Help finding someone who can help with a box truck build please.

[morkani]

I currently own a home in Florida, but I have been wanting to live on the road and get rid of all that useless "stuff" & excess home space that's not being used, for over a year now.
I just put my home on the market and I've priced it for only 40k and I hope that price will make it sell fast. I also hope that will give me enough starting funds to do a 26' box truck build. (the penske trucks i've seen are 15/20k)

I'm working alone & have physical limitations. I do not know how to do the electric wiring/solar, plumbing, welding, making access from cab to box, or any of the carpentry inside & I've spent too much time trying to figure out where i'm going to be getting help after I purchase the truck. Or even if I'll be able to afford that help on my budget which might mean I have to save more and take the house off the market.

Thanks

 

[tx2sturgis]

Welding?

Wow...OK....you are probably going to need a small team....you might want to provide a few basic ideas about your build, and where and when it should take place. 

Whether you have a place to do the work, or are willing to travel to another location where the work can be done. 

Good luck!

 

[morkani]

Well, I say welding, but i'm not a craftsman so I'm not sure. I need solar on the roof & I hear you don't ever want to put holes in the roof. I didn't know if welding the legs of a rack to the sides of the truck and the rack would hold the solar panels. But that might be based on completely wrong thinking. maybe it is ok to mount the solar panels to the roof. 

I wasn't sure if I wanted to have an extra tank solely for generator fuel (could be used for emergency ofc) because I plan to have the roof covered in solar & lots of batteries & want backup capabilities if necessary. I don't want to keep going for more gas. I figure best way is to weld a mount or something to put a tank under the truck? (I'm not sure if that's smart/possible) Same thing with water, although with a 100-150g plastic tank inside the truck (so it can't freeze) I don't know if the metal studs will keep it in place, or if it will be necessary to weld mounts or something. (again, i'm not a craftsman, i just thought of some applications that might need a weld.)

The thing is, I struggle with anxiety and don't want to worry about mold, or other WBO eating out studs, so I plan to use metal studs, as well as for the lighter weight as I want to keep it under 26000 lbs. (I guess that keeps it from requiring a CDL? I'd like to verify) So I'm not sure if the studs need welded either. 

I did an amateurs review of what I think I'll need power wise after some research, and with the square footage on the roof 26'x8' (few inches extra actually) I can fit enough solar panels (if i cover the roof) with enough power to keep enough batteries charged to keep 24/7 AC/PC/some kitchen appliances & basic stuff like lights. (with generator as backup) I need to tie shore power/generator/solar to the batteries and the other things that go with solar. 

As far as where it'll take place, it doesn't matter to me. After the house sells, I'll be moving wherever the build is and get temporary housing. I am able to assist if given direction. I also have about 5k in savings right now. (or i'd buy the truck now)

When, I hope to sell the house in the next 2-3 months, if not. I'll start dropping the price of the house further, so maybe 6 months at the latest. It's a cash sale.
I do not have a place to do the work however. (unless my temporary housing has that, so actually, I could probably look for temporary housing that provides a spot. So it might be possible.

I am hoping to build this box in such a way as it'll outlast the truck & in the future, i can just move the box to the new truck. I think that means spray foam insulation for the vapor barrier, & it'll be 75-76 inside most of the time, so i need more than the normal amount of insulation I think to keep the power requirements down.

I'm a streamer online & I will be using a gaming computer sometimes 24-36 hours. My PC has a 650 Watt power supply & I thought I would need to power that, which made me think it would be impossible. BUT I baught this power meter on amazon and if it's correct, I can run 4 monitors and the PC with all my streaming programs and a heavy duty game. and it only pulls 200 watts. so that's well within the range of possibilities

 

[tx2sturgis]

With all of that, plus plumbing, electrical, shower, toilet, and cooking systems, plus cabinets, storage, and sleeping accommodations, you have a LOT of work in that. I would guesstimate you and a couple of helpers will be busy with all of that for at least a couple of months...time consuming and expensive.

Have you thought about a ready to go motorhome or travel trailer?

 

[eDJ_]

I'm surprised more people aren't going around places like Lowe's or Home Depot and putting messages on the cork boards there where tradesmen post their business cards.
There are lots of middle aged men with sons & daughters whom they are working in on
small jobs so that they can get some experience. (with projects like this on the weekends and evenings)

You should have some photos of rigs you like to show them, and figure a way to break the job down into pieces where they are paid as they go. (if you don't know how to go about
this find someone who does to work with both of you) There are a lot of small scale builders who may find this an interesting venture and consider specializing in it)

You may also want to talk with a paralegal for advice regarding having a build out before you have paid off the rig. And even work with you and the tradesmen.

 

[highdesertranger]

what is WBO? please define any abbreviation that is not well known.

you don't need 2 x4 or steel studs that is not how you build mobile houses. you need a truck first to see how the box is constructed.

highdesertranger

 

[morkani]

[quote pid='502558' dateline='1596677472']
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]what is WBO?  please define any abbreviation that is not well known.  [/font]
[/quote]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Sorry, Wood Boring Organism like mold or other bugs.[/font]

 

[highdesertranger]

hey thanks for the reply. see you did fine. highdesertranger

 

[HungryCoyote]

Just a few thoughts. Making a pass-through access from the driver seat to the box will be a challenge with a 26 ft Penske truck because the cab and box are not connected. I think there's about a five inch space between them. Not like the smaller van type box trucks. Many of them already have pass through access and if they don't, it's not that difficult to cut a hole in the fiberglass wall. Having driven quite a few miles in both, the 26 ft trucks are neither as comfortable or easy to drive and park as the van type. Unless you really need that much living space, I would recommend a smaller box van with the over the driver area box extension which will give you a lot of storage space and room for quite a bit of solar. I actually considered getting the larger truck when I bought my box van.

As for your computer power needs, I'd be really surprised if you never used more than 200 Watts. First of all, computers tend to fluctuate in their current draw depending on what they are actually doing at the moment. I do flight simulators on a desktop with a GeForce1660 Super graphics card and a 40-inch monitor. My current draw fluctuates constantly between 200 and 450 Watts. My 500 watts of flat mounted solar is not quite enough to cover my draw. Although that could change if I switched to an mppt controller. I'm pretty sure another 200 watts would do it for me.

Having a grand plan is great, but it can also get in the way. As many people have said before, it's better to start out small and slow. I don't mean small as in vehicle size but in what you need in your vehicle. Especially if you have never slept in a vehicle, start with a cot, a cooler, a poop bucket and you've got temporary housing. I realize a lot depends on what exactly your physical limitations are but I think starting with a minimalistic approach would help with the anxiety of trying to get it all figured out. For me, it was a lot easier to visualize what I needed to live comfortably in my van once I was in it, then it would be doing it from my Sticks & Bricks living room. But that's just me. Everyone is different.

Once you actually have your vehicle and are ready to go on the road, if you don't already have something planned as far as getting help, if you want to head up to Pennsylvania, I would be available. I'm not great at van builds but I do work cheap LOL.

 

[technerd88]

No lol! Powerful computers use a lot more than that. My humble ryzen 7 rx580 LAPTOP uses 300 under load almost, with a dc to dc power supply. Come talk to me. I've got the knowledge you need with lifepo4 batteries for that rig. I can help install them. Ill be in north carolina soon. Youll need a MASSIVE power system to support that usage, around 900ah worth

 

[LargeMarge]

[edited for brevity]
currently...rid of all that useless "stuff"...do a 26' box truck...wiring/solar, plumbing, welding...access cab to box, or any of the carpentry inside & I've spent too much time trying to figure out...
[snip]

Our suggestion:
* start with your Requirements Statement!

My suggestion:
* avoid locking into thinking 'this rig is my forever rig'.

Our latest rig:
Our interior is 7x12, three paces across by seven paces long.
Your 26' box is massive!

Our interior is ideal for us because we are inside to rest.
The rest of the day, we are outside.

2003, we converted a 1997 Ford CF8000 commercial truck to our concept of an ExpeditionVehicle.
In less than a week -- during our conversion -- we sold everything.
In less than a week after acquiring our rig, we hit the road from Oregon with the vague goal of 'south'.

My suggestion:
After you acquire your box, place cardboard boxes around the interior to represent furniture and cabinets.
As you shift them, you recognize usability, access, traffic patterns.
After you (mostly...) finalize your lay-out, you can place your windows.

My suggestion:
* avoid trying to duplicate a stand-still house inside your rig.
This is your opportunity to create, to violate all rational standards of compliance and fitting-in to some absurd notion of stand-still society.
Your rig represents you... this is a pretty good reason to build instead of buying a factory RecreationVehicle.

Windows:
For our rig, we mounted stand-still house 3x1 dual-pane sliders at our eye-level while standing inside.
This places the windows about eight feet above the pavement to (mostly...) eliminate peepers.

Electric:
Our electric is one 10-gauge extension cord to several 12-volt outlets.
I fabricated a steel frame for our AGMs to fit between the vehicle main-frame.
We use a half-dozen 750-Watt inverters... one is none, two is one, a half-dozen is just right.

We cook on the 'porch'.
We shower on the 'porch'.

Our destinations:
We prefer remote mountain lakes and Baja beaches.
After nearly two decades full-time live-aboard, we think our simplicity works for us.
We completed our conversion in less than a week because --- according to our Requirements Statement --- we wanted to be on-the-road instead of fussing with perfecting every detail.

Fuel mileage:
We go, then sit.
Accordingly, mpg (kpl for you foreigners...) is never an issue because we travel probably less than a hundred miles a month. (14,762 hectares for you foreigners)

My question for anybody investing hours! and hours! and hours! of research:
* "Might you be over-thinking this?"

 

[user 27148]

A 26' box truck sounds like a friggin' amazing project!!! I've been looking at them a little bit, but my focus is more on the 16' cutaway trucks. Still, best wishes!

 

[DannyB1954]

You may need to do it a bit at a time. Asking someone to donate a day to make you a bed is one thing, asking them to donate a month or two to build you an RV is another.
You would go broke paying anyone a decent wage to do the work. Might be better to postpone the dream vehicle and buy a used RV.

 

[Thomas]

I've been working on a 14' U-Haul since May. I researched for a year and estimated the box build would cost $18K. It will actually cost about $20K in the end, and that's just what goes in the truck. And I'm still going to swap out the engine and transmission. Add an extra fortune for expendables and specialty tools. I'm doing all the labor myself (without injury...so far...mostly). I couldn't imagine paying someone even $10/hr for labor. But I love crafting, tinkering, and learning new skills. Otherwise I would probably just buy an RV, or a conversion that someone already built.