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Thu 5 May, 2005 06:31 pm
A few days ago i got the bright idea of building my own 16 x 80 trailer. I have the resources to get iron beams, plumbing, and wiring done cheaply. I've never heard of anyone doing this but I think I could do it very cheaply and come out with a better product than the ones that sell for $ 25-30,000. Please let me know if you think this is a good idea and maybe give my some tips and warnigs on what to look out for.
Thanks, Tyler
Why a trailer and not a house? Does it have to be mobile?
I'm thinking four trailers hitched together,
each one 8 x 40 so they can fit on a standard semi for shipping.
Or . . . get four multimodal storage containers.
They are exactly 8 x 40 (x 9.5 high) and only cost $1500 each, slightly used.
They are water-tight (they float!) super-strong, able to hold 64,000 pounds each and still be stacked six high!
You can also order them with windows, doors, bathroom and office furnishings - but fixing and finishing them yourself might be more interesting.
I would put barn-board on the outside of mine, sheetrock and cedar on the inside,
and wheel it around so the living room windows could face the sunrise, and then also the sunset.
Or pull it down to the lake in the summer. Or put it on pontoons (with a deck) to float it.
Then set it up by the trees in the winter, closer to the road.
A two-axle trailer for hauling a 40-foot storage container runs about $2500, but the
containers are already designed to fit easily and securely on any truck/train/ship/freight-yard.
Shoot, for $150,000 you could get a HUNDRED of them
and treat 'em like Lego blocks.
Those storage containers have lots of potential. So do old box cars, if the price is right, but I wouldn't consider anything 80 feet long to be mobile, so why not just build a house?
CodeBorg wrote:I'm thinking four trailers hitched together,
each one 8 x 40 so they can fit on a standard semi for shipping.
Or . . . get four multimodal storage containers.
They are exactly 8 x 40 (x 9.5 high) and only cost $1500 each, slightly used.
They are water-tight (they float!) super-strong, able to hold 64,000 pounds each and still be stacked six high!
Probably they wouldn't be so hot for cold climates, though, would they?
Why not a straw bale house? They've been done for under 10 grand; if I'm not mistaken, S Macdonald's [sp?] cost him around $6-7,000.
Theres a motel over North of here near Vintage Pa. The motel is made up af cabooses all linked together each with a separate entrance a course. They all have the signs that are for sale at the Railroad Museum in STrasburg. "Please flush toilets after each use , unless train is standing in the station"
Theres always a story or two at the mill about someNJ tourist whose pissin in his pants cause he has to go and he believes the sign.
roger wrote:Those storage containers have lots of potential. So do old box cars, if the price is right, but I wouldn't consider anything 80 feet long to be mobile, so why not just build a house?
'mobile' is a relative term. Many mobile homes are 80 feet, Roger. But I agree, if you're building yourself, why would someone choose to replicate a house trailer?
Well, relative sure. If you're a navy man, anything that will fit on an aircraft carrier is "portable."
I know they are pretty big. Still, 62' long and 8' wide are the largest dimensions that can be roaded without a permit. That's a big arguement about locating a mobile home on a rented lot. If the rent changes, you've got a really big problem.
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