real well in the rocky soil up north plus it has an auxiliary hydraulic system with hose reel to run hydraulic power tools, it came with a rock drill and jackhammer. The US paid around $110K for the SEEs in 1987.

I was wondering whether or not to post shot of the backhoe end. You would cause quite a stir if you were to show up with the SEE at your local antique car meetup.

 

[egilbe]

What do you use them for? Not that here needs to be any purpose. I saw one in front of the Starbucks in N. Conway last year as we were driving by.

The SEE's we used in the Army, you could build a timber trestle bridge with the tools it came with. Matter of fact, that;s what I used one for up in Beddington Maine during an Annual Training. Pretty damn capable piece of engineering equipment. They took the place of our JD410's during one of the TOE re-alignments we had during the 1st Gulf War. Transitioned from fighting a war in Europe, to the desert. Not much desert up here in New England.

Unimogs are used as a base for Overlanding Expedition Vehicles. Some of them can get pretty spendy.

 

[peakbagger]

I didn't get the hydraulic chainsaw with mine. Not sure if would want a chainsaw without a chain brake.