As my next trip out West is approaching fast, I am preparing the list of things that I will need. This list is rather ambitious, as I may decide to stay out there indefinitely. But this decision hasn't been made until I gather enough info on the next trip in order to determine if I am ready to make the move. That's the basic objective of the trip.
Today could have been the day I bought an RV, but that fell through. It may still happen, but I kinda doubt it at this point. Yesterday, I went looking at some used RVs on consignment at a lot here in Houston. Way, way too expensive. Unless my source that I spoke to, who said he would try to locate one for me, unless he comes up with something pretty good and soon, I will decide to make my own RV.
That's where I am on all this. It's been rather quiet on the blogging front because of this. I'm preparing to prep, you might say.
Al Fin: "Cowboy Commentary", aka "Eat your veggies" The Flag banner is posted in order to defy those who would make patriotic symbols illegal or disreputable.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Is a Murphy Bed feasible in the Quonset?
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This is a post in the construction subseries of the off-the-grid main series of posts.
In order to have a useful structure on wheels, like the one that I am contemplating, the Murphy Bed arrangement is key. How to make this work? The Murphy Bed will take up almost all the space inside the little Quonset on Wheels. To get an answer to this question, I studied the Greenhouse video, and made several screenshots. These are useful for building it out on the exterior, but also to visualize what it will look like on the interior so that a question like this can be answered. If it can be, it will be possible to outfit it with just more than a bed, and make it much more useful.
Let's look at the Quonset as it is completed.
Note the lines I put in from about a third of the way up. This is a marker for how high I may want the Murphy Bed to be. When it is folded up from that height, it runs into the ceiling rather quickly. This is a problem.
To solve that problem, the Murphy bed can be lowered, but that interferes with the storage below. What if you pivot the bed so that the right side on this screenshot goes lower, then this allows the left side to go higher. In fact, the Murphy Bed could go all the way to the ceiling at its highest point. Yay!
The Pivot could run down the center, or slightly off center. There would be locking mechanisms that lock it into place so it won't fall down on your unlucky head.
So, when you enter the door for beddie by, lowering the Murphy Bed into position by removing the lock. Gravity will pull it down to the level of the pivot. The pivot needs to be high enough to allow storage underneath.
The easiest solution for putting up the Murphy may leave it rather high. If it gets too high for easy access, a ladder may be constructed.
Updates:
It may be hard to see from all of these lines, but I think Pythagorean Theorem will show that the Murphy Bed will definitely fit inside the Quonset. Consider a line drawn from the top of the door jam to the lower corner and you'll get the length of the bed or longer when you solve for the hypotenuse.
It will pivot around rebar that should fit into the axle of one of my old dolly wheels. The wheels have bearings, so it will be a smooth action. The rebar is 4 ft, and will just about fit the width of the trailer.
The rest of the hardware needed is trivial, no need to mention. I'm quite confident that it will work fine.
This is a post in the construction subseries of the off-the-grid main series of posts.
In order to have a useful structure on wheels, like the one that I am contemplating, the Murphy Bed arrangement is key. How to make this work? The Murphy Bed will take up almost all the space inside the little Quonset on Wheels. To get an answer to this question, I studied the Greenhouse video, and made several screenshots. These are useful for building it out on the exterior, but also to visualize what it will look like on the interior so that a question like this can be answered. If it can be, it will be possible to outfit it with just more than a bed, and make it much more useful.
Let's look at the Quonset as it is completed.
 |
| Pivoting the Murphy Bed allows access to the rest of the Quonset. Elegant solution if I say so meself. |
Note the lines I put in from about a third of the way up. This is a marker for how high I may want the Murphy Bed to be. When it is folded up from that height, it runs into the ceiling rather quickly. This is a problem.
To solve that problem, the Murphy bed can be lowered, but that interferes with the storage below. What if you pivot the bed so that the right side on this screenshot goes lower, then this allows the left side to go higher. In fact, the Murphy Bed could go all the way to the ceiling at its highest point. Yay!
The Pivot could run down the center, or slightly off center. There would be locking mechanisms that lock it into place so it won't fall down on your unlucky head.
So, when you enter the door for beddie by, lowering the Murphy Bed into position by removing the lock. Gravity will pull it down to the level of the pivot. The pivot needs to be high enough to allow storage underneath.
The easiest solution for putting up the Murphy may leave it rather high. If it gets too high for easy access, a ladder may be constructed.
Updates:
It may be hard to see from all of these lines, but I think Pythagorean Theorem will show that the Murphy Bed will definitely fit inside the Quonset. Consider a line drawn from the top of the door jam to the lower corner and you'll get the length of the bed or longer when you solve for the hypotenuse.
 |
| Pythagorean Theorem: A square plus B squared equal C squared. Take sqrt(C) and it will be greater than length of the bed. The ellipse will show the travel of the bed around the pivot point. |
It will pivot around rebar that should fit into the axle of one of my old dolly wheels. The wheels have bearings, so it will be a smooth action. The rebar is 4 ft, and will just about fit the width of the trailer.
The rest of the hardware needed is trivial, no need to mention. I'm quite confident that it will work fine.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Trailer concept F.1 Murphy beds with Quonset roof!
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Classified under construction subseries, off the grid posts.
This concept combines many other ideas into a tight little package that can be built for about 4k bucks.
Starting with the concept of a Murphy Bed ( concept F.0 ), the roof is replaced by the cattle panels that I intend to use for the Greenhouses. They will be bent lengthwise along the trailer giving about 7 feet of floor space, with only about 4 feet between the walls. This tightens things up, but with a smaller freezer, it should still work.
The Murphy bed will fold up allowing access to the freezer, shower, and toilet, as before.
Update:
Exterior diagrams
Update:
Careful spending could get the cost down below $4000, or even $3500.
Classified under construction subseries, off the grid posts.
This concept combines many other ideas into a tight little package that can be built for about 4k bucks.
Starting with the concept of a Murphy Bed ( concept F.0 ), the roof is replaced by the cattle panels that I intend to use for the Greenhouses. They will be bent lengthwise along the trailer giving about 7 feet of floor space, with only about 4 feet between the walls. This tightens things up, but with a smaller freezer, it should still work.
The Murphy bed will fold up allowing access to the freezer, shower, and toilet, as before.
 |
| Prefabbed walls obtained from coffin ideas |
Exterior diagrams
 |
| Tractor Supply Co. "feedlot panel" 50"x16' |
Careful spending could get the cost down below $4000, or even $3500.
Post about news
It's a bit of an effort to think up a title for this post. I don't want to go back and insert links. No time. Spent the small amount of time I have reading the news this am. There's talk of the following:
Still saying that people don't realize what they brought on themselves by making Obama the president.
A crash may or may not happen, but if one does, it's bound to be caused by interest rates. Also has been in the past.
Overall, we may be seeing the calm before the storm.
- Putin is missing. Either sick or dead, the rumors say.
- Stock market may crash.
- Troubles in Ferguson. There are those who say it's professional agitators.
- China may take over the gold trade. Deepest pockets and largest gold stash.
- Talk of Euro collapsing to 85 on the dollar.
- Obama may take Iran deal to UN, wants to make it hard for the next president to change it.
- Over half of Los Angeles' youth do not speak English at home.
Still saying that people don't realize what they brought on themselves by making Obama the president.
A crash may or may not happen, but if one does, it's bound to be caused by interest rates. Also has been in the past.
Overall, we may be seeing the calm before the storm.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Home again, 3/12/15
Another busy day. Also, another rainy day.
With what little free time I had, a couple conversations I had may prove to be most helpful. A lady at work says that growing tomatoes isn't hard. Good, I like stuff that ain't hard to do.
Also, I was advised not to buy the RV that I had in mind. The advice is given strong, strong consideration. I was about to spend a bundle on it, now that probably won't happen.
It may be possible to get an RV that would be better than this one, so I am told. I'll wait and see what he comes up with.
Just 11 more working days until I take some time off work. It may not be possible to do everything that I want to do. So, what else is new?
With what little free time I had, a couple conversations I had may prove to be most helpful. A lady at work says that growing tomatoes isn't hard. Good, I like stuff that ain't hard to do.
Also, I was advised not to buy the RV that I had in mind. The advice is given strong, strong consideration. I was about to spend a bundle on it, now that probably won't happen.
It may be possible to get an RV that would be better than this one, so I am told. I'll wait and see what he comes up with.
Just 11 more working days until I take some time off work. It may not be possible to do everything that I want to do. So, what else is new?
Farmer market
You've may have seen these before. We had one in Houston when I was growing up, and Dad liked to go there and get stuff. I suppose because it was cheaper than supermarket food. Once you consider a few expenses that the supermarkets must pay, a Farmer's market may well be the cheapest way to buy food. The Farmer would bring his food to the market and sell it directly to the public.
Well, the money problem led me to this idea. Since there probably aren't too many farmers out there, I may have the market to myself. That's why I left off the plural ending "s". ( That's kind of a joke, ya'll)
Seriously, I'd have to produce a lot more food than I am contemplating right now in order to generate a modest income. I'd also have to compete with what's already out there. It seems that food is really cheap, so you have to produce one hell of a lot of food to make any money.
The gardening book I mentioned said that 11 of his garden beds can produce enough food for four people. Now, if I were to do that much and only that much, I may be able to generate a modest income.
Just another idea to think over.
Well, the money problem led me to this idea. Since there probably aren't too many farmers out there, I may have the market to myself. That's why I left off the plural ending "s". ( That's kind of a joke, ya'll)
Seriously, I'd have to produce a lot more food than I am contemplating right now in order to generate a modest income. I'd also have to compete with what's already out there. It seems that food is really cheap, so you have to produce one hell of a lot of food to make any money.
The gardening book I mentioned said that 11 of his garden beds can produce enough food for four people. Now, if I were to do that much and only that much, I may be able to generate a modest income.
Just another idea to think over.
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