PORT ANGELES — When completed, Waylon Elsbree’s tube-frame rock crawler will climb impossibly steep rocks and be followed by the scent of french fries.

Elsbree, a second-year student at Peninsula College’s welding program, built the crawler mostly from 15⁄8-inch pipe welded together to form the frame.

In another six months or so, he will have adapted the 191 Volkswagen diesel engine to run on vegetable oil.

“It will literally have the smell of french fries,” he said.

“It will be pretty rare. There aren’t many that run on oil.”

Elsbree began work on it in November under the supervision of instructors Jeramie O’Dell and Eoin Dottery.

“It will be ready to be in the Sequim Irrigation Festival parade in May,” Elsbree said.

“That is pretty bad-ass because I’ve only been working on it since November and when you consider that most of the time, the completion time for a crawler is around a year,” he added.

“And those are people who have unlimited budgets and machinery we can only dream of here.”

After the Irrigation Festival, he will focus on converting the engine. It isn’t a complex project, but it will take time that he’ll need before the parade to fine-tune the rest of buggy, he said.

The so-called “bio-buggy” also contains parts from a 1980 Toyota and a transfer case from a 1985 Suzuki Samurai.

Much of the buggy was custom-made, including a metal emblem on the back that is the logo of the welding department.

To test how well it could crawl over uneven surfaces, Elsbree has had one side of the crawler ascend a ramp while the other side remains on the ground.

“As far as that goes, it has been testing at that better than any other in the state,” O’Dell said.

Elsbree plans to take the vehicle to competitions at different tracks around the state.

It is owned by Peninsula College, but Elsbree will maintain rights to drive and compete with it.

About $1,000 is needed for the rest of the crawler, Elsbree said.

Simpson’s Used Parts & Towing, Quality 4X4 & Truck Supply and Baxter Auto Parts, all of Port Angeles, have sponsored the building of the crawler with donations and parts.

When he graduates in June, Elsbree said, he hopes to find work doing specialty jobs like the crawler.

“I already knew how to do a lot of the fab work, but my welding skills have improved throughout this program,” Elsbree said.

O’Dell said he likes to challenge students’ creativity, and projects like the bio-buggy are ways to encourage them to apply their knowledge in areas of interest.

For more information about the welding program or to donate to the completion of the buggy, phone O’Dell at 360-417-6541 or e-mail jodell@pencol.edu.

_________

Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.
dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.