cinverting a tractor trailer body to living space

blanknoone, I've shopped around for truck trailers and shipping containers. You are right about the condition of most cheap truck trailers. Unless you find one close, it can be expensive to have it transported to you. The asking prices for shipping containers out here away from the coast is typically in the couple of thousand range, then to have it transported is expensive as well. That put it way out of my price range when I was looking for an inexpensive storage solution. 8 years ago, when I lived near a port, they were $500 to $1000 each, depending on size and condition.

Bob

__________________
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
George W. Bush 8/5/2004
source: White House Web Site

I converted a 5' x 8' Carmate Trailer into a hunting cabin/camper. It started as an idea of a way to save money on lodging ( I travel from Pennsylvania to New York each hunting season ). The prices of name brand campers was outragous and the plastic walls were "cheap" (hard to heat).

Why stop there? I cut an opening in the front for a small air-conditioner and bought a small dorm size refrigerator from Wal-Mart for $60. I build bunk beds in it, bought a Honda generator 2000 watt (about as loud as a whisper), and insulated it with carpet padding.

I use it in New York every year, my father and I spent a week in it at Gettysburg, and I use it at our bi-annual Longrifle Rendezvous. Travels great behind my S-10 Blazer. It always attracts admirerers who "just HAVE to look inside that thing".

I wouldn't want to be trapped inside for several days, but if you're camping, you shouldn't be inside anyway.

Another thought on the subject...does anyone have any experience with a older motor home or travel trailer? I knew someone who had a leaking travel trailer over winter, ruined the floor and they sold it for about $2k. I'm far from an expert on the subject, but apparently something as basic as a floor is hard to get right...that they are built to have a certain amount of 'flex' to survive the road.

But if you were dropping it in place as a cheap homestead you could just rip up the floor covering and put down another layer of plywood and new(er) covering cheap. Not only would you be getting the box like a tractor trailer, but appliances, a heater, propane systems, water, bathroom, electrical system etc etc. In other words, you could, for hopefully comparable money, trade a larger amount of space for a smaller already finished space.

I imagine there could also be something recoverable in a motor home with automotive problems....say something with a blown engine/transmission. You'd have to find it real local to make towing reasonable, but it might be something to keep an eye out for.

Not the expert, but I imagine someone here probably has something to chime in on the subject. Does anyone know how well insulated a travel trailer is? Could it even theoretically stand up to winter use?

The floor of a travel trailer is a composite sandwich of thin metal underneath outside, a framework of odd sized dimensional lumber with blocks of styrofoam insulation fitted between, and covered with a thin ply on the top inside. This is topped with the floor covering, then the shell is placed onto it and nailed in place. Structural weakness in the floor translates to poor support for the entire structure. The floor ties the entire shell to the frame.

My RV had that exact problem. The person I bought it from had neglected to tell me of a former leaky toilet water line that had flooded the underfloor structure while he had it parked unoccupied with water connected. It had destroyed the structural integrity. It wasn't until the entire back end started sagging that I knew there was a problem. Replacing the floor required removing all of the interior and paneling, lifting the entire shell off of the floor with jacks from the outside, and keeping it supported. The old floor was stripped down to the frame, and replaced with all new materials. Then came the fun part of lowering the entire shell back into place and re-attaching it to the new floor. In the process of removing the interior, I found a factory defect in the roof that had caused hidden water damage to ceiling joists and wall studs as well. When fastening down the metal exterior, they had missed one of the ceiling joists with the fastener staples, pulled the staples that missed, then just coated over with a sealer. The sealer had seperated from the metal at the side seam, allowing rainwater to seep through the staple holes. The water pooled in the ceiling above the rear of an overhead cabinet, then it flowed down the wall. I ended up replacing several ceiling joists, and an entire row of wall studs where the water flowing down inside the wall had collected and rotted the bottoms of the studs off. Even after all that repair work, there is more that needed doing. I felt it was just not safe to put on the road as it was, and not cost effective to do any more. I didn't bother putting back most of the lower interior. I did hang some of the overhead cabinets back in place. It's now a henhouse, and those cabinets make excellent nest boxes ;-)

Bob

__________________
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
George W. Bush 8/5/2004
source: White House Web Site