If you have a weak heart...

If I really NEED a truck, I’d go this way. What I NEED is a car to get me to work. What qualifies is a 2005 Pontiac Sunfire complete with mismatched wheel covers and deer strike damage. Yes, I’m sure it makes me look poor. It goes 30 mpg, ice cold a/c, functioning radio, etc. It qualifies as filling my NEED and saves me a ton of money. On the rare occasions I need a truck, I’ll rent one.
Yeah, but driving a heap like that in Memphis makes you an unlikely target for robbery or carjacking too.
 
Got me beat. Mine's a '94 F-350 7.3 I.D.I. diesel crew cab single rear wheel long bed. Like me it's old, slow, noisy and white.
Awesome, I have a 1993 International 4300 7.3 idi it’s an old Canadian department of national defense Navy dive team truck, I converted it into an rv and whilst I wait on building permits (Canada)! I am actually living in it and it’s -29*c up here now and I’m sitting on the couch in my t-shirt watching Kevin and Mark talking about their dream bikes on Cycle World tv (Starlink), it was built very solid and well insulated, of course I gutted it and used all modern day equipment.
C9984B5E-1BDC-42D0-A427-ACFAD003D457.jpeg

D0CE8B26-4771-4368-9293-C3055499562C.jpeg

FB48302C-ED09-4EAE-82FA-593CBBDA9D8C.jpeg
 
Awesome, I have a 1993 International 4300 7.3 idi it’s an old Canadian department of national defense Navy dive team truck, I converted it into an rv and whilst I wait on building permits (Canada)! I am actually living in it and it’s -29*c up here now and I’m sitting on the couch in my t-shirt watching Kevin and Mark talking about their dream bikes on Cycle World tv (Starlink), it was built very solid and well insulated, of course I gutted it and used all modern day equipment.
View attachment 342209
View attachment 342210
View attachment 342211
Cool, let’s see some inside pics. How are you heating it?
 
Cool, let’s see some inside pics. How are you heating it?
It’s not quite finished as I just realized in October that I wasn’t getting a building permit so I did as much as I could before the snow came. I’m heating it with a custom boiler system that I designed; it has 2 radiators inside one with a 20,000btu blower the other is huge and just radiates. There is a doghouse in the passenger side that used to house a huge compressor for deep dives? I gutted it and installed my own wet bay that houses all my pumps, filters, heat exchangers and my glycol tank
F6C8BA54-D40F-42FF-A9AE-012599414D66.jpeg

Because it was a Navy truck we kept the naval theme so literally everything except the shower is meant for a boat including the glycol powered hot water heater, all the pumps, including the macerators for the electric marine toilet and to pump the grey water into the black tank (after the poop is emptied) from the other side where the kitchen is
D9C89E03-B0BE-4E8E-818D-19A98C74465D.jpeg

0C68BF8A-7DB8-49DD-9096-E221B54AC556.jpeg

7A82497D-D576-4C9E-B1A6-4E923F28D86C.jpeg

I reused the front bench seat for the living area across from the entertainment system, kept the explosives box for ammo, the lockers I got from CFB Trenton. I also cut a doggy door into the cab from the box and put some Audi leather buckets in the front
A35579B9-47C4-402C-A691-9E8D9BE3D0A8.jpeg

My dog sleeps under the queen size bed I also put in double pane windows
980D1926-3489-4DF0-B45A-48EFDC24FC05.jpeg

It also has a mini split air conditioner with the compressor unit in one of the boxes under the bed ( I opened it up with a hole saw for airflow)
The boiler runs off of a German Espar diesel glycol heater, it has a 5000w Solark inverter, 2- rack mount Pytes 48v 100a batteries, which really simplifies the Solar and house wiring
0A4AF98A-7A65-482B-8B79-E388C30D1170.jpeg

Some of these pics are older as we where in a real rush to make it inhabitable, there is still no shelves or cupboard doors.
I have 4 inside water tanks; 150g fresh water, 150g grey water, 50g toilet head tank100g recycling shower tank that uses chlorine so basically it is a stand up spa with unlimited hot water although after 30min you get pretty wrinkled, we don’t use soap in the shower so you basically have to do the baby wipe thing before you get in and wash your hair in the sink after you get out. I have a 50 micron spin down before the shower pump then a air bladder (for smooth flow, then a 5 micron 10” filter, then a 5 micron 10” charcoal filter then a uv filter, I have cleaned it all out and flushed it with bleach once but it wasn’t that bad. Same setup for the drinking water/ kitchen sink, so 2 completely separate filter systems. The black tank is outside so atm we are using windshield washer antifreeze in the toilet head tank.
Because the glycol gets up to 200*f I have a mixing valve on the sink/fresh water but in the shower you can push it until you can’t stand it, kind of like an unrestricted hot tub.
I also have a separate heat exchanger and pump to heat the motor antifreeze so it starts in the deep freeze with just a touch of the starter.
 
Last edited:
It’s not quite finished as I just realized in October that I wasn’t getting a building permit so I did as much as I could before the snow came. I’m heating it with a custom boiler system that I designed; it has 2 radiators inside one with a 20,000btu blower the other is huge and just radiates. There is a doghouse in the passenger side that used to house a huge compressor for deep dives? I gutted it and installed my own wet bay that houses all my pumps, filters, heat exchangers and my glycol tank
View attachment 342213
Because it was a Navy truck we kept the naval theme so literally everything except the shower is meant for a boat including the glycol powered hot water heater, all the pumps, including the macerators for the electric marine toilet and to pump the grey water into the black tank (after the poop is emptied) from the other side where the kitchen is
View attachment 342214
View attachment 342215
View attachment 342216
I reused the front bench seat for the living area across from the entertainment system, kept the explosives box for ammo, the lockers I got from CFB Trenton. I also cut a doggy door into the cab from the box and put some Audi leather buckets in the front
View attachment 342217
My dog sleeps under the queen size bed I also put in double pane windows
View attachment 342218
It also has a mini split air conditioner with the compressor unit in one of the boxes under the bed ( I opened it up with a hole saw for airflow)
The boiler runs off of a German Espar diesel glycol heater, it has a 5000w Solark inverter, 2- rack mount Pytes 48v 100a batteries, which really simplifies the Solar and house wiring
View attachment 342219
Some of these pics are older as we where in a real rush to make it inhabitable, there is still no shelves or cupboard doors.
I have 4 inside water tanks; 150g fresh water, 150g grey water, 50g toilet head tank100g recycling shower tank that uses chlorine so basically it is a stand up spa with unlimited hot water although after 30min you get pretty wrinkled, we don’t use soap in the shower so you basically have to do the baby wipe thing before you get in and wash your hair in the sink after you get out. I have a 50 micron spin down before the shower pump then a air bladder (for smooth flow, then a 5 micron 10” filter, then a 5 micron 10” charcoal filter then a uv filter, I have cleaned it all out and flushed it with bleach once but it wasn’t that bad. Same setup for the drinking water/ kitchen sink, so 2 completely separate filter systems. The black tank is outside so atm we are using windshield washer antifreeze in the toilet head tank.
Because the glycol gets up to 200*f I have a mixing valve on the sink/fresh water but in the shower you can push it until you can’t stand it, kind of like an unrestricted hot tub.
I also have a separate heat exchanger and pump to heat the motor antifreeze so it starts in the deep freeze with just a touch of the starter.
Wow, very cool. That’s quite the setup you have! Seems like you’re fairly comfortable in your mobile home. Hopefully you’ll get your permits soon. Thanks for sharing.
 
Yeah, but driving a heap like that in Memphis makes you an unlikely target for robbery or carjacking too.
Good point. Our vehicles are sufficiently old enough that they are not desirable for the local crooks. My wife is looking for a new vehicle but we’re a bit apprehensive because many of the vehicles she’s interested in are in the top 10 stolen. If you bought a new high end suv or pick up, and park it in your driveway, there’s a good chance it won’t be there when you wake up one morning. I think parking it in the garage is the only way to protect it from theft but then where would I keep my bikes?
 
Wow, very cool. That’s quite the setup you have! Seems like you’re fairly comfortable in your mobile home. Hopefully you’ll get your permits soon. Thanks for sharing.
It’s a lot of comfort in an 8x16 space, the truck was built in Detroit as part of a military contract so no expense’s where spared (it only has 25,000 miles) as for the permits; our government believes in more development charges and endless red tape, it’s not just me housing starts are almost non-existent around the gta, they have ruined the housing industry and brought in millions of migrants so you can’t even find a rental up here, but the winds of change are blowing.
 
It’s not quite finished as I just realized in October that I wasn’t getting a building permit so I did as much as I could before the snow came. I’m heating it with a custom boiler system that I designed; it has 2 radiators inside one with a 20,000btu blower the other is huge and just radiates. There is a doghouse in the passenger side that used to house a huge compressor for deep dives? I gutted it and installed my own wet bay that houses all my pumps, filters, heat exchangers and my glycol tank
View attachment 342213
Because it was a Navy truck we kept the naval theme so literally everything except the shower is meant for a boat including the glycol powered hot water heater, all the pumps, including the macerators for the electric marine toilet and to pump the grey water into the black tank (after the poop is emptied) from the other side where the kitchen is
View attachment 342214
View attachment 342215
View attachment 342216
I reused the front bench seat for the living area across from the entertainment system, kept the explosives box for ammo, the lockers I got from CFB Trenton. I also cut a doggy door into the cab from the box and put some Audi leather buckets in the front
View attachment 342217
My dog sleeps under the queen size bed I also put in double pane windows
View attachment 342218
It also has a mini split air conditioner with the compressor unit in one of the boxes under the bed ( I opened it up with a hole saw for airflow)
The boiler runs off of a German Espar diesel glycol heater, it has a 5000w Solark inverter, 2- rack mount Pytes 48v 100a batteries, which really simplifies the Solar and house wiring
View attachment 342219
Some of these pics are older as we where in a real rush to make it inhabitable, there is still no shelves or cupboard doors.
I have 4 inside water tanks; 150g fresh water, 150g grey water, 50g toilet head tank100g recycling shower tank that uses chlorine so basically it is a stand up spa with unlimited hot water although after 30min you get pretty wrinkled, we don’t use soap in the shower so you basically have to do the baby wipe thing before you get in and wash your hair in the sink after you get out. I have a 50 micron spin down before the shower pump then a air bladder (for smooth flow, then a 5 micron 10” filter, then a 5 micron 10” charcoal filter then a uv filter, I have cleaned it all out and flushed it with bleach once but it wasn’t that bad. Same setup for the drinking water/ kitchen sink, so 2 completely separate filter systems. The black tank is outside so atm we are using windshield washer antifreeze in the toilet head tank.
Because the glycol gets up to 200*f I have a mixing valve on the sink/fresh water but in the shower you can push it until you can’t stand it, kind of like an unrestricted hot tub.
I also have a separate heat exchanger and pump to heat the motor antifreeze so it starts in the deep freeze with just a touch of the starter.
Awesome!!! I wish I had your energy and skill.
 
I bought a 2020 frontier in early 21, partly because used F150s were stupid expensive(over 30k for a 3yr old truck with 70-100k on it). The nissan came with heated seats, bed liner, hitch, movable tie downs, and fog lights, msrp was just over 31k, discounts got it to 29k and they gave me 5k for my old f150. It's the last year before all the "driver aids" were forced on everyone, and I bought less than 2 months before the "chip shortage." Needless to say it's paid off, and only has 24k miles so far.
 
I could easily be out of touch, but it’s my understanding that pre canbus vehicles are increasing in value. Those cars are recognized as much less life limited and don’t go dead because the backup camera short circuited. I know how to use a mirror and many of you do too!
 
Stopped in at our local Dodge dealer last summer and out front is a new 1/2 ton pickup, $75,000 plus, sticker price, how do people afford these things? I guess I live on the wrong end of the food chain, no way am I going to spend more money than I paid for my house, on a depreciating asset like a new automobile. My 3/4 ton 4X4 Dodge pickup, bought new in 1996, has just rolled over 30,000 miles. No video screens, no cameras, no tire monitor or canbus wiring bs. I can fix anything on it myself. The gas mileage isn't great( 13 MPG, on a good day) but I haven't had a new car loan for decades.
 
Well, the increase in truck prices is nothing new. 10 years ago a friend and I stopped for lunch across from the GMC dealer. They proudly had a line of pickups up by the road with prices painted on the windshields in mid to upper 60's then
 
Back
Top