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Finally finished our homebuilt RV!
06-08-2015, 08:53 PM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Seattle
Posts: 6,023
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Finally finished our homebuilt RV!
Today we pulled the garage pod out of our house garage where we had been working on it. We elevated it using the plug in jacks (same as the main pod uses). Everything fit perfectly and I think it looks reasonable.
Now just need to ride our dual sport motorcycles up the ramp, activate the twin 3500 pound winches to close the ramp door and go on some adventures! Oops, forgot, toss in the bicycles, put our canoe and kayak on the garage pod roof rack.
Oh, maybe hook the sailboat up to the trailer hitch too 
Here is what we had 2 years ago when we started (a pile of metal and this CAD drawing):
And here is how it looks now:
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06-08-2015, 09:04 PM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
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Congrats. Are you fully retired, to be able to take off?
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
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06-08-2015, 09:29 PM
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#3
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Seattle
Posts: 6,023
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by NW-Bound
Congrats. Are you fully retired, to be able to take off?
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Define retired. We quit working for wages in March 2015 but have been slaving over this RV all of April and May.
We really can't take off though until we sell the house, which is the next big step.
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06-08-2015, 09:37 PM
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#4
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 9,358
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That is so cool that you guys have the skills to build something like that for yourselves. What a great ER project and future lifestyle.
__________________
Even clouds seem bright and breezy, 'Cause the livin' is free and easy, See the rat race in a new way, Like you're wakin' up to a new day (Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether lyrics, Alan Parsons Project, based on an EA Poe story)
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06-08-2015, 09:51 PM
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#5
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: seattle
Posts: 646
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Looks very professional, must have taken a slew of work. Did you have some local help, or do most of it yourselves?
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06-08-2015, 10:05 PM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 2,929
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Congratulations!! What an amazing accomplishment. 
Do you have a "bucket list" of places you want to see, or will you just travel with the seasons - go where the whim takes you at any given time, that sort of thing?
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06-08-2015, 10:15 PM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Seattle
Posts: 6,023
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bld999
Looks very professional, must have taken a slew of work. Did you have some local help, or do most of it yourselves?
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No help, we did ALL of it ourselves. Welding, painting, woodworking, cnc machining, and wiring.
And yes, it was a slew of work  But hey, I don't expect to see another one on the road...like ever.
Here is an example of how ridiculously custom it is. We wanted small outlet plate covers for the electrical outlets at the garage pod workbench, but the outlets were the GFCI type (squareish) and they don't seem to make small plates for those. Instead of settling for bigger plates, we bought the small plain plates with no holes and popped them on the cnc mill to cut the rectangular holes for the outlets.
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06-08-2015, 11:20 PM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,395
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I think that's the neatest RV I have ever seen!
A modern industrial look.
And a configurable pods concept. Cool!
__________________
-- Telly, the D-I-Y guy --
Two fools dancing on the hands of time
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06-08-2015, 11:46 PM
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#9
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fermion
Define retired. We quit working for wages in March 2015 but have been slaving over this RV all of April and May.
We really can't take off though until we sell the house, which is the next big step. |
OK. If you made an announcement, I missed it. A belated congrat on the ER then.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
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06-09-2015, 05:41 AM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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The best part is the "Not for hire" logo on the door!
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire
...not doing anything of true substance...
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06-09-2015, 05:52 AM
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#11
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 670
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It looks very professional! And it will probably outlast my ordinary motorhome.
Now if there were a car ferry between US and Europe...
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06-09-2015, 06:07 AM
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#12
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 834
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Inside pics?
Is the detachable pod thing a part of the living space, or for toys?
Can/would you pull a toad behind it?
__________________
The Constitution. It's not just a good idea...it's the law.
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06-09-2015, 06:15 AM
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#13
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,603
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Wow! Very impressive!
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06-09-2015, 06:21 AM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SW Ohio
Posts: 14,404
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Fermion,
Very cool. I know you've told about this "little' project before. Have you got a spot where you've collected more details, pictures, etc? What did the final weight of each pod and the flatbed truck turn out to be? Thanks.
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06-09-2015, 06:34 AM
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#15
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 862
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That is really cool, and yes, construction pictures, pictures of the internal structure, wiring, plumbing, etc., please?
And grats on retiring.
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06-09-2015, 06:54 AM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Duesseldorf, Germany
Posts: 1,202
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I would so much love to look inside!
Many great advantures with the RV and drive safe!
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06-09-2015, 07:56 AM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Charleston, SC
Posts: 13,566
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Amazing! I've only seen a couple of homebuilt ones and yours is by far the best looking!
Congrats on finishing up and getting ready to get out on the road. That is a massive achievement for sure.
__________________
“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching.”
Gerard Arthur Way
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06-09-2015, 07:57 AM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 2,301
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This is awesome. I wish I had enough mechanical skills to do this.
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06-09-2015, 08:01 AM
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#19
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 13,150
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Very impressive! Nice job.
__________________
Have you ever seen a headstone with these words
"If only I had spent more time at work" ... from "Busy Man" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus
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06-09-2015, 10:04 AM
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#20
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Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 7,945
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Very impressive! I hope you enjoy it for many years to come and look forward to hearing about your adventures!
__________________
"One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute." William Feather
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ER'd Oct. 2010 at 53. Life is good.
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