A person transformed a 1994 Stewart & Stevenson M1079 army truck right into a tiny house, and the result’s unbelievable.
Michael Ladden purchased a army truck for $18,000 and spent $80,000 to show it into a beautiful tiny house overlander that he can take wherever.
It’s outstanding as a result of it seems like a rugged truck exterior, and also you received’t consider it’s a truck when you get inside.
Mike is without doubt one of the founders of Drive Globe Overland Adventures, a journey firm, and he’s at all times on the street to exploring the whole lot that Earth has to supply.
He set off on a visit that may cowl 220,000 miles a number of years in the past, planning it to be probably the most epic enterprise within the firm’s 25-year historical past.
He did it with a 41-year-old Mercedes Unimog with a {custom} overland expedition trailer till 2021.
Nevertheless, he discovered an overland rig that was a army truck and transformed it into a beautiful tiny house with a comfortable bed room, toilet, bathe room, and full kitchen.
In line with Mike, some benefits of selecting a army truck are that they’re well-maintained and constructed extremely rugged.
He picked up his army truck with 5,000 miles on it.
Mike mentioned that his background isn’t actually in constructing vehicles, and it’s not actually in any of the issues he does.
So, he watched many YouTube movies to see different folks’s builds and constructed his truck in numerous locations like buddies’ backyards and campgrounds.
It took Mike 4 months to completely end his tiny house.
Whereas the whole value of his home isn’t budget-friendly, he mentioned that he wished the within to really feel like house since he would stay in his truck full-time on the street. However he stored it beneath a hundred-thousand-dollar mark.
Exterior the truck, Mike changed all of the army lighting with LED.
The truck has 48-inch tires with a central inflation system; it might journey simply on terrains like mud, sand, and off-road as they mechanically inflate and deflate with a push of a button.
It additionally has an 85-gallon tank for recent water and a 25-gallon tank for grey water.
Behind the truck, Mike has custom-made racks for his bikes and packing containers the place he retains his motorbike and kayaking gears, so he doesn’t need to put these issues inside the home, which he referred to as the “Habitat.”
He changed the doorway with an everyday RV door he purchased from eBay.
The doorway additionally has Torklift steps related to a retractable platform.
The truck has 1,200-watt photo voltaic panels and a mount for his kayak on the roof.
Going contained in the tiny house, you will notice a full kitchen that can make you overlook you’re inside a army truck.
“The kitchen is what I didn’t have in my final constructed,” mentioned Mike.
His kitchen has a burner high with a working oven.
“Consider it or not, you’ll be able to bake in it,” he mentioned, including that it really works fairly good, particularly with frozen pizza.
It additionally has cupboards he purchased from Ikea.
“A few folks gave me some destructive suggestions they’re not going to carry up, and I can let you know over the previous 12 months, I’ve been bouncing round, and the cupboards are holding simply high-quality,” he mentioned.
Mike magnetized the cupboard doorways and put in bungee cords to make sure that his stuff inside the cupboard received’t fall off.
The kitchen additionally has a double ceramic sink with an Acuva UV mild water filtration system.
Beneath the sink are a freezer and a fridge the place he shops plenty of meals.
“No drinks in right here as a result of I’ve an entire different fridge contained in the cab,” he mentioned.
He additionally has an espresso machine, and toaster screwed down so that they received’t transfer.
The tiny house has an everyday window-type air conditioner for a home as an alternative of a split-type one as it’s cheaper and works nice in his 135-square-foot place. It runs for about eight hours on the battery by means of an inverter.
The ceiling of the home is product of fake tin vinyl, which he utilized in his first builds, and the whole lot inside the home is plastic-based or non-wood because it often adjustments environments and doesn’t need issues to shrink, contract, or wrap.
He maximizes all of the house in his home by putting in storage in all places doable. For example, he has two small stools which have storage, and his folding desk within the kitchen has drawers on the aspect.
The lavatory, a separate bathe room, and the bed room are on the opposite aspect of his tiny house.
His toilet has a cassette rest room, a conceit with a sink, and a mirror.
In the meantime, the full-size home bathe has a glass door and rain head bathe that releases roughly a gallon to a gallon and a half per minute.
“One in every of my huge priorities was to have a pleasant bathe on board,” Mike mentioned.
In entrance of the lavatory and bathe is his wardrobe, and a bit of additional inside the home is his bed room.
His mattress has a house mattress, making it very snug. The bed room has two home windows on both aspect and an overhead air vent fan.
The cab of the truck is spacious.
“After I received this truck, it was only a barren loud metallic house,” mentioned Mike, including that he did some upgrades by putting in an air-con unit, GPS, monitoring, and SOS restoration. The cab additionally has a fridge the place he shops his drinks.
“The most important expense on this truck and improve I made was the Scheel-Mann seats from Germany. They’re simply extremely snug and have twin armrests. They’re heated. They’re wonderful!”
Mike additionally did all of the paneling contained in the cab. He used materials on the doorways and insulated the seats beneath for warmth and sound, so he might drive alongside the street comfortably, listening to the radio.
“To me, being out on the street, the very best factor about it’s that I stand up in my mattress with my stuff each morning. I’m at all times at house. I look out the window and get a special view each morning.”
Take a tour on this wonderful tiny house in a army truck by watching the video beneath:
