I'm in Fernandina Beach, FL, currently. Walking down the street I saw this beast pull in and I knew I had to find its owner and see what he was up to. It didn't take long before I found him hanging out by the docks and I hit him up for a chat and some pictures.
This fellow is from Maine and says he's been living the mobile lifestyle his whole life. His vehicle is a Ford diesel 350 that was a wheelchair transportation van in a previous life. At some point, it had some highly custom bodywork done to it. Added to the back is an old horse trailer with solar panels and a battery bank. Seen on this side of the trailer is his table attached to the fender made with a cross-section of timber and some strap hinges. I didn't get pictures of the other side, but that side contains his battery bank, mounted to the opposite fender. He's had that opposite fender re-welded a couple times from the weight of the batteries breaking it. In asking him about his battery/solar system he really didn't know any details, only that he paid someone $3,000 to install it back in the early 2000s! He is using regular car starter batteries for his bank and has several of them. With his panels being that old I suggested that he could easily upgrade today as prices have come down a lot, but he didn't seem that interested - he's an old timer and his set up is working for him.
Inside the horse trailer, among other things, is a 1950s Harley that was a former Police service bike in Burlington, VT! Strange as I met him in FL and Burlington VT was my hometown before leaving for the mobile life. The Harley has a box on the back for hauling his dog. Sorry, didn't get pictures of that bit. He says he averages 10 MPG (diesel) - highest of 16 MPG without the trailer.
I never did figure out what's with the one massive boot...
Interesting character for sure.
This fellow is from Maine and says he's been living the mobile lifestyle his whole life. His vehicle is a Ford diesel 350 that was a wheelchair transportation van in a previous life. At some point, it had some highly custom bodywork done to it. Added to the back is an old horse trailer with solar panels and a battery bank. Seen on this side of the trailer is his table attached to the fender made with a cross-section of timber and some strap hinges. I didn't get pictures of the other side, but that side contains his battery bank, mounted to the opposite fender. He's had that opposite fender re-welded a couple times from the weight of the batteries breaking it. In asking him about his battery/solar system he really didn't know any details, only that he paid someone $3,000 to install it back in the early 2000s! He is using regular car starter batteries for his bank and has several of them. With his panels being that old I suggested that he could easily upgrade today as prices have come down a lot, but he didn't seem that interested - he's an old timer and his set up is working for him.
Inside the horse trailer, among other things, is a 1950s Harley that was a former Police service bike in Burlington, VT! Strange as I met him in FL and Burlington VT was my hometown before leaving for the mobile life. The Harley has a box on the back for hauling his dog. Sorry, didn't get pictures of that bit. He says he averages 10 MPG (diesel) - highest of 16 MPG without the trailer.
I never did figure out what's with the one massive boot...
Interesting character for sure.