Most regular readers are well aware of the endless search for the Autopian RV, a search that many are beginning to think is never really meant to yield a purchased motorhome. The journey, or the search, is really the destination. Like the dog that chases cars–what will he do once he catches a car? Once the camper is finally found, maybe the interest will be gone?
The latest camper of umpteen thousand presented on Slack was one of those multi-room things that are used for things like housing first responders at some disaster site. Some rather well-used ones have appeared recently, and many staffers didn’t know of their existence.
I’m only aware of them since I’ve seen them on the outer edges of parking lots where fairs are being held, acting as living spaces for carnival workers. Funnel cake booth person? You get a room! Tilt-A-Whirl operator? You get a room! Everyone is happy!
A Bunch Of Bunk–The Challenge
The idea is sound; the Autopian staff seems to generally get along pretty well, but the thought of sleeping in a shared bunk goes a bit beyond where we want our work relationship to go. Still, these things have two primary problems. One is that they really aren’t very appealing inside, designed to be more of a bare-bones, place-to-sleep sub-Motel-6 functional equivalent of a Port-A-Potty. Secondly, these things usually feature bathrooms but there is absolutely no indoor communal space for living or eating.
Well, some have taken it a bit further. I’ve seen a semi-trailer-sized version that has a slide-out “hallway” so you don’t have to go outside to meet your neighbors or use the toilet, but that’s hardly a great space to hang out. I think we can take this idea and improve on it.
Not So Open Concept- The Solution
What I have in mind for the BunkHouz is something similar to that semi-trailer but with a wider common area slide-out, so that you can get the benefits of the individual rooms of a bunkhouse trailer but still have that open living space. The idea is a fully expandable trailer that essentially becomes a “double wide”, but a classier one than might be the brunt of jokes by someone like Jeff Foxworthy.
You start with a standard-sized 32-foot trailer, and then when you reach the campsite, the secondary front, back, one side, and roof move outwards by motors. Wheels below this section allow for ease of movement. Next, the floor that is held vertically against the side of the camper will pivot and lower in place.
Next, you slide out the kitchen unit (the bunk in the adjacent room will need to lift up to provide space) and lower the dining table and two couches.
The layout of the rooms could vary, but I’ve set this one up as if I were going to go on a trip with another family like ours. That means my better half and I would sleep in the main bedroom, the other couple could stay in the room next door, and our sum total of four kids under the age of 11 would inhabit the two bunk beds in the room on the end. There are two bathrooms as well. Each of the rooms has a window to allow for natural light but also can be opened for ventilation, emergency escape, or to allow you to load gear into each room when the trailer is not expanded (remember, you can’t get in from the other side when it’s collapsed).
This is an ideal layout for the typical vacation where the kids are sent away to sleep but the adults can still chill. Also, later either of the couples could retire to their room, or one member of each couple could go to bed while the other two stay up into the wee hours complaining about their spouses (it happens).
The Weight Of The Situation
Mechanically, there would of course be hurdles to get over. The actual sliding mechanism with motors and tracks I’m sure we can do; you’ve seen the typical slide-outs on many campers they can get rather complex. The bigger issue might be (who am I kidding, will be) the weight of the thing. It’s not like this double-width thirty-foot trailer will weigh as much as a sixty-foot trailer (since the expandable section is essentially hollow) but we’ll need to look at lighter weight materials for areas like the roof sections and a composite floor. Mercedes Streeter just reported on a 16,000-pound trailer, but as designer Raymond Loewy said, “weight in the enemy”.
Mark my words though: in ten years the staff will still be looking for a camper, and they’ll go crazy when a decade-old, semi-decrepit example of this BunkHouz comes up for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
The Only Way To Go Is Up With This Daydreaming Designer’s Three Story Camper Concept – The Autopian
A Daydreaming Designer Revisits A Curious ‘Motorhome’ Project – The Autopian
Finally, The Galileo Shuttlecraft Amphibious Camper You’ve Waited Years For – The Autopianout
Bishop this is lovely now stop dreaming and have Beau write a business check to Anderson Mobile Estates and y’all can travel in style
+ it could make for a great tax (business expense) write-off!
https://andersonmobileestates.com/
Before I read the byline, I rolled my eyes thinking “cool, another $2 million dollar trailer from some ‘disruptor’ start-up”. Haha.
Guys.. just buy an old tour bus. Seriously. It would have all of this and more, and be really cool with maybe a decent back story or good photos with a black light..
Yes. and they’ll refuse to buy it because the slideouts aren’t manual and there isn’t enough “patination” (rust.)
The exterior looks decidedly similar to the pre-fab living quarters you see on colony worlds throughout the Mass Effect series.
Former FEMA trailers have been converted into many different configurations. You would definitely want to check the date of the gypsum, tho.
Movie/TV folks are fed on location in a double slideout trailer called a Lunchbox.
Almost 24 ft wide!
http://www.lunchboxtransportation.com/new-gallery
It never ceases to amaze me how much gear, and how many people, it takes to produce a film.
Whaddya mean, no communal space for eating? You just said there’s a bathroom. Shower spaghetti for all! 😀
Ok, Everybody strip down and head to the shower, dinner is served!
I thought we all agreed that you guys already have an RV? It’s at Jason’s house. You just need to fix it and paint it like the A Team van. Right?
Nah, that would be too easy. It’s still on the table but too much stuff out there on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist to distract us.
The Changli? Kinda small for an RV but man it would it look good in that livery!
Place to sleep? Check.
Place to shit? Check.
Place to make coffee? Check.
Those are my 3 main needs taken care of. Being able to shower inside it is a nice bonus, even though I could make do with an outdoor faucet and curtain setup.
I’d suggest a Japanese style capsule bed option in addition to the mix of bunk and doubles, it wouldn’t add more people but if the entire party is adults it would give everyone a bit of individual space while leaving plenty of space for the communal areas.
Can I get one with polyester curtains and a redwood deck?
Apparently, slide-outs are difficult to seal, and the mechanisms fail often, or so I’ve been told.
What if, instead of sliding out to the side, it slid up and created a second story? Have it be all bedrooms up there with maybe an upper deck on either the front or the back. If it’s just bedrooms, the collapsed height would only add the thickness of the roof, the mattresses, and maybe an underbed storage unit for clothes and linens.
Having the slide up overlap the first floor should solve any sort of leaking from rain, and there would be no side loading to cause issues with the mechanism.
Also, with the bedrooms upstairs, anyone who wants to go to bed early won’t be disturbed by people who want to stay up late and hang out downstairs.
I thought slide-outs on campers and stuff aren’t actually sealed very well, intentionally. It’s hard to do, they are meant to be temporary living spaces, so it doesn’t make sense. It’s more of “kind of seal it” but generally provide a decent overhang and guard to stop direct water penetration, but largely design around the fact that it isn’t going to be 100% water tight or air tight so include drainage paths.
Slide-out seals tend to be “good enough” in the out position, with more emphasis on keeping moisture, critters, and driving rain out in the closed/storage position.
That said, I’ve seen differences in quality, durability, and sealing performance on slide-out systems for towable campers versus motorhomes — in particular the larger diesel-pusher class-As. A lot of it comes down to weight, as always. Towables in particular need weight-savings to be a priority, but that means lighter mechanisms and sealing systems — which are more likely to run into issues with wear and tear or going out-of-alignment unless the vehicle is completely and precisely leveled. It’s not as big a deal to build them with more robust motors and layered seals in a self-propelled, self-contained bus with a commercial-duty diesel to motivate it.
Also, with sliders, make sure any interior doors that swing out into the main living space are closed before retracting, a coworker invited me on a fishing trip with his new camper, and he had an expensive weekend. This was after crunching the tailgate of his (also new) F-250 backing down hill into the tongue
D’OH!
He sounds like a guy destined to float his truck off a boat ramp
He hasn’t done that, but he has lost an anchor, throwing it overboard without securing the rope. Also once accidentally threw all his keys onto the roof a 3 story building trying to casually toss them to someone.
Magnetic alarm sensors should do the trick.
That’s how you get ants! And scorpions, and spiders, and if the gaps are big enough mice, rats, bears….
I actually messed with that one already:
The Only Way To Go Is Up With This Daydreaming Designer’s Three Story Camper Concept – The Autopian
Of course you did! Because you’re The Bishop, and I’m just a hack commenter.
No, I made stuff like Tesla lawn mowers and chopped-in-half Corolla tractors so I am truly the hack. There are no hack comments.
Is that a challenge?
Ok, who else is a Southern Culture On The Skids fan?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yB6ImgO__w8
Well I am now! Thanks for that link. I’d never heard of SCOTS but they’re awesome! And that song should be the official theme song of the Autopian Camper Project.
Ah, the 80s. Here in Athens we had the B-52s and Chapel Hill had the SCOTS. I might have broken a few laws listening to both.
Athens GA! I miss seeing shows at Calendonia
Have been since after hours parties in the 80s at Hartman’s house*. Dirt Track Date was the soundtrack to much of my cruising in my thirties.
*About 12 years back I got to rebuild the piano there. The one we used to gather round for late night sessions. Found a couple razor blades in there & an unused (thankfully) condom. Some great if not perfectly clear memories.
A friend of mine from college used to summarize nights like that by saying “all were had by a good time.”
Very well said indeed!
I just got back from deer hunting in Idaho, and some of the camps there are just short of having their own zip code. I think a concept like this would have a serious market with hunters, and for commercial applications (logging, woodland fire fighting, mining) where you have a big crew working for a finite amount of time.
Neat. I like it. Reminds me of Australian market campers where a lot of the usuable living space is outside the camper, only they use canvas to create it.
You just need one of those expanding semi trailers as seen in Universal Soldier.
How about the the ones the F1 teams have and use to set up camp for race weekends.
Those things are palaces on wheels.
Hokey smoke–I did a quick Google and those things transform like Optimus Prime.