nomad (20)

Custom Camper Shell on 2005 Mazda Inspired by Rolling Homes

Hi Lloyd, here are some photos and text of the truck camper build.

The camper is built on a 2005 Mazda B2500 with a custom tipper bed, handy for parking on slopes and being able to level the camper. The framing is all 2×2 Douglas fir from a local sawmill here is southwest Scotland. I wanted to keep it fairly simple with no added complications such as electricity or plumbing, bare bones, and functional.

There is a single bed/sofa in the back that folds out to a double, and that’s it. Storage is under the bed and above the cab. The exterior cladding is tongue-and-groove which has been stained and distressed, then sealed up with three coats of yacht varnish. The trims are all Douglas fir. The frame is insulated with 25mm of rigid insulation. The roof is EPDM rubber, which is cheap, easy to install, and very lightweight. All in all, I estimate it to weigh roughly 150 kilos. Build time was roughly 80 hours and materials came in at just under £1000.

This sort of camper was inspired by my time in Canada and the Rolling Homes book by Lloyd. They are unusual over here in Scotland so it’s quite a head-turner and I get a lot of interest when I’m out in it. It is helpful that it also doubles as a spare room for visitors when it is not on the truck.

Instagram: @snugg_fit

Many thanks for the inspiration.
All the best
Lewis

Post a comment (4 comments)

4 x 4 Mitsubishi Van

1988 Mitsubishi Delica van of Sam and Raquel, who call themselves the YogaSlackers. They’ve done a lot of maintenance and building on the van and take major trips, one of them up to the Arctic Circle.

In our latest book Rolling Homes.

Note: See comments by YogaSlackers!

257334
Post a comment

Tiny Home Caboose for Sale

Hi Lloyd,

I wrote to you years ago about a Japanese inspired tiny house caboose that I was building. You encouraged me to send photos and you might post it. Well, the Tansu caboose has been done for a number of years and I am moving to Peru so she is up for sale. Would you consider putting on your site and social media? If so, it would be very much appreciated! I really want it to find the right home. I have poured my heart and soul into it and I want it to go to someone who knows what it is.

I have been a maker of fine bows for stringed instruments for 22 years. The Tansu caboose has been my home and bow shop since it’s launch. You can check out my work here.
www.robertmorrowbowmaker.com

I hope this note finds you well!

All the best,
Robert Morrow
360-301-2137


Here is the link for the sale listing:
seattle.craigslist.org/see/tro/d/quilcene-tiny-house-japanese-inspired/7584954611.html

The seller adds this request: “The asking price is $119,000 OBO. Please contact me only if you are a potential buyer. If you know that this caboose is out of your price range or if you simply are curious about the construction I would prefer that you not contact me.”

Post a comment (7 comments)

Warmest Tent on Earth – Pitching in the Siberian Arctic Winter

The Nenet reindeer herders need to move their tent every few days throughout most of the year. Every time they migrate they must pack the whole tent away, drag it across the tundra on sledges, and erect it again in a fresh place, sometimes in temperatures of minus thirty degrees. Survival depends on working together as a team.

From Rich Storek

Post a comment

Paul Elkins’ Video of the TinyFest Festival Sept. 10-11, 2022

One of Paul’s bicycle-pulled campers is in our most recent book, Rolling Homes. Paul drove all the way down from Washington to exhibit one of his trailers next to our Shelter booth at the festival. People were fascinated with his trailer and he had inquisitive visitors for the entire two days. Here is his video of a bunch of the rigs on display.



Post a comment (2 comments)

Shelter Booth at Last Weekend’s TinyFest Festival in Pleasanton, Calif.

256173

Our booth at the TinyFest Festival at the Alameda Fairgrounds last weekend, where we sold books and had a great time meeting new friends.

At the booth, we introduced our just-published Rolling Homes book and we sold a lot of copies. Everyone seems to love it. For one thing, the timing — with all the new vans, trucks, trailers and other nomadic vehicles on the roads now.

Two of the contributors to the book showed up and parked their rigs next to our booth: Ben Bloom’s homemade redwood camper shell on his Toyota Tacoma truck and Paul Elkins’ bike-pulled solar- and wind-powered trailer. Both of these generated a lot of interest, with a steady stream of inquiring fair goers

On the first day, maybe 20 people came into the booth and thanked us for the books through the years. Really gratifying.

Post a comment

What to Know About Nomadland and the Real-Life Community Behind the Movie

Some interesting insight relating to our new book Rolling Homes. (Due in bookstores in July.) In the introduction, I point out that we don’t have many nomadlanders (people that are “houseless, not homeless”), nor do we have many of the #vanlife crowd that make a living as influencers.

Article in Time Magazine by Annabel Gutterman, February 15, 2021

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Bob Wells discussed the community of modern nomads, and why people are increasingly drawn to the movement. “If the Great Recession was a crack in the system, Covid and climate change will be the chasm,” he said. This lifestyle is not to be confused with “#vanlife” — a hashtag that populates Instagram feeds and accompanies photos of largely younger people traveling in vans. Bruder (author of Nomadland) believes #vanlife is more of a brand than a movement. “There are people of all ages who are living in vans and then there are people doing #vanlife,” Bruder says. “For everybody who can actually make a living or enough to eat and put gas in the tank on the road as an influencer, there are thousands of people who would probably like to be doing that and cannot.

www.time.com/5938982/nomadland-true-story

Shameless Commerce Dept.: Rolling Homes is available for pre-order with a 20% discount: www.shelterpub.com/building/rolling-homes

We will ship as soon as we receive books, hopefully mid-July.

Please note: other books can’t be combined with pre-orders.

This is our best book in years!

Post a comment

Sámi Shelter

Photo of Sámi people standing in front of a peat-covered goahti shelter around 1880 in Northern Norway

The Sámi people are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, Russia, most of the Kola Peninsula in particular. The Sámi have historically been known in English as Lapps or Laplanders, but these terms are regarded as offensive by some Sámi people, who prefer the area’s name in their own languages, e.g. Northern Sami Sápmi.…

Traditionally, the Sámi have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping, and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding. Currently about 10% of the Sámi are connected to reindeer herding, which provides them with meat, fur, and transportation. 2,800 Sámi people are actively involved in reindeer herding on a full-time basis in Norway. For traditional, environmental, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved for only Sámi people in some regions of the Nordic countries.…

–Wikipedia

From article in The Guardian on the return of a Sámi shaman’s drum to the Sámi people by the National Museum of Denmark
Sent us by Maui Surfer

Post a comment (1 comment)