Bocar

The Bocar is a Dutch amphibious folding trailer tent (vouwwagen), designed to combine camping and boating. Fewer than sixty were built.

Design

On the road it is towed like an ordinary folding camper, with the roof lowered on hinged arms. At the campsite the roof is raised and support legs wound down. To go afloat, the unit is turned through ninety degrees and the trailer is tilted hydraulically so that the boat body slides into the water. With an outboard motor fitted it becomes a small cruising boat. In the evening it is winched back onto the trailer and used for camping again. Owners can also sleep on board while afloat.

The roof is canvas and can be removed completely, and the side panels zip out all round. Inside, the layout is like a caravan's, with two seating areas and a kitchen unit on either side. A gas bottle in a locker in the bow supplies a two-burner hob, and the sink has an electric pump. A single battery is charged by the outboard motor.

History

According to one owner, the Bocar was built in Winsum, north of Groningen, as a project of a foundation and was carried out by a sheltered workshop for disadvantaged people. The foundation was sponsored by the Wilhelminafonds. The idea won an innovation prize presented on the TROS Aktua television programme. About 48 were built, and another five to eight were completed by the buyer of the bankrupt company. Another account says a sheltered workshop in Enschede built them. A Bocar was later rented out on a pond at a Belgian campsite under the name "Camping on the Water", and the boating magazine Waterkampioen once published a report on it.