How many fuel canisters/water bottles could conceivably fit into the back of a pickup, along with three men who also sit in back? How long (km, days, desert crossing) would you imagine it'd last for a total of five persons?
My immediate thought is, "Depends on the truck." You'd have to do more specific research from there -- after finding out the dimensions of the particular truckbed and weight-bearing capacity of the suspension.
Pretty much what @izzybot has said above. This kind of thing requires homework, not opinions from others. Find a truck online that fits the bill, then look up its spec. Then look into the weight of your fuel, water and three men, and do the maths against the truck's spec.
it varies - my navara and L200 has a load capacity of about a tonne, but the limitation here is space not weight - when the SAS were operating in Iraq they reckoned a pinkie (that is a stripped down series three landrover) would carry three or at a push four men plus supplies for a bout two weeks before they needed resup. That included a shed load of bullets, grenades, explosives etc on top of food, fuel and water ... The L200 has an eighty litre tank, and I'd expect it to do about 150 miles off road (depending on the terrain) on a tank full ... four jerry cans equals 80 litres, so for a desert crossing I'd reckon on taking about eight... then you've got extra spares, tools to fit them, sand channels, water (food doesn't really figure - MREs pack light). A human is going to need about four pints of water a day at an absolute minimum, more like 6 if you are also rehydrating food. 5 guys therefore need 30 pints or about 15 litres a day... and that's not including packing extra coolant for the vehicle A bigger truck like a dodge ramcharger or an F150 would carry more, but be worse on fuel and therefore need to carry more fuel which would negate the extra loadspace Overall its doable, and there's a lot of research material out there (look at Sabre Squadron by Cameron Spence), but a lot depends on whether resup is available either flown in, or natural (oasis etc)
There's a ton of variability here. The Ford F-350 Super Duty has the absolute highest capacity in terms of weight that I can find, but this question seems more focused on space. The 2015 Dodge Ram 1500 has a bigger bed: "In its regular-cab configuration, the Ram offers a bed length of 98.3 inches that, combined with a maximum cargo width of 66.4 inches, delivers 74.7 cubic feet of carrying capacity. And as indicated, that cab can be matched with the brand’s 3.0-liter EcoDiesel V6 for EPA grades of up to 21 mpg city/29 mpg highway/24 mpg combined." Even small details like the shape of containers will matter in terms of how many you can fit. A lot of math involved in this question.
Yeah, I also think limitation would be space, not load capacity. I can play around with the parameters and am not limited by an actual model that exists. If this would be a real crossing then sure, I'd have to do a lot of math, but it isn't (just a super tiny detail that I'm going nuts over). Also helpful is that none of you came on with precise figures, indicating that a random sample of people wouldn't call me out if I just apply a rule of thumb. I think I'll go with resupply - it eliminates a whole bunch of problems. Thank all of you for your help
