Fifth Wheel Trailer From Scratch

[Rudy]

Some photos of the inside of the trailer on the previous page.

[Bob]

Thats crazy...but I could live with it

[Dennis The Bus Dweller]

It a little posh for me but hey, nice rig Lois. I can't believe you were putting us on like that. What a jokester you turned out to be

[Bob]

What do you mean Dennis? This is Lois's rig???????

[ezrablu]

Left Lois speechless, too

Thanks for posting my photos, Rudy...but, you really didn't have to refer to me as "prominent"

[Stealth Camper]

I like that, too. Wonder if I could squeeze that into the back of a 1976 International??

I have looked at slide out mechanisms for a trailer. Maybe I could fit that on the bus? And that looks like it has a lift think like the Hi-Lo trailers.

Fantastic living. Would spoil me horribly.

[Stealth Camper]

Rudy, is there any more info for that? Like blueprints, detailed drawings, web site following construction, etc?? (Yeah, made me laugh too, just typing it out...)

[graydawg]

Probably was a retired trucker that paid notes on a doublewide trailer he never got to live in and now he's getting his pie and eating it too.

[Rudy]

Stealth, Those photos were emailed to me. I don't have any info on that trailer. I have seen these photos before, but I don't remember where.

[yugogypsy]

Me? Have such a rig as that? Maybe if I win the lottery

ROFL
Lois

[tamangel]

not sure if this is the same rig or not..

http://www.andersonmobileestates.com/home.html

http://www.andersonmobileestates.com/ph ... humbs.html

https://picasaweb.google.com/visiblylou ... nTheFlesh#

some vids..
http://wn.com/Visibly_Loud_Articulated_ ... ilverstone

and a few more examples:
http://www.themidnightrider.com/

conceptual vids..loud music..
http://semiflushlightfixtures.com/visib ... mobil.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4qCQa782ds

Mike

[tamangel]

from the previous page discussion on Dollies, a concept drawing.. has a 3D view scroll around option:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ ... 622b8fc4df

Mike

[Jesper The Dane]

I have read this thread, and find it really great! Any progress yet, Jim???

[Lostranger]

Hey Jasper,

You ask about progress at an interesting time in my life. For the past six months I've been doing little other than essential remodeling on the shack that passes for living quarters on the small farm we have rented in the NC mountains. It's been a monumental project involving replacing and bracing rotted floor joists and then building from scratch. This is more than I bargained for, but I console myself with the knowledge that the rent is cheap, and the farm and its setting are gorgeous. I've also been blessed with a good bit of work (as a musician), and that has absorbed some time.

Progress on any house truck (or bus) project has been nonexistent, but it's always at the front of my mind. I've begun scrapping/junking my Flex transit, but not much progress there yet, either. I've not contributed to this thread in several months, but it still affects my thinking. I've spent the past few months looking for the "right" bus to build in, but just yesterday I found myself thinking again about a drop-deck semi trailer. Over the past four years, my wife and I have experienced a mind-numbing series of economic reversals. We're not destitute, but we have to be careful how we spend our money, and I'm confused about what that means.

A core issue of that confusion is my conviction that the petroleum-fueled mobility Americans have taken for granted all of my lifetime (child of the fifties) is about to change. I'm not a prophet of doom, but I'm trying to be realistic about how much sense it makes to tie up a major portion of our limited assets in a petroleum dependent propulsion system when I live in a post peak-oil world. I'm not sure how much longer I can afford to fill a 150 gallon diesel tank. Biodiesel is not the panacea many seem to think since the growth and processing of fuel crops is so energy (and land) intensive.

I still want to spend the rest of my days in some sort of "mobile home." I may not be able to "snowbird", but I would always have the option of changing neighborhoods if the neighbors decide to put in a car crushing operation. (Don't laugh....) My dream bus is an MCI D3 with DD 60 Series engine. Those shells have dropped dramatically in price over the past couple of years, but that's still a huge investment in power plant and drive train.

I'm wondering again if I should build in a semi trailer. We could own a tractor or hire it moved when needed. I could imagine building a steam powered tractor to move such a rig. I have draft horse experience, and six head of good drafters aided by a small compressor to operate brakes could move it easily.

I'm certain that we'll have petroleum available during my lifetime, but its affordability (not to mention advisability) is questionable. I've been studying China's economic expansion, and it's scary. I think everyone deserves a decent living, but China's leaders seem to have learned nothing from our bad example of "development." At their current rate of "growth", they will in 30 years need an entire new Earth just to supply their resource needs. I'm doubting such will be available. One factor in possible future resource wars is that China has the world's largest army, and they are capable of walking to most of the major oil fields. The Chinese have an ancient curse which says: "May you live in interesting times." Well, guess what....

So, I'm again looking at furniture vans. To pick up an earlier issue in this thread, apparently reversing the fifth-wheel/king pin arrangement would make the tractor qualify as a house-car component in North Carolina. So that problem is solved. We have a lot of infrastructure gathered for the project, and it should not take long to create livable space, but the shack is now livable too, so we're in no hurry.

I'll post as soon as we buy something to build in. In the meanwhile, I'd still love to read more input.

Jim

[Rudy]

Great to hear you are getting paid to play the banjo.