I took a ride to Wareham, MA by Buzzards Bay today and saw this. It's huge, the tires are as tall as me.
Any guesses?
Andy P
What is it?
Not my gardening tractor!
I think it is an amphibious landing craft. Kinda like the "Duck Boats" in Boston. I don't know the correct name but I think that is what it is used for by the navy and or marines. This one looks like the personal renovated version. Is that what it is?
ngam, that was my guess also. The Navy uses them, but not as primitive as that one.
here is the space age version
http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/07/navyboat.jpg
cool
The military craft was called DUKW, and was made by General Motors, although the picture doesn't quite look like the ones I remember seeing as a boy. It was used in WWII amphibious landings. Although awkward looking, it was stable enough to make an English Channel crossing.
This message was edited Sep 2, 2009 8:58 AM
I agree with Amphibious carrier. It has no military markings and what's it doing there.
I'm hoping someone familiar with Wareham will know.
Cash for Clunkers trade-in.
LOL! Too funny!
giggle
hee hee
LOL Good one Victor.
Looks like construction equipment storage site. Could be used for anything from bridge and pier repair to digging clams or dredging out cranberry bogs. Or just a fun used surplus buy for zipping around town and into the bay. So would it be registered as a vehicle or a boat or both?
Would they let someone register that? What would the license plate say?
GUESWHAT
sherrie i think that is land & sea-rover
Interesting---a seaweed harvester?
looks "ducky" to me
Hee Hee
The US Corp of Army engineers has a research station in Duck, NC, which is miles from any inlet, so they still use 2 of these DUKWs to tow and set buoys for measuring tidal action and its effects on the continental shelf. They also have an ocean side concrete pier with a rail system for hauling apparatus to and from the station. They collect massive amounts of data which is available to the public domain for studies. The strangest equipment they have is 2 towers 30-40' tall, which really look like old woodland fire towers with a small cabin on top. These are mounted on 3 wheelers with 12-16' tires and they drive those around in the surf, many times covering most of the tower. For anyone sobering up on the beach the morning after, seeing one of these puppies drive up the beach could lead to a life of sobriety. LOL
And no they will not let me borrow one for fishing, but during the summers, when the college interns are there they used to give limited tours of the operation. Holly's Ric
Good info, Holly's Ric---visited Duck once---very nice---we stayed in Nag's Head--the birding was wonderful.
Is this not an LST (Land, Ship Tank)? A troop landing carrier during WW II. The front drops down and then those brave souls run ashore and get killed. Shudder to see it.
Laurel
Marypoplaurel, No this is different than an LST. LSTs and DUKWs were both Army boats (They have no ships, LOL), they had a very different purpose and design. The troops that had to ride in the LSTs explained the acronym a little differently, They said it was a Large Slow Target. Only 1000 LSTs were produced, over 21,000 DUKWs were produced, Wikipedia has a good shorty history of both. Holly's Ric
Thanks for the naval ed. Ric.
Laurel
I did have a few pics of the one Ric and I saw at the beach but can't find them in my files. We will be down there in the next couple of months and I will try to get a few new pics if I can. Holly