John Labovitz contacted me the other day to tell me about his tiny housetruck project that he is working on. The minute I saw the frame it reminded me of the Cable Car Trolleys that I worked on for a couple of years as they were built using the same steel tubing and looked very similar before being skinned and completed.
I’ll let John tell you more about his plans and his philosophy behind his choice of design and materials.
My overall values in designing the housetruck were simplicity, durability, sustainability, and mobility, which combine to liveability. Although I’ve been inspired by the tiny house movement, the biggest breakthrough was discovering the long tradition of gypsy caravans and British ‘living wagons.’
I’m building the tiny housetruck from scratch, based on an Isuzu NPR truck chassis. The housetruck will serve several purposes:
- A compact and mobile home in which I can hang out and socialize,
cook and eat, and retreat and sleep. - A workspace for my photography and programming projects.
- A vehicle that will transport me & my belongings to points beyond.
- A laboratory for research into alternative and mobile technology.
- An expression of art & creativity.
I’ve been designing it for about a year, and about a month ago hired a local steel fabricator to build the frame. That’s now done, and I’m now onto adding “skin” to the bones.
If you’d like to follow along, I’ll be updating my website fairly regularly. You can always find the current status, plus links to longer articles & more images, here: http://polymecca.com/housetruck
–Best,
John
You can follow the progress on Johns blog and I will also try to update the Tiny House Blog as John completes different stages in the project. It’s fun to see something a little different, so stay tuned.
by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)
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Reminds me of my tiny house that I put together this winter, I put up a few pics here, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lebnjay/sets/72157622413848623/
I could give a actual writeup and more pictures if people were curious. It has been a blast building it and now living in it for the past 4 months.
I would very much enjoy having you do a write up on your tiny house. I will email you shortly…Kent
Okay the email did not get through, so if you would email me at tinyhouseblog(at)gmail.com I would appreciate it.
I have a 1996 Isuzu NPR that I have been planning to do the same with. I would have considered a much lighter gauge metal frame, even an aviation grade aluminum to further reduce weight. The frame height offers the potential for more fuel storage, water and waste holding than a trailer. None the less, it’s great to see someone else thinking about the use of these mid duty trucks.
In California with the change in diesel regs affecting commercial users, these are now dumped on the market and available for about 1/4 what they were a year ago. You can find a model with low mileage for as little as $4K. You can expect with regular service to get 500K miles from the engine. I run mine on biodiesel with no ill affect and currently completing a catalytic cell to generate hydrogen to increase mileage and reduce emissions but here I digress. I found mine getting about 15 mpg regardless of load which is a lot more than a truck pulling a trailer.
I look forward to seeing progress on this project.
@Arlo — Thanks for your comments & info.
I did consider putting water/waste storage under the frame, but found that it made more sense to use that area for my power system (batteries, controller, inverter, etc.) and possibly a future waste-veggie oil tank alongside the existing diesel tank. Also, I was concerned about weight disparity, if one side of the truck had a lot of water and the other side had none.
I chose to put my water storage instead above the frame, at floor level, with two identical tanks, one on each side of the truck. Those will be filled at the same time, so the weight will be more evenly distributed.
A nice looking set up. It sounds like a great way to build a tiny house. Looking forward to seeing the results as it is built.
I’d been thinking of doing something similar. I have spent a lot of time around those trucks and they are fantastically-running vehicles.
This guy in Australia has done similar to the extreme with his truck, not once but twice now. He is truly ingenious, though the build journals and details will keep you busy for days.
http://www.robgray.com/graynomad/wothahellizat/index.php (I have nothing to do with him at all, just sharing the link because it’s interesting and relevant here)
Very nice indeed, have drawings and “mental” scriblings running about myself, but the base i was planning on using was from an old 26 ft U-Haul truck. If you know your stuff bout older diesels they are pretty easy to maintain. Many, not all of course, have been very well maintained already, mechanically speaking of course I’ve already found several here locally and from a website for sale pretty cheap, picked up the idea from a youtube spot i ran across, type in uhaul annex motel in the search to find the vid. If anyone is interested in what i have drawn up just let me know and I’ll clean up what drawings i have and scan them and send them out to ya’s.
Have a good one all
Bleau in Montana
robbie,I saw your post about a u haul build. Did you ever build it? I have a bare chasis u haul and I plan on building a camper from scratch. Love to hear from you. Thanks joewoot6988@gmail.com
Mr. Labovitz’s project is nice to see from two standpoints: 1.) It’s aesthetically pleasing and 2.) The quality of materials is such that the finished product is likely to outlast the builder, regardless of his current age. It might even survive a tree falling on it! Yes, weight is a consideration too, but who will be likely to gallivant the countryside when prices for fuel start heading for the stratosphere ? Good luck with a QUALITY project !
You’re only getting 15 MPG empty?
The last one I drove got 20 combined city/freeway, and I was not feathering the throttle!
It was a rare feeling to fill the fuel tank and have it top off long before you expect it to!