New to DnD - Helpful Artificer Inventions

I'm relatively new to DnD and I thought playing a 'redneck' battlesmith artificer character would be a fun thing to roleplay with.  I'm one of three player characters in our adventuring party (and one NPC / DM-controlled guide) going through a jungle setting.  Our DM was kind enough to start us all at lvl 3.  The other people in the group are playing as a cleric (I'm not sure what subclass yet), a moon druid, and a way of mercy monk.  I guess my question is, aside from traps and other things I might be able to put together in spur-of-the-moment needs, is there anything I can potentially make in my rest times that would almost certainly assist their specific classes at a baseline?  

I have thieves' tools, brewers' supplies, tinkers' tools, and smiths' tools.  Since it's a jungle setting, the DM has already let me get away with making a chainsword and thought it was a cool idea, so that's the benchmark for inventions I've figured out so far.  Our druid already suggested putting together some sort of canoe cart for when we need to portage - would wheels be a good idea for going over jungle terrain? 

If you have access to wizard spells (via the magic initiate origin feat) you could take tenser's floating disc to move things through the jungle.

If you have the find familiar spell, you could use it to summon a giant fly, which can lift up to 200lbs. Summon a net to help it carry that boat.

We're just doing legacy / 5e rules, so unfortunately no wizard spells for me, but the find familiar spell could be a helpful idea for sure.  I don't see it in my list of known spells, though, so I'm not sure if it's an artificer thing.  But I would think the druid would have access to that spell - I might pitch that to her.  

I guess as far as carrying things, the capabilities of my steel defender has definitely been on my mind.  I've got it on my list to ask our DM if and what amount the defender could carry and how it would affect dexterity or combat in general.

Quote from EvanTheUndertaker >>

We're just doing legacy / 5e rules, so unfortunately no wizard spells for me, but the find familiar spell could be a helpful idea for sure.  I don't see it in my list of known spells, though, so I'm not sure if it's an artificer thing.  But I would think the druid would have access to that spell - I might pitch that to her.  

Find Familiar is not on the Artificer list. It (like Tenser's Floating Disk) would be accessible via the Magic Initiate feat, but in 5e you would not be able to take that feat until level 4. Unfortunately it's not on the Druid list in 5e either, though there is an optional class feature from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything that lets them cast it using a Wild Shape charge instead of a spell slot. (One of the great changes to the Druid in 5.5e is that they just always get that spell for free.)

Quote from EvanTheUndertaker >>

I guess as far as carrying things, the capabilities of my steel defender has definitely been on my mind.  I've got it on my list to ask our DM if and what amount the defender could carry and how it would affect dexterity or combat in general.

In the 5e rules, carrying capacity is just your Strength multiplied by 15 (in pounds). The Steel Defender's Strength is 14, so its carrying capacity is 210 pounds.

Quote from wagnarokkr>>

In the 5e rules, carrying capacity is just your Strength multiplied by 15 (in pounds). The Steel Defender's Strength is 14, so its carrying capacity is 210 pounds.

 
Not quite ... 

An animal pulling a carriage, cart, chariot, sled, or wagon can move weight up to five times its base carrying capacity, including the weight of the vehicle. If multiple animals pull the same vehicle, add their carrying capacities together.

Get a Cart/Travois (Sled) artificed up. In rough, swampy terrain it becomes a sled, on stable ground you remount the wheels to make it a cart. And the SD can drag 1050 lbs about on the sled. Sled weighs 300lbs and a cart weighs 200 lbs so ask the DM what a sled-cart combo weights. Basically thinking as an artificer it is in your wheelhouse to design a modular cart that can be adapted to the terrain. A chariot only weighs 100 lbs so the best option for power to weight return on the mount towing it.

You never mentioned species. If you were a goliath artificer with a good strength (level 10 can fabricate gauntlets of ST 19) then in really bad terrain you can lilkely carry the cart yourself up a cliff climb etc. (Goliath large size for 10 mins and counts as 1 size larger so huge is 4x carry which equals the mounts towing capability) so throw some ropes around the cart to strap it to your back like an oversized pack and just traverse the bad terrain untilt he SD can tow it again.

And SD has the advantage over a horse in that you can remake it in the field. If your carthorse gets killed in AoE accidents then your cart is only useful as firewood until you get to town to replace the horse.