Greetings!
Hey there! We wanted to start this blog out by writing a little something about why we chose a retired military cargo truck to turn into a camper and maybe our next full time home. Here is the short list of features that we wanted our next home on wheels to have.
Peanut outside of Carbondale, Colorado. Playing around on a snowy and muddy Forest Service road.
Easily serviceable
I know this might seem crazy because it is a huge truck, and looks really unique. Actually though, the truck is very simple. I like to think of it as an oversized “fast” tractor. It has an Allison transmission and a Caterpillar engine in it. All the other parts of the truck are somewhat common tractor-trailer type parts and they were produced by the thousands for the government.
4x4
I think you can kinda figure this one out just by looking at Peanut. I mean seriously, the truck will go anywhere that it fits… Sometimes that is the limiting factor, but it’s not often. Bonus, the truck has the ability to adjust tire pressure from within the cab, which this makes off roading much better, with lots more traction, a smoother ride, and is less likely to get stuck.
Standing room
Brian is 6’ and Christina is 5’5” so room was more of a factor for Brian. Our previous van that we lived in for some time wasn’t tall enough for either us to stand up. For short trips if was fine, but by the end of the summer it really started to wear on us not being able to stand fully.
4 season living area
This will come down to how we build the box on the back. We both love skiing and winter recreation so having the ability to take our home anywhere no matter the outside temp is a huge bonus.
Unique
As cool as Sprinters are (and we have both drooled over our fair share of them) we both decided that we wanted something way more unique and eye catching than your standard cargo work van turned home on wheels. Plus, it is amazing watching both kids and adults faces as we drive past them in Peanut. It seems like people can’t help but be surprised and smile when they see the truck.
Affordable
It may seem surprising, but this truck cost us less than a fifth of what a new blank-slate Sprinter would cost. We had been saving up for some time to purchase a Sprinter and after seeing some inspiration from other builds on this truck platform, it was an easy decision for us to get this truck.
We decided to name the truck Peanut for several reasons. We both liked the idea of having an ironic name. It’s hard to tell sometimes when we are out and around town talking about Peanut between us if we are chatting about our pet at home, or an adorable name from something small. So it really throws off the idea of the truck being this huge and intimidating 17,000 lb military vehicle.
When we purchased the truck, it was completely painted in desert tan. With the generosity of a friend’s temporarily donated garage space, we repainted the whole underside of the truck matte black. Although we have plans for an updated paint job for the cab, it is kind of fun that the desert tan “peanut color” matches the truck’s name.
Eventually, our plan with Peanut is to have a camper built on the back of the truck that will be 15’ long 7’ high and 8’ wide. It will have a kitchen, dinette/living space, full wet bath, closet, bed, and plenty of gear storage. From there the plan is very roughly written. We are entertaining the idea of driving from the most NE corner of North America to the most NW corner of Alaska through as much of Canada as we can. And if we are lucky, we will be able to move into Peanut full time, enjoying a home on wheels again. We really miss the simplicity of life on wheels. We wake up earlier, go to bed earlier, eat better and find that we are outside way more often. So, fingers crossed and time will tell!
This is sketch that we have done showing our rough plans for how we build out the living space in our box.
So there you have it. A not so short, short explanation of our thoughts and rough plans. We hope you follow along here and on our Instagram. We will be posting information about our build here as we progress, along with tips, tricks and our trips along the way.
Take care!
-Brian
