The Concept

Ok, so I’m poor. I’ve wanted a place of my own for a long time. I’ve lived in a couple RVs, I’ve done a couple bus conversions. Some day, I know I’ll have my own little piece of land. But, what to live in when I get it? I need to either pay rent while I build, or be homeless while construction takes place. So, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way this is going to happen, is if I can somehow build a place & move it lock, stock & barrel to a piece of property. I’m not to impressed with store bought RVs, or with bus conversions. So, I’ve decided to build an “RV” based off a mobile home frame. I’ll be using a bunch of techniques I’ve learned in my years in construction, and from my 2 bus conversions. Quite a bit of it will be applicable to tiny house construction. Some of it won’t. I’ve bought an older mobile home, a 10 X 52. I’m in the process of stripping it down to the floor deck. Then I plan to cut it to 8′6″ in width. Then it can be towed without a permit. Once I get that done, I plan to build a much bigger unit on top of it. I’m leaning towards DIY Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). Because they’re light enough to handle easily. I plan to be able to break it down from its final size (24 X 52) into a core center unit(8′6″ X 52′), and a pile of floor & roof panels, that can be hauled separately. I want to keep in this in mind while designing & building it, as I feel that being able to tear it down to towable size rapidly, grants it its status as an RV. I also plan to build it so that the center section raises from 8′ at the outside wall, to 12′. This allows me to use the same walls, whichever way it’s set up, and keep a reasonably pitched roof. And when fully set up, have a cathedral style roof. As I progress (which may be slow, in addition to being poor, I’ve got some health issues), I’ll post my progress, and lots of pictures. Right now, it’s mostly ideas, so I’ll post lots of those.