The concept
The Roxton is an amphibious all terrain vehicle that can be used to hunt, explore, or survey your land. The Roxton proposes an innovative water propulsion system. It has an excellent lateral view and it is narrow enough to scout between trees and move easily over earth, snow or water.
The background
In the late 1950s, before the Ski-Doo, J-A Bombardier designed and built a vehicle called the BB Carrier. It was a wide twin-track amphibious vehicle design to carry three people over land and water. The first one was built in 1959, and only 32 units were made. The Roxton concept was inspired by the BB Carrier, but it would be slimmer—only single person width—and it would use common parts from the existing Can-Am Side-by-Side.
How it works
The Roxton would be powered by a 1000cc four-stroke engine (72 horsepower) like the one found in the Can-Am Defender. The vehicle would function like a Skid-Steer, so you would need to block all the wheels on one side with a lever to make it turn. Of course this mechanism could be assisted with a hydraulic piston.
The Roxton would be designed sturdily enough to be used as an exploration vehicle capable of moving through dense wood with its skid plates and two powerful winches. Its frame would be narrow to make it easier to manoeuvre between trees. It would feature 6 or 8 wheels to achieve optimal traction on soft terrain, and it could easily be retrofitted with tracks.
Like the BB Carrier, the Roxton would be amphibious, so it would float well enough to carry two passengers and their equipment. The air intake would be located inside the rollover bars. The rooftop could also be used by the driver and passenger to observe animals while standing up.
The water propulsion system would work like the wing propulsion system developed by Ofoil (see animation). The rear foil would move up and down to generate thrust through the water. The difference compared to a propeller is that the propulsion surface is much larger, which means the efficiency is much higher.
The Designer
I would like to thank Adolfo Esquivel for the great renderings of the Roxton. Esquivel earned an Industrial Design degree from Colombia and completed postgraduate study on Events Design at the UQAM of Montreal. He currently works as a freelance industrial designer based in Montreal. Esquivel also created the design of the Exocycle urban bike and the Otöcon border patrol drone.
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