When Tom and Sophie felt the need to travel, they knew they wanted to do it on their own terms. After years of searching for a potential home on wheels that would allow them to travel the world, they finally found their dream home: an old army truck. After purchasing the olive-green lorry, the ambitious couple went about crafting a beautiful off-grid tiny home on wheels that fit their adventurous lifestyle.
Tom explains that it was love at first sight when he found the old vehicle on eBay. After buying it, the couple went to work, carefully laying out a tiny home design that would work for their needs, but that would also retain the unique character of the truck. “When I was designing the lorry house, I wanted to have the possibility of having a stealth camper by putting the original canvas over the steel frame to make it look like a old army lorry again. This is one of the reasons that I didn’t build the house over the cab. As well as this, there is a gun turret/access hatch on the top of the cab. I loved this feature so much it changed the whole design of the house!”
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The couple began the project by installing a steel frame on the back end of the lorry. After scouring several building sites, Tom was able to salvage a number of reclaimed palletes to use as cladding on the exterior walls. Although the experience of cutting and shaping the pallets was arduous, Tom says that it was one of the best decisions they made in the entire project. By using reclaimed wood, they were able to save money, but were also able to use the remaining scraps of wood on the home’s ceilings and walls. Once the cladding was in place, they added on a zintec steel roof, leaving enough space to install solar panels.
As for the compact interior space, the living space is light and airy, with all of the comforts of home. A ruby-red chesterfield sofa holds court in the middle of the living room. To create more storage, Tom built additional storage out of leftover pallet wood.
The rest of the custom tiny home design includes various features that enable the home to run completely off-grid in various climates. Besides the solar power, the bathroom was installed with a composting toilet. The truck was also equipped with a rain water harvesting system.
Via Tiny House Talk
Images via the Lorry Life
