Author Topic: Truck Acquired  (Read 6663 times)

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Offline MadScientist267

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Truck Acquired
« on: August 16, 2014, 03:09:39 pm »
2000 E350 17 foot Uhaul
199k on the clock
Runs excellent, handles very nicely
Air conditioning even works!

Haggled to $5500

Let the fun begin!

 3144-0

(Yep, actual pic this time haha)

Steve
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline Rover

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2014, 03:15:16 pm »
very cool.

Looks like a lot you can do with that. The absence of logo paint etc on the box should make your life easier .

Rover

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Location: South East Virginia US

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Offline DaveW

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2014, 05:24:34 pm »
Congrats Steve.  We expect lots of pictures as this project progresses.

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2014, 06:03:23 pm »
Yeppers. I'm excited, if not a little overwhelmed. Kinda odd, prepared as much as possible in my mind, but the actual realization of it adds the missing dimension, so I'm still taking it in.

3146-0
Shot of the inside just for posterity. (Get it? Har har)

Some specs of the box:

"Lower" box:
170" long (to the edge of the aluminum floor decking)
93" wide wall to wall, will be sacrificing some of that to insulation of course

"Upper" box:
Additional 31" length, giving a total inside length of 16.75 ft
Starts at 55" height, overall height of ceiling 84" (at the walls, additional 2" in the bow for the ceiling structure itself)

Wheel well humps: 27x23x6"

Just shy of 110 sq ft of floor space, more than twice what's available in the van

More soon :)

Steve
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline Wolvenar

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2014, 06:49:18 pm »
Congrats man!!


* Wolvenar starts imagining the electronic and carpentry building sessions to get in all the essentials, plus a  single electronics wall "rack". Then followed by the late night hacking sessions to build the automation systems  ;D
Have fun in the relative mansion
Trying to make power from alternative energy any which way I can.
Just to abuse what I make. (and run this site)

Offline bj

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2014, 07:43:40 am »
Nice.  It doesn't appear to be beat up at all. 
It will be fun to follow how/what you do with all that room.
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj

Offline tomw

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2014, 09:06:35 am »
Its gonna need some windows and vents before you spray foam it. :o

Nice digital urban camo paint job.

At first I thought solar on the sides / roof but it is too wide for panels permanently on the side  [96" max width in the states without wide load restrictions]. You could deploy them from the roof though when you park like NASA does only cheaper. She should fit a couple KW of solar easy.  ;D



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I thought that they were angels, but much to my surprise, We climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2014, 02:51:57 am »
LOL I'll set up anything you guys want if it's on a sponsored level ;D

Rest assured tho, there's plenty of real estate up there, maybe even a bit more than I calculated originally, so there will be room to add some (a hot water system even maybe back in the game? To be determined, but there's some room.)

I'll be breaking up the various categories as they begin to line up, ultimately covering the whole show. There's a lot of potential here, that's for sure!

Steve
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline hiker1

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #8 on: August 19, 2014, 01:58:03 pm »
nice van--for the same price or cheaper you could have picked up a nice little motorhome ?? save a lot of work--but it is fun to create your own...craigslist  would have been  a good source to find one..? just my own thoughts...............................
just do it

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2014, 05:22:41 pm »
Nod. There were several reasons for the truck rather than a prefab, but the top of the list was blank canvas rooftop, no goofy curves to deal with inside (I can tolerate the corners), and no disturbing EPA biohazard finds in the process of ripping out tanks and other things I didn't want/need...

It also lent to total freedom with the design, rather than having to spend money on adjusting (or just accepting the limitations of) someone else's imagination. Besides, yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun! ;D

Steve
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #10 on: August 24, 2014, 11:27:00 am »
Some more pics...

3168-0


3170-1


3172-2

Steve
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #11 on: October 17, 2014, 04:02:21 pm »
What.. the... ?

3369-0


3371-1

On top of the world so to speak... found this... :o

One wheel skateboard? Extreme unicycle stunts?  ???

Anyway, caulking has commenced... finding all kinds of interesting things with all the close scrutiny going on... but no goggles required to see all this haha

Far as I can tell, no leaks sourcing from up here... couple spots I might give some paranoid coating, but other than that, I think it's ok up here...

Till next time...

Steve
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #12 on: January 10, 2016, 11:34:11 am »
I realize I've left a lot of things just kinda hanging... not intentionally... it's D-Day here at the ol' homestead and things have gone nuckin' futs... I took this pic the other day while I was up in west point... best "perspective" pic I have on file so far... so here it is.

5033-0

More (hopefully) soon... All depends on priorities.

And yes, that's the Honda's slide out door slung underneath.

Steve
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline MadScientist267

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2016, 02:19:02 am »
Took a little time to smell the roses tonight, on a trip back toward "the point"... and stopped at the place that all of this basically began...

6004-0

Not quite to the day, over by a few weeks or so, 4 years ago I had my life handed to me on a spoon... Ok more like cardboard box...

Not a moment too soon, I met someone very special that helped catalyze the reaction that eventually and ultimately resulted in the person I am today, and the new set of directions I've taken.

As luck would have it, both of the spaces where all of this took place were completely available and I took the chance to reflect on what all has transpired since that day. The foliage makes for prime real estate under most circumstances at this time of year... For those traveling and wanting to maybe hit snooze on the ol' alarm clock a few times. Or could have just been spotted as one of the safer places to squat and formulate some form of "emergency response" plan. Gotta just trust me when I say I know all too well the value of those two trees specifically, regardless of any given reasoning one might have behind occupying the area below.

There's a lot of credit that goes out to a lot of people for helping me get back up on my feet (admittedly still a work in progress), but in the context of "lightning strike precision as a single, brief event", one takes it by a mile.

I wish I could give her credit by name, but out of respect for her wishes to leave it all behind her, I can't even really just use her first name alone. As she is unique in almost every way imaginable, her name is no exception, and the big G (at the very least) has no issue bringing her to the surface with little else to refine it.

That said, those that know the finer details can attest that her spirit was integrated into the design of the truck on many levels, in my little attempts to show my gratitude for meeting one of the most genuine and truly awesome examples of what everyone should try to be.

4 hours... Chatting with someone I only had a single question for as I approached her on that fateful evening... and she doesn't even realize it, but she stuck a magnet under my stubborn compass and changed my life forever. I wish her all the best, and hope that she finds someone that can truly appreciate her for who she is. I know that I'll never forget her.

If it sounds like something out of a fairytale, that's because on several levels, it has many of the ingredients. The gift she gave wasn't just an inanimate object in the form of a tired old van... within was a curious genius, and despite very adverse conditions, evidence that she never even considered giving up, and even kept the finer things in life in focus. Absolutely inspirational.

Coming back here I notice a sense of calm and "ownership" of the surroundings, something I admittedly, mistakenly, and wishfully considered into the general concept of the truck. I've attempted to go for a few hours here and there in other wally world lots... most of the time, only a few minutes goes by and a "forgotten yet familiar" concept shows up... instead of the expectations worked in on the drawing board... the sheer terror on steroids that I experienced at the initial onset of being hurled out into a completely foreign culture.

That's ok tho, her spirit may only thrive right here in this one spot for me, but it's clear that I can at least experience one of the things I'd hoped I would in this whole process. The world looks really different from this vantage point, and I'm just grateful that I was lucky enough to be given the gift to be able to appreciate it.

If you should ever meet her, you'll just know. Please tell her I said thank you, for everything.

That said, I guess it's getting that time again... 'till the next one...

Steve
Wanted: Schrödinger's cat, dead and alive.

Offline bj

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Re: Truck Acquired
« Reply #14 on: July 24, 2016, 09:40:22 pm »
   Started a reply a few times, but  needed to think it through.
   It boiled down to---from the outside looking in, whatever direction
you are taking seems to be making you a happier man.
   To quote Martha, "that's a good thing"
   
 
"Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while"
bj