Truck Conversion & Toterhome Community - View Single Post

Radman · 07-12-2010, 07:13 AM

Pen,
Bliz gives some good advice in the above response.

Some other things to consider when building a conversion is the order in which you do things. When Hawk did our conversion the last thing he did after all of the walls are built, doors and cabinets hung, HVAC, electric 120/12v and water lines run is to skin the outside of the coach. This keeps it easy to make any changes and 100% test all of the systems with the interior completely finished. This requires a building to house and work on the coach.

Having built my home and my other RV, like Bliz, I started down this road with the same idea you expressed in your first post...to build my own. The bottom line - when I really worked on the plan / schedule, I realized that it would be years before we ever got to use the coach. Now that we are done I am glad we had it built to 90+ % complete. With all of the other things I wanted to add, the pre trip prep and post trip cleanups, I am more than busy and it feeds my “need to build” and then some with no problems.

My experience is $3k/ft to $5K/ft for top-end finish and that is why a used finished truck remodeled by yout to meet your needs starts to look pretty good. However if you want something that is your-own and built just for your purpose...NOTHING beats building your own. That is what we did, and we paid to build it just the way we wanted it and I would do it that way again if I could.

Good luck with however you choose to proceed...

Rad

07-12-2010, 07:13 AM	#4
Radman Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: MO Posts: 93	Pen, Bliz gives some good advice in the above response. Some other things to consider when building a conversion is the order in which you do things. When Hawk did our conversion the last thing he did after all of the walls are built, doors and cabinets hung, HVAC, electric 120/12v and water lines run is to skin the outside of the coach. This keeps it easy to make any changes and 100% test all of the systems with the interior completely finished. This requires a building to house and work on the coach. Having built my home and my other RV, like Bliz, I started down this road with the same idea you expressed in your first post...to build my own. The bottom line - when I really worked on the plan / schedule, I realized that it would be years before we ever got to use the coach. Now that we are done I am glad we had it built to 90+ % complete. With all of the other things I wanted to add, the pre trip prep and post trip cleanups, I am more than busy and it feeds my “need to build” and then some with no problems. My experience is $3k/ft to $5K/ft for top-end finish and that is why a used finished truck remodeled by yout to meet your needs starts to look pretty good. However if you want something that is your-own and built just for your purpose...NOTHING beats building your own. That is what we did, and we paid to build it just the way we wanted it and I would do it that way again if I could. Good luck with however you choose to proceed... Rad __________________ T2000 Complete (but never finished)