VEX, Me, Home in Yucatan-Google Earth

[Robert_Stephens]

I was playing around updating and answering messages on my own forum, chatting with some old NASA folks and so on and did a search, for fun, of my home when not on assignment, down in the Yucatan.

I typed in to Google Photos, maps, and Earth; 'Cuidad Majahual, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Mexico'. I wanted to see photos updated and see what Google offered for the rest of us, since Hurricane Dean came through in 2007, a CAT 5 Hurricane hitting dead on between Majahual and Tulum, the two main towns along the Caribbean coast there.

When I hit enter, this link and photos came up. I do not who or when the photos were taken, but, was surprised to see me and VEX.

VEX was extremely pleased.........good!

photos of Mahahual, Quintana Roo, Yucatan - Google Search

Robert

 

[larrymo49]

Was that you in the bikini? No wait...wrong photo! Just kidding!

You seem to lead an exciting and adventurous life, Robert. I'm sure you could write a book about your travels...and then some...if you haven't already done so...ha!

And "VEX" is pretty amazing as well.

Larry

 

[ScubaDude]

Its like finding waldo! what an exciting and fun challenge, I will just click the link and start looki... well that wasn't too much fun, I found you in like 2 seconds, what a buzz kill. Oh well how hard did I really expect it to be, that jeep is recognizable 5 miles away in the middle of the night in the desert.


HA get it, cause of those lights you know when VEX is near by just seeing how well you can actually see!

I still can't believe you got commercial jetliner lights on that thing!

Boeing 727 was it, or was it a 747?

 

[Robert_Stephens]

Was that you in the bikini? No wait...wrong photo! Just kidding!

You seem to lead an exciting and adventurous life, Robert. I'm sure you could write a book about your travels...and then some...if you haven't already done so...ha!

And "VEX" is pretty amazing as well.

Larry

Well, being objective, yes, yes it was me in the bikini. I had just drifted into the dark underbelly of a severe cross dressing phase. Tragic. Now, after taking prescription Anthrax and Cholera, I'm doing much much better, thankfully. Thank you for spotting me there. I also now walk around in daily life looking like a weak, but impressive 10th century Viking. Very manly now!

Well, thank you Larry, and I answered your questions on lighting on VEX front and rear, over on that Introduction thread, that I omitted and didn't see before.

Be well and thank you again,

Robert

 

[Robert_Stephens]

Its like finding waldo! what an exciting and fun challenge, I will just click the link and start looki... well that wasn't too much fun, I found you in like 2 seconds, what a buzz kill. Oh well how hard did I really expect it to be, that jeep is recognizable 5 miles away in the middle of the night in the desert.


HA get it, cause of those lights you know when VEX is near by just seeing how well you can actually see!

I still can't believe you got commercial jetliner lights on that thing!

Boeing 727 was it, or was it a 747?

Ha, great post and comeback. The lights were free from buddies at NASA-KSC and are from a 747 model Boeing. They were there for other aircraft, vendors aircraft, and the shuttle carrier plane which is a 747-100 SCA. I had mentioned I wanted to put extra powerful lights on VEX for in the field and so they gave them to me. They said, "Hey Robert, you wanna light up the world, use these!" They warned me however, they were 32 volt and would have to be inverted. So I just ran them through the inverter on VEX and then starter solenoids to carry the pulse load, and wired them into two dash switches for "front"/"rear" lights. So far so good. Had them now on VEX for 16 years and they do last well.

The 747-100 SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft), is an odd type 747 only that it is designed to carry the 100+ ton shuttle orbiter on its back, and has the design and aerodynamics to have a "second airfoil lift body", (the shuttle), on its back with no errors. Very clever. Tough plane as well.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/355514main_FS-013_DFRC.pdf

Further, most of the Boeing craft and others like it use 115 volts (V) AC at 400 hertz (Hz) or 28 volts DC. These at NASA use 32 volts DC. When they gave me all these lights for free from all their huge spare reserves I just had to figure out how to wire them. The starter solenoids and inverter took care of that and draw little over all off the 2000 amp system.

And yes, they do shine out there.............no town or highway use--haha!

Thanks,

Robert

 

[Roundeye]

Good Lord.....2ea. 12,000LB winches and 3 massive snatch blocks:shock:. I guess you are done with getting stuck. You can pull yourself over or around anything, hell you could even lift yourself straight up. You could also winch yourself across a canyon if you keep both running at the same speed.

Interesting.

 

[superj]

thats funny, what happens when you google just you or the jeep?

talking about that, i wonder what happens when i google me? going to check

 

[superj]

superj - Google Search

ha!!! my old cherokee shows up when i google superj and if you go farther down the images, here is a picture from my bmw avatar, its the odometer

 

[superj]

if you search my real name, on google images, i am the first picture. me and my old red bmw i used ot race

 

[Robert_Stephens]

Good Lord.....2ea. 12,000LB winches and 3 massive snatch blocks:shock:. I guess you are done with getting stuck. You can pull yourself over or around anything, hell you could even lift yourself straight up. You could also winch yourself across a canyon if you keep both running at the same speed.

Interesting.

Well, as mentioned elsewhere, 4 CJ7s back I pulled in half, right at the cross member behind the TC. I was pulling out a combine with a Ramsey 9000 lb. and one 30 ton snatch block. I swore from then on I would never do that again.

So, for the last 35 years I run 12,000 lb.s winches front and rear. The one on the front is for everyone else, all other work, sometimes to get me over something. The one on the back is for me!!!! I learned this 40 years ago, that I rarely wanted to winch myself deeper into a screwup.

So, I have them front and rear and yes, either will hoist VEX into the air or up a vertical cliff.

They also pull out really really big and heavy things, like this:

66,000 lb. loaded concrete truck, in Montana. A brand new Ford Transtar owned by McCelroy and Wilken in Kalispell, MT.


Here too is the CAD drawing for the frame build up on VEX so it can do this sort of thing without fail.

You can read more about this detail ad how it is done here:

Behold Jeep Forum Winches

This is also why VEX weighs a few pounds less than 3 tons. All that metal. Buit, I never pulled another Jeep apart again!

Thank you for your comments,

Robert

 

[Robert_Stephens]

Also, the three blocks give me each, 40 tons of pull. The cable on the winches when they come from the factory are equipped with 3/8ths cable, 90 feet of it and that is more than enough for 98% of all normal applications. For me, I change the cable out for 1/2" and put 150' on since the drum can handle it and I winch with blocks so I do get a lot of pull even with a full drum of cable.

Hope that is helpful.

Robert

 

[Roundeye]

ONE INCH STEEL PLATES running the length of the frame + 40 tons of pulling force = ability to pull a fully loaded 18 wheeler at max gross VERTICALLY. I think it's safe to say that you might get stuck, but you ain't staying stuck.

I like the way you think, Robert. Encounter a problem and then devise a way to ensure that it NEVER happens again.....then get to work and make it a reality.