re-imagining the bug out vehicle | Emergency Preparedness | Forums

FRAT but all original content for your perusal so I hope you'll get through it.

I've recently been learning to work on my 1996 Jeep XJ 4.0L 4x4. Its a surprisingly endearing vehicle considering its age. Power everything, cruise, and the AC blows cold. I bought it for cash, i've been able to do the repairs myself, it laughs at the worst of North Texas weather, and in a parking lot full of new exotic lawyer cars, people actually leave notes on the windshield offering to buy the thing. Its easily the best $1500 i ever spent.

Even though its my daily driver, i've been thinking about slowly turning it into a BOV, but not what everyone thinks of as a BOV. Obviously it will carry a BOB, but beyond that, what's important to me is somewhat non-traditional. Its already lifted and already 4x4 so honestly its as off road capable as I want it to be. I might add a beefed up bumper/winch, and fix up some of the interior problems, but what I'd really like to do is modify the fuel system. Not only that, but i'd like to use the money i would be spending on a nice generator, to make the jeep into a generator, preferably one that's capable of running some vital systems on my house in a blackout.

There are two fuels I'm looking at: CNG (Natural Gas and LPG (Liquid Propane. Both create a level of versatility that is hard to find with anything else. Retrofitting the Jeep to use LPG or CNG is surprisingly easy. The parts and tanks should run about $1000-1200. I'm not sure if the same system could run both, but I'd probably need a propane tank and a CNG tank at the very least. Either LGP or CNG can be made to bolt on to your existing fuel system so the jeep could still run unleaded. The idea would be to add a 10 gal tank(worth about 6.5 gallons of gas driving)to the existing system. Then I'd have a jeep that could for the first 100 miles or so at about 1.50/gge for propane, or less than $1gge on CNG.

Everyone knows about propane, I could get a big tank installed in my house, or make regular stops at some local propane fueling stations to fill up. The most exciting technology is CNG by far, but its also costly. The conversions are about the same on the vehicle, but for CNG, I can actually compress municipal utility provided CNG into fuel for my jeep, thereby cutting out the fuel middleman and all its attendant difficulties. The retrofit, assuming i fueled up regularly, would pay for itself in a year or less. The at home compressor is a much different story. My dream manufacturer is just up 35 in Oklahoma city, all USA made, been doing this for years, and wants $15000 for the system installed. Assuming prices hold, that would pay for itself eventually, but not for another 7-8 years. I'd love to work with someone made in usa local, but thats probably too much up front. Also, though it flows right from the grid at a very low price, its difficult and expensive to store CNG at home, while its very easy to store LPG at home.

The other side of this is how to power my house. I know I've heard Steve Harris talk about that on the survival podcast, and I'm curious if I can do a combo system, one that powers my house through my vehicle in emergencies, and adds economic sense and maintenance life to vehicle when not in an emergency. Also, i'd like my jeep to rock out tailgating or camping. To me that stacking of function, cost savings, and versatility is the hallmark of a real BOV, and just fun to think about.

Thoughts? Anyone done any of this before?