Shipping Container camper...

[Jnich77]

Ha! Doin' better than me brotha! I was living in a similar CHU (though not an inside one!?!) but then work needed me closer and now I'm in an old Iraqi turd building...So bad they (KBR) won't repair anything as they say its not justifiable...hahaha...

Yeah, they are inside a huge warehouse... not too bad by any standards...lol.

You know a building is bad when even KBR won't blow gov't money to work on it....lol

[jeepdreamer]

Yeah...
Kinda sad. But since my "bedroom" and my work share a wall I have to pull power from a couple buildings away just for light and a fan. AC is not an option as the breakers won't hold up.
We had an "issue" a couple months ago and the contractor told me the stupidist thing.
Seems somewhere dating back to just post Vietnam the Govt. made a policy to try and boost local economies of the countries we were in. They mandated that materials must be purchased locally when possible and be of compatable nature.
In a nutshell, the electrical guys have to go to "haggie-depot" (shadetree bazzar) and order stuff. Takes FOREVER!!! and the local stuff is CRAPtastic! He told me if they were allowed to they could place an order through anywhere (like HD,Lowes,Fastnell..whatever) and have 100% better quality and less issues. And it would likely even be faster with the extra ordering/shipping incurred! Go figure!
Don't let me get started about the latrine from hell I have to use...!

[Jnich77]

Yeah...
Kinda sad. But since my "bedroom" and my work share a wall I have to pull power from a couple buildings away just for light and a fan. AC is not an option as the breakers won't hold up.
We had an "issue" a couple months ago and the contractor told me the stupidist thing.
Seems somewhere dating back to just post Vietnam the Govt. made a policy to try and boost local economies of the countries we were in. They mandated that materials must be purchased locally when possible and be of compatable nature.
In a nutshell, the electrical guys have to go to "haggie-depot" (shadetree bazzar) and order stuff. Takes FOREVER!!! and the local stuff is CRAPtastic! He told me if they were allowed to they could place an order through anywhere (like HD,Lowes,Fastnell..whatever) and have 100% better quality and less issues. And it would likely even be faster with the extra ordering/shipping incurred! Go figure!
Don't let me get started about the latrine from hell I have to use...!

Oh I have no doubts that policy royally screws over our soldiers. Heck, over here all the mechanics are TCN's and completely clueless. If it was not for the unwavering resolve of the American soldier our wars would be doomed to fail before the first round was fired.


Hell, about three years ago the ordered a shade canopy for one of our ECP's.. it just got put up a month ago....people wonder why things take so long to happen over here...lmao

[ColinTheCop]

This sort of thing...?



Which is curently for sale, http://www.selfer.de/

[Jnich77]

I like it!!! Hell, I want to build one now. I have always thought of putting one on the back of a 5t troop carrier(the insanely long wheel base version) woudl be a good start

[ccburns]

You'd certainly save some money on the initial build, but I have heard that these trucks in particular drink about 45-50L/100km...

But doesn't it look freaking awesome!

Colin

[jeepdreamer]

The concept is kinda a Damned if you do (DIYD) kinda deal. Because of the overall weight and size of even a 20 foot connex (or ISBU) you are very limited as to what kind of vehicle will carry it. And unfortunatly, anything that can is going to be a thirsty beast!
I've been touing with a semi-related idea and have yet to come to any viable solution. I own two 40' high cube (about a foot taller than regular) ISBUs. They will be the starter for my house at some point. Yeah... you can stop laughing anytime, I'm not completely nuts...Honest. But I have been racking my brain in the attempt to figure a way to turn one, temp. at least, into a towable trailer. Why? Well...it is silly expensive to have these moved. Even empty they require a semi truck/trailer due to their size. And once I find some property I am fairly sure no driver will willingly drag his truck up a mountain to deliver it!
So I ahve been thinking of making some dollies to affix to the front and rear...in essence turning the container itself into a trailer. Not sure if it can even be done but I'm still messing around with ideas.
But the concept of using one of these for the camper part of an expo rig is, IMHO, not very cost effective in the long run. Sure you can buy one fairly cheap. But the truck that you would mount it on would either be very expensive or an ex-military vehicle. Neither would be very cost effective to operate or maintain. So...I don't know what to say...but I'll happily watch if you do it!

[Jnich77]

The concept is kinda a Damned if you do (DIYD) kinda deal. Because of the overall weight and size of even a 20 foot connex (or ISBU) you are very limited as to what kind of vehicle will carry it. And unfortunatly, anything that can is going to be a thirsty beast!
I've been touing with a semi-related idea and have yet to come to any viable solution. I own two 40' high cube (about a foot taller than regular) ISBUs. They will be the starter for my house at some point. Yeah... you can stop laughing anytime, I'm not completely nuts...Honest. But I have been racking my brain in the attempt to figure a way to turn one, temp. at least, into a towable trailer. Why? Well...it is silly expensive to have these moved. Even empty they require a semi truck/trailer due to their size. And once I find some property I am fairly sure no driver will willingly drag his truck up a mountain to deliver it!
So I ahve been thinking of making some dollies to affix to the front and rear...in essence turning the container itself into a trailer. Not sure if it can even be done but I'm still messing around with ideas.
But the concept of using one of these for the camper part of an expo rig is, IMHO, not very cost effective in the long run. Sure you can buy one fairly cheap. But the truck that you would mount it on would either be very expensive or an ex-military vehicle. Neither would be very cost effective to operate or maintain. So...I don't know what to say...but I'll happily watch if you do it!

I have no clue on the nomenclature, but keep bugging me and I can take a pic of a set of dollies that the Army uses to move them in a pinch.

[jeepdreamer]

Yeah, I can't remember what they are called either but I've seen them. They don't really work for full size containers from what I can tell. They were designed to be pulled by a HMMWV (good luck) and affix to either a mobile command post or a quad-con...which is like a 1/4 of a 20 foot connex. They use "spreader bars" to connect the front and rear dollies but they mak out in like the 15' range or something? They are kinda neat in that they stack together for transporting when not loaded but are kind of over complicated since they have air over hydrolic to allow them to function...
Take just the dolly sections of that and you'd sorta have an idea what I was thinking of.
The other idea is an adjustable dolly with tandem axles that fits under the container. Cut out the flooring (don't want to reuse it since it is laced with LOTS of chemicals to kill bugs) so it doesn't ride to high. The tires can cycle into the container if need be but the idea is to allow the axle assem. to be movable. Helps to find the correct balance point for road towing and allows the axle to be moved for tigh mountain dirt roads.
The other end would have to have some sort of "bolt on" contraption formulating into either a 5th wheel or bumper hitch assem. Not so sure how that would work either...playing around on google sketchup with ideas but I'm pretty bad with computers...

[jeepdreamer]

Uh...Since I subscribed to this thread I got an email message saying there was a new posting. Cool...that is normal. But when I click to the page the post is not here? MODs...any idea???