What do you get when you cross a custom vehicle, a boat and a RV? One answer is Flounder, the distinctive and very shiny looking motor home.
I saw the owner pulling in to (parallel!) park so I was able to chat with him for a few minutes. He had inherited this one of a kind vehicle from a friend who had built it twenty years previously. For some undisclosed reason the builder had only driven it a handful of miles before parking it. As built it had a two-tone white and light blue paint scheme but the current caretaker stripped off all the paint to let the body, hand made from aircraft 6061 aluminum, shine through. He said he got very sun-burnt in the process, but the result is quite striking.
The calling card with this RV is that it was designed to be a boat as well. You can see the old paint scheme in this float test video.
Gordon, the current owner, gets so much attention he has an information sheet as well as links to his Youtube videos (the ones used in this post) on the window.
The interior is still a work in progress but it was camperized at one point. Or at least intended to be. This point was not clear to me. The 1971 GMC C20 panel van origins (the videos below seem to indicate pickup truck) are on display with the steering wheel and instrument cluster. It is powered by a straight 250cid six cylinder engine with a three speed Saginaw manual transmission.
The inside was quite bright and airy with good sized windows. This would make for a quite nice home away from home once finished.
The interior features insulation and spray foam but little else at this point.
As such it is currently a blank slate ready for customization as a camper, food truck or whatever. The owner suggested a floating ice-cream van as an idea.
Flounder has been featured in the media a few times. This one from CBC shows that it has gone in the water but still lacks a propulsion system beyond the likely not very effective oars.
Flounder also made its way on to the CTV network when Gordon has it advertised for sale a while back around the February 2022 time frame. I distinctly remember seeing the ad and he told me he had interest from all over the world. In the end he had no takers at the asking price. Honestly, it is a tricky vehicle to assign a reasonable value to given the unique nature, sizable investment both in dollars and hours but still unfinished state.
Underneath you can see the spray foam keeping it watertight. There is a lot of rivets on this thing. The owner mentioned that the builder’s son distinctly remembers holding a rivet gun as a significant part of his childhood. There are apparently pontoons built into the side and compartments up front to aid in flotation.
At the rear the bumper has two brackets that were intended to be mounts for outboard motors. I was delighted to spot this local legend out and about. The craftsmanship is impressive and makes for an appealing and eye-catching vehicle. If it was yours, how would you finish it?
Flounder seems to be a good name for a floating vehicle without a propulsion system.
The outboard motor idea sounds easiest, with electric starts and throttle/steering controls. However, it seems a waste of a big Chevy six to do it that way. A PTO shaft running a propeller would be a great idea if you could lick the problems that would come from the powertrain running underwater.
I guess in the end it is a great idea, but one that answers a question that nobody has asked.
If the plan was for very short trips, two trolling motors mounted on the back bumper would make a very effective propulsion system for low speeds. They give a good bit of thrust and have remote controls but unless you have a big battery bank range would be limited and speed would be only a couple knots.
Ah – a hybrid! 🙂
Alberta, huh? As the owner (apparently) suggested, a floating ice-cream truck, maybe in a popular, quirky, warm, tourist destination (Key West springs to mind). Even better would be as a unit that serves frozen alcoholic beverages, along with a grille for finger-food. Tourists would eat that sort of thing up, particularly those out boating in a bay, somewhere. In effect, a complete, full-service, floating bar that locals could call up, as needed.
Unfortunately, noisy outboards out back don’t seem ideal for that setting. Frankly, I think the orignal ‘engineer’ (and I use the term loosely) screwed-up by going with the Chevy truck underpinnings. Seems like a much better choice for propulsion would have been a more recent AWD CUV that utilizes a FWD car as the basis. That way, the system that’s used to power the rear wheels could theoretically be modified for use as a PTO for the rear propeller as primary thrust, with a couple of electric, outboard trolling motors for low-speed maneuvering.
While it would certainly be a lot easier and cheaper to just use a regular boat for that sort of thing (or the typical seaside restaurant with a pier), the unique aspect of watching an amphibious food-truck going in and out of the water might make it worth the expensive and trouble. The amphibious ice-cream truck might really work along a popular beach. Instead of driving up into a parking lot, it would come trolling up through the water onto the shore for sales.
A limited niche, to be sure, but it might still have potential if someone had the time and funds to create a purpose-built vehicle festooned with advertisements, sort of like a floating Wienermobile. TBH, the Wienermobile analogy works well as it would take the funds of a big company to really do this sort of thing right.
Elon Musk has recently commented that the Tesla Cybertruck has some flotation capability. Interestingly, it has a similar look due to its flat panel and brake-formed design, and lack of paint. I wonder about directional stability with this shape, but for low speeds the Tesla 3 motor design plus the knobby tires shown on the CT prototype would probably provide adequate propulsion and control.
Before I even saw your post I was thinking that if Tesla designed an RV, it would probably look something like this.
So it floated for a few seconds. I’m not sure that makes it a genuine amphibian, but I like it anyway. A VW Beetle will float for quite a while too, and with a lot less effort.
I’d make it into a motor home and forget the boat feature. I’d also swap out that six for a Chevy 350 with an automatic.
That would sort of be my thought the easiest path forward would be just a very interestingly style RV without having to worry about the boat portion.
He did say it moved along really nicely with the six cylinder presumably due to the light weight and better than usual aerodynamics.
Uh, yeah. Interesting to read about, but I’m going to guess that like most products that try to combine disparate features from multiple tools/products/devices into one, this one doesn’t do anything particularly well. At least not $32,000 well.
https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/unique-floating-recreation-vehicle-up-for-sale-1.5860965
Might have been an appropriate vehicle to ride out hurricane Ian!
Just like an Amphicar, it looks like it wouldn’t take much to topple it over in choppy water. I think that it should be finished out as a motor home, then get a pontoon boat and modify it into a miniature house boat and tow that behind it when desired.
Interesting. I do enjoy oddball stuff, regardless if I’d want to own it/them. This one. Hmmm. Aside from blinding untold numbers of people if it was out on the highway on a sunny say with the sun just right, the flat sides make me think it was made in a school metal shop class. Still cool in a way, but…
I agree with Jose that it has minimal flotation. Temporarily adding long inflatable tubes, such as used on Grand Canyon rafts (J tubes) or other forms of flotation would help. The practical impact of the water on the drive train can only be deleterious. Then there is the impact of the vehicle in the water…
As a mobile home it looks interesting. Finish the insulation, then add an inside layer of aluminum riveted to the ribs that hold the outside aluminum panels. Structurally that would make it much stronger than most/all RVs currently plying the highways. That is not saying much though.
Building an RV, or little home, or a house truck is always appealing. This has the bones for an RV, but the price is high. Nonetheless, possible modifications might be propane conversion of the engine. At least a 4 speed with a granny gear or better a 5-6 speed. An enormous alternator with a big battery and a photovoltaic system on the roof. Starlink for internet access (I am such a Musk groupie), solar hot water panel, hot water heater, shower, kitchen, grey water, blackwater. Shade awnings, evaporative cooler (swamp cooler), air conditioning.
To deal with the problems of getting stuck, air bag springs, maybe a locking differential. Four wheel drive with locking hubs, would be nice, but the price of admission seems high.
Even further afield, might be to go all battery electric vehicle, preferably dual motor from an Tesla S or such, then get a propane powered generator to hybridize… I wonder what kind of range this could get on a 100Kwh battery? 150 miles at 50 mph?
It could definitely use an aerodynamic clean up. Maybe then it would get 175 miles…
jiroyamamoto commented in part:
“The practical impact of the water on the drive train can only be deleterious.”
Various seals used on vehicle drive lines are designed to keep moisture, dust, & dirt OUT, and lubricants INSIDE the component. Unlike military or 4X4 vehicles that are designed for temporary use in shallow water, this example of a 1971 Chevy C20 van or pickup truck was never intended to be operated for extended periods under water.
The likely problem for this vehicle is water ingress and egress. The rotational seals on the axle shafts, gearbox shafts, and engine crankshaft are designed to keep lubricants inside and everything else outside. Once this floating chassis is in the water, even submerged only a couple of feet down, those same seals now have water pressure from the outside. They are not designed to handle the outside pressure, so they WILL leak water into the lubricated areas. And once inside, the seals will do their best to keep the water inside!
The U-joint bearing caps will have the same problem, and the U-joint at the rear axle MUST be covered with a water-resistant flexible rubber boot, much like a modern CV joint.
Air vents are also easy entrance points for pressurized water, including the rear axle and gearbox. Both must have flexible tubes attached to the vent point, with the opposite end inside the dry areas of the “boat”.
Modern motors have a PVC system that results in the internal crankcase areas having a slight negative pressure. With external areas submerged in water, those front & rear crank seals will be subject to increased external pressure to leak water into the crankcase. Motors designed prior to the PCV system often have rear crank seals that are open to the air, and any pressurized water will pour through the seal into the crankcase.
If not already changed, ALL the driveline seals and vents need to be changed to seals designed to both keep water and detritus out, and the lubes & oils inside. If I was interested in this vehicle, I would put it on a lift and loosen the drain plugs to let them drip, and see if the drips are water or lubricant.