We always love getting reader mail, and this beauty of a DIY home build was recently shared with Shelter Publications founder Lloyd Kahn: “…I still have my original Whole Earth Catalogs and recently replaced my Shelter book that I loaned out 40 years ago. You have been a great inspiration Lloyd…Many thanks. I am fully retired and ready to finally build my forever home! Greetings from Ontario, Canada! – Ursula Z.”
We wish you the best of luck on your future build, and thank you for being a long-time reader of Shelter books!
Rolling Homes by Lloyd Kahn is filled with a wealth of design options for DIY vehicles, ranging from the simple to the super elaborate. Costs also fall across a wide spectrum. The book is a fantastic resource, inspiring readers with ideas that can be combined to create the perfect custom project. Years after its first publication, Lloyd says this book remains “state of the art.”
One of the cheapest projects in the book is “The $300 Camper Shell” by Noah Gavrich. Noah’s environmental studies teacher gave him a copy of Home Work by Lloyd Kahn, igniting his dream of designing a camper of his own. Noah was familiar with companies that retrofitted expensive vans and wanted to build something original that was also cheaper. He used recycled materials for about half of the project, which kept costs down while he built the light, drag-resistant camper for the back of his 2001 Toyota Tacoma. The camper includes a bed platform and removable shelves that serve as a standing table outside.
On the opposite end, there’s a top-of-the-line rebuild project. The “1992 Land Rover Defender” by Oso Steen and Marcus Whitaker is both elegant and functional. The owner, Ray Tien, had commissioned a Land Rover restoration and camper; Oso took the lead on the camper build. The chassis was restored and strengthened in the back, the engine rebuilt, and the suspension upgraded to include locking differentials and a turbo. All of these were installed back in the United Kingdom before the vehicle was exported. The camper started with an Alu Cab Icarus rooftop conversion that expanded the headroom to 7 feet when popped up. The bedding and clothing fit in the top, leaving room below for a lounging area to include a full bed, kitchen, office desk, and storage. The main feature of the build is the stainless-steel box mounted to the chassis for a slide-out kitchen that includes a sink, water tank, propane stove, a hidden cutting board, and storage drawers.
This last example is one of the most extensive builds in the book. “Living in a Tiny Car” by Bob Stuart is more about mileage than comfort, but all the necessities are found within a 3-cylinder Suzuki Swift. The small car has a bed, sink, fridge, storage drawers, and emergency toilet. Bob uses a shoe organizer behind the driver’s seat and overhead mesh on the ceiling for extra storage. While Bob scrounged up most of the materials, the battery and inverters were the most expensive parts of the build by far. He also has a bread maker and a toaster—luxury materials—onboard.
Rolling Homes features 79 homes, 29 of which are full-time residences. The range of options is endless and will surely inspire those curious about building their own homes. This title, as well as others by Lloyd Kahn, such as Home Work and Tiny Homes on the Move, can provide hundreds of ideas for creating your moving home today.
Kirk Williams’s journey has been “full of obstacles.” Before creating his custom home, he dedicated 10 years to researching exactly how to put together the right van to make travel more accessible. The details ranged from which chassis to use for international travel to the engine to which light switch would best suit the limited dexterity in his hands and fingers. Kirk’s van, named Spock, helps provide its owner with the freedom to continue to travel with independence that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
A Way of Life
Kirk’s concern after he broke his neck was that he could no longer explore nature and see the world, but his van has helped him travel all over the United States (including Alaska), as well as to Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. His van is customized with the right tools to help him eat, sleep, use the bathroom, and drive more independently. He calls Spock his “freedom pod.” Kirk enjoys exploring remote campsites, off the beaten path, where his van can take him. “My life is easy within the van; it’s once I get outside that things get complicated!”
Kirk has also found many ways to help others. He has teamed up with Walkabout Foundation to help raise money to send wheelchairs over to Kenya and Venezuela. Follow him and learn more about his adventures on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/impact.overland.
Specs for Spock
The foundation is a 2017 Ford Transit medium-roof, 148-inch wheelbase van with a Quigley 4×4 conversion. Kirk chose this because the 3.5-liter twin turbo gas motor (or Ecoboost) is the best for US and international travel, as a diesel motor does not run on low-sulfur diesel. He needed a decent amount of headroom space within the van, but it also had to fit inside a high-roof shipping container to send internationally. The Quigley 4×4 conversion was most necessary, as getting stuck is more than a slight inconvenience. “I can’t just walk down the trail to go find help or dig myself out of the sand.” For more risky endeavors, Kirk tends to bring some companions along for extra security.
The lift that helps get Kirk and his chair into the van is a SuperArm lift. The platformless lift takes up much less space and can be lowered on any terrain. Inside, the van focuses solely on functionality: a sink with open space underneath, drawers to bring items closer, a higher-mounted fridge to allow two-hand grabs for heavier items, and a bed at the exact height for easy self-transfer. A fold-down induction cooktop provides space for the larger driver’s seat; it folds down while Kirk is driving and gets put back up when he parks the van for camping.
When it comes to driving Spock, there is a right-angle hand-control system. This system includes a lever to the left of the steering wheel that, pushed toward the floor, starts the throttle; it applies the brakes when moved toward the dashboard. The steering wheel has a tri-pin knob that holds Erik’s right wrist since he cannot grip.
“Thanks to my home on wheels, I am able to experience more than I’d have ever thought possible.”
Read more on Kirk and Spock in Rolling Homes by Lloyd Kahn.
…After a lot of trawling through eBay, I finally found the perfect lorry to build my house on, the beastly 1988 Bedford MJ. The build began in November 2016, and, as I was building it mainly single-handedly, I didn’t move into it until November 2017.
My house has everything you need, including a fully equipped kitchen, log burner, bathroom with shower and composting toilet, and — most importantly — space for surfboards! To maximize space, the bed is suspended from the ceiling on pulleys, raised during the day over the living room and lowers down to be slept on. It’s also fully off-grid, with solar panels and a rain water harvesting system…
Tom’s Lorry will be featured in our upcoming book Hit the Road Jack.
Sarah and Matt Parks lived in a 1978 VW Westfalia before they decided to build a new rig using a newer Chevy van as a platform. What are the benefits of using a newer platform? Easier to heat during winter, more storage, less maintenance. Sarah and Matt along with their new rig will be featured in our upcoming book, aptly called Hit the Road Jack due out towards the end of the year.
This incredible tiny house has been built for a remarkable price. Builder Jesse has taken a whole bunch of salvaged materials (mostly lots of old fence palings) and constructed a fully featured and whimsically beautiful tiny home all for less that $20,000.
While a tiny house may be small, there’s nothing tiny about the amount of labour that goes into constructing one. If you’re choosing to use reclaimed or salvaged materials that work load is dramatically increased as there is a lot of labour involved in reconditioning old materials and preparing them for a new project. If you’re willing to put in the work though, you can construct an affordable and beautiful home for a remarkably low figure.
Jesse’s home sits on an amazing property where he lives and works full time as a tiny house builder. While his boss was away on holiday and there was a break of work in the shop, Jessie turned his attention to constructing his own home on wheels. Ever resourceful, he had managed to find a whole bunch of old windows which he salvaged and designed his tiny house around. Except for the framing, old fence palings which he saved from landfill and thus got for free were used for both interior and exterior cladding as well as much of the cabinetry in the house…
Yogan, a highly creative French carpenter, has been in our last three books. Here is his latest creation, about which he wrote:
This is a 2002 Mercedes 311cdi Sprinter double-cabin (7 seats) truck with a hydraulic bed lift. I call it Le Benne-Benz. I wanted the 7-seater because we live in collective and it’s cool to go to festivals in only one vehicle! All the stuff (tent, mattress, etc.) is in the truck and there’s only one driver! It’s also good for a hot tub and a good stage for a concert!
I travel a lot, so I had to make a place to sleep and live during my travels. The idea to make a removable cell came to me because I like to sleep under the stars, and sunbathe nude, so the open roof was mandatory!
For the shell, I made 10 arches in laminated poplar wood (9mm × 8 layers) and I glued 2 layers (2 × 6mm) of poplar plywood for the shell.
I have a big lifting frame in the forest where I suspend it, and it’s possible to sleep inside while it’s suspended (off the truck) like a big swing seat!
I travel with “Sucette,” my cat, and under my bed I have space to put my paraglider, my longboard, my accordions, and a lot of Cabanophiles books to sell during my travels.
This structure cost me less than 300 Euros!
I can level the bed with the hydraulic lift, which means I can find a lot more good camping spots! 50° max!
To use a van with a camper shell is a good way to be “unruly” because now in France its illegal to make your own rolling home. With this technique you can be so creative! I like to be unruly in this world; we need to be creative and have fun!
I will put Le Benne-Benz in my next book Cabanophiles II, in 2 years!
Note: Yogan published a book about his travels called Cabinophiles (for which I wrote the intro). It’s in French, but he’s translating it into English. www.cabanophiles.com
In 2017, wildfires swept through Ojai, California causing a tremendous amount of destruction. Ryan watched as the eerie glow on the horizon turned into a wall of flames racing towards his parked tiny house. It was about 4am when he hitched up his home to his truck and managed to move it to safety moments before the property was engulfed in flames. Thankfully, his tiny home was safe but the property it was parked on was completely torched, the property owners tragically loosing their home.
It was that event which prompted him to build a second tiny house. Firstly, he wanted to build cheaper, so he didn’t have quite as much capital invested in his home on wheels and secondly so that it could be smaller, easier to find a parking space for and even more simple to move should the fires ever sweep through the area again…
This 20′ vardo is off-grid ready. Solar panels run a high-efficiency solar refrigerator and 12-volt lighting. The wood-fired heater heats 14 gallons of hot water while it heats your home. A propane stove and oven additionally warm this tiny home when you make tea or bake.
When constructing a tiny house on wheels, we are presented with a unique opportunity to add materials and fittings which we may not be able to afford were we constructing a larger home. Reducing the size of a home also means reducing the amount of materials which are required to build it and therefore gives us an opportunity to use higher quality, longer-lasting materials. Putting hardwood floors down in a 5-bedroom family home would be an extreme cost, but when you’re only placing them in a tiny house on wheels, then all of a sudden that becomes achievable. When Alex and Emmie, a young couple from Ojai, California decided to build their tiny house, they chose to truly craft it as an heirloom, utilising high-quality, sustainably sourced materials to build their home in a way that it would stand the test of time, and be a treasure which they could pass down to future generations.
“The Flying Tortoise is a 1977 KD Bedford bus built in New Zealand by Hawke Coach Builders. Originally it was used in forestry areas to carry work gangs to remote bush sites, built high off the ground and with a short wheelbase for tight turning, there’s hardly a hill it can’t climb, and with its off-road tires, it’s almost a ‘Go Anywhere Vehicle.’”
In 1973 we published Shelter, which turned out to be station central for people interested in creating their own homes. Now, in the 21st century, we continue this dialog here online on shelter, carpentry, homesteading, gardening, and the home arts with this blog. We hope you will join us and contribute.
