Thursday, June 1, 2017

Built my own Coffee truck!!! (been busy with construction sorry)

I have a very very dear friend whose husband is getting to the age he is unable to do a lot anymore. He is 82 and has spent his life doing construction, even teaching it. When I first moved out here to NM my brother was helping build my sister a house on my property here and it was this man, Martin, who designed it and supervised. I did quite a bit of working on that house as well. His work shop is getting redone to a smaller area and then it is becoming my friend's studio. It is a beautiful space (will get pics) that is approx 12 ft by 23 ft (I get to play with that space in my head with tiny house plans!!)
Anyways I am being hired to do a lot as they are both not able to do that much. Today we finished up laying down masonite for flooring (not a fan LOL!!!!).
So on to the coffee truck.
I had this little home made flat bed trailer from my brother and kept looking at it, for a couple years, thinking "hmmm coffee truck?" I threw the idea around with family and no one seemed really interested in the notion, or not interested enough to be motivated.
I am self employed and have been, in various positions, for over 20 yrs. My eldest child is developmentally disabled so I cannot really have a real job outside the home that is not really flexible. So I always have new ideas to make money. I decided, last year, to just go for it!
Here is the trailer before I did anything....it measured approx 3 1/2ft by 8 ft.

I took off those center rails things and other metal parts on the interior (it was hard!!). I thought about building onto the wheel wells but was unsure of my skills so decided not to do that. In retrospect I should have. Then I had to lay out 2x4 frames for the left and right of the trailer, as that center part is raised and is just plywood!! I laid a plywood floor onto that. 
I guess I do not have pics of the process after this, not sure why! I made side walls that bolted through the metal sides/lips of the trailer. Each wall was made of 2x4s I ripped down to be 2x2s. I used old tin roofing from the property to make the siding, and reclaimed insulation. I took a door off an old travel trailer for the door, and used plexiglass pieces for windows, sandwiching them between 1x2s. I had an old reclaimed skylight that is in the coffee truck. Unfortunately no matter what I did the roof leaked!!! so, being I am in NM where a lot of construction things are allowed/ignored (LOL) I duct taped a tarp up there and it has held all winter!!! 
Will continue the story next time but here are some pics of the coffee truck, inside and out.



These last 2 pics are kind of in progress, then counters painted and trim in. 




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