Thread: living off grid in a box truck

Hi Everybody!

I just joined so this is my first post on here. I'm currently working on converting a box truck into my new home. I post my plans, pictures, and progress on my blog at: http://mobilecondo.blogspot.com/

I'm going to read through the forum and hopefully learn some tips from everybody here about living without a permanent residence.

awesome! matt pist is working on converting a school bus, if you have any questions you can't find an answer to, might be worth sending him a PM , good luck with everything!

good luck man... that sounds like an awesome idea. it'll be real inconspicious cuase people will just think your helping someone move, so hopefully you wont get busted for stying where your not supposed to

In less than six months, this house will no longer be mine to occupy. After we are gone, it will likely sit vacant for months or even years just like all the others around here. It's a shame, really, but I'll be glad to be gone. I feel bad for everyone who is going through this by force rather than choice.

May I ask whereabouts Michigan you are? 6 months is about my countdown-to-homelessness; I might try and take over your home once you're out.


Good luck with your box truck house!

Originally Posted by smellyskelly

awesome! matt pist is working on converting a school bus, if you have any questions you can't find an answer to, might be worth sending him a PM , good luck with everything!

Thanks. :-)

That's really cool! I've seen so many sweet bus conversions.

Originally Posted by wildboy860

good luck man... that sounds like an awesome idea. it'll be real inconspicious cuase people will just think your helping someone move, so hopefully you wont get busted for stying where your not supposed to

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. We'll have ladder racks too so people might even think we're roofers or a construction crew on a long term job.

Originally Posted by LovelyAcorns

May I ask whereabouts Michigan you are? 6 months is about my countdown-to-homelessness; I might try and take over your home once you're out.


Good luck with your box truck house!

Thanks! Six months, eh? I'm in Ypsilanti, MI and there are empty houses all over around here.

how the hell do you pronounce that?

Originally Posted by stove

how the hell do you pronounce that?

ip-suh-LAN-tee, but we call it ip-see

Originally Posted by anne

ip-suh-LAN-tee, but we call it ip-see

Wait, the 'y' is silent? Huh, everyone around here mispronounces it.

Hey anne, I hope you have a kill switch hidden somewhere in the living quarters! You know, just in case someone tries to run off with your home or something while you're sleeping. Also do you only have one exit for your home? I'm just thinking that you might need an emergency hatch on the top or something, just in case the main one becomes inaccessible for whatever reason (I suppose having a portable edgegrinder fitted with a cutting disc would suffice). I wouldn't want to be in a metal box with only one way out unless I was damned certain it would always allow me to escape.

Originally Posted by finn

Hey anne, I hope you have a kill switch hidden somewhere in the living quarters! You know, just in case someone tries to run off with your home or something while you're sleeping. Also do you only have one exit for your home? I'm just thinking that you might need an emergency hatch on the top or something, just in case the main one becomes inaccessible for whatever reason (I suppose having a portable edgegrinder fitted with a cutting disc would suffice). I wouldn't want to be in a metal box with only one way out unless I was damned certain it would always allow me to escape.

Yeah, it's just one exit. We talked about this a lot and were considering putting a window in the back that a person could squeeze out for an emergency. Instead we decided to accept our fate of being burned alive if something goes wrong. Plus, none of our wiring will be inside the walls, we don't smoke, and we use an induction cooktop (no flames or heating coils) so it's pretty unlikely for anything to happen.

Awesome plan. How far are you along in the conversion?

Originally Posted by anne

Yeah, it's just one exit. We talked about this a lot and were considering putting a window in the back that a person could squeeze out for an emergency. Instead we decided to accept our fate of being burned alive if something goes wrong. Plus, none of our wiring will be inside the walls, we don't smoke, and we use an induction cooktop (no flames or heating coils) so it's pretty unlikely for anything to happen.

That's a bit grim of an outlook. I hope you will stock some wool blankets and a fire extinguisher at least. So the ventilation, heating and cooling will be pretty much entirely dependent on electricity? This means that should your electrical system fail, you'll have to rely on hobo methods to cope, which I suppose is why you're here. Heh.

Originally Posted by Apples

Awesome plan. How far are you along in the conversion?

Thanks, Apples. We should be finishing up the insulation and plywood today then it's time to start building the loft.

Originally Posted by finn

That's a bit grim of an outlook. I hope you will stock some wool blankets and a fire extinguisher at least. So the ventilation, heating and cooling will be pretty much entirely dependent on electricity? This means that should your electrical system fail, you'll have to rely on hobo methods to cope, which I suppose is why you're here. Heh.

Yeah, I'm okay with hobo methods and don't expect the solar panels to have full output all the time. Sometimes the weather just plain sucks for things like that.

Don't worry, we'll have a fire extinguisher at each end and one in the cab.

Here's an update! :-)

wow thats lookin really snazzy!

i was thinking about converting an old truck. was gonna paint a company advertising sign on the outside for a cover/undercover type thing.

perhaps you could paint or have made a moving company sign like. though if you do, keep it a secret otherwise you would blow your cover. lol, you would probally even get a few jobs outta it.

an escape hatch in the roof would definatly be a good idea with an interior ladder fixed to the front bulkhead. in the nice weather you could sit on the roof and have a picnic and a good lookout post.

i used to have a friend with a double decker bus, that was fantastic.

We might be able to have a deck on top of our 7x14 trailer but the truck will have too many solar panels to get up there.

Double-decker buses are awesome! I wish we could have found something like that in our price range.

Here's another update:

Just installed cork flooring, "crown molding" and a shower.

fuckin shower in a box truck !!!!! just out of curiosity, how much money has this all cost?

I don't have everything added up yet, but the truck was $12k and the shower was around $600.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJli_LDtCQ0


Now you can watch a video tour of the updated layout. Since people have been asking me for different views so they can better understand how everything will fit in there, I made a video of the SketchUp image swiveling so all different angles can be seen in 3D.

I hope you are going to put in nice handrails for the inevitable emergency rush to the toilet! Also, some padding on the ceiling above the bed will save you a few knots on your head, unless you were fortunate to have grown up with the lower section of the bunk bed like me. To this day, I always duck a little when I sit onto or off a bed. I know it's a little late, but have you though of having handrailings on the ceiling for getting to and off the bed and toilet? Maybe it's a bit of an athletic way to speed up going from the bed to the bathroom, but it's something I'd like in a space like that.

You may want to think about a cookbox or a pot cozy to be more efficient with your stove. Basically, it's an insulated container so that you can keep something warm instead of keeping it on simmer. It's not a permanent feature by any means, but you might as well experiment with it before you hit the road.

Yeah, we'll definitely put in railings for the bed and bathroom lofts. Although, I'm not sure exactly how I want them to look yet. We had to take out a panel in the shower to run plumbing through the side and replace it with frosted plexiglass, so maybe I'll have the railings in plexiglass and steel to tie everything together. This might be one of the last projects we get to and will probably be living in it before it gets to that point, so hopefully it'll be safe enough without them for a while.

I'm probably going to make a solar oven as a backup for the stove.

I was just looking at how to make a pot cozy and that definitely seems worthwhile. I didn't realize how effective they are. We eat a lot of raw food, but when I do cook, it tends to be things like soup that take a long time at a low temp which is perfect for something like this. Very cool! Thanks for the tip.

Originally Posted by finn

You may want to think about a cookbox or a pot cozy to be more efficient with your stove. Basically, it's an insulated container so that you can keep something warm instead of keeping it on simmer. It's not a permanent feature by any means, but you might as well experiment with it before you hit the road.

That's crazy cool!!! I love the artwork!!!

Originally Posted by anne

Thanks! Six months, eh? I'm in Ypsilanti, MI and there are empty houses all over around here.

Ypsi!!!! i love ypsi... i live in Mt. clemens, its a shame ypsi is so far away i love that town.

Yeah, Ypsi is not a bad place to be. Free wi-fi almost everywhere, close enough to get to everything in A2 by moped but half the price.

looks like good use of space, nice. Also, just plain nice

If you end up buying land in the future, I'll be the guy living in the shipping container across the street, hahaha. Good luck with the project, looks awesome!

Sweet project! You really have some nice comforts there without a lot of fuss. I looked at cube trucks too but im aiming for a 4x4 van that is capable of disappearing into the forest without being noticed.

If you could get near a river I've always wanted to create a simple mini hydro-electric setup. In theory a paddle wheel attached to a $50 car alternator or an electric trolling motor spinning backwards would charge a battery.

Furniture is installed! Two months to go before we'll move in. :-)

looks awesome. nice one.

Yeah, I've read about people with power systems like that. I found some land that I really like in Nevada with a small creek but I wonder if it would be too slow to work. If we move there, I'm sure we'll at least give it a try.

Originally Posted by Veil of reality

If you could get near a river I've always wanted to create a simple mini hydro-electric setup. In theory a paddle wheel attached to a $50 car alternator or an electric trolling motor spinning backwards would charge a battery.

just for fyi Walmart will let you stay upto three days in there parking lot. So you can include that into your rotation

^ Kmart has a similar policy too. Actually, they were the first to start it.

OP check out Free Campgrounds for RVs if you haven't already, They got lots of info on free campgrounds, rest stops, and stores that allow overnight parking.

Cool, thanks for the link.