We build a house on wheels with our own hands. DIY mobile home, camping options

A mobile home is the dream of many travel lovers, since there is no binding to one place of rest, the need to book hotels and purchase tickets. It is both a home and a vehicle that allows you to travel anywhere with maximum comfort. The price of such a product on the market is large, so many are interested in how mobile homes are built with their own hands.

Varieties of mobile homes

It is much cheaper to make such a vehicle with your own hands from an old car or completely from scratch. In addition to the vehicle itself, it is necessary to prepare a different tool. Moreover, making a mobile home will require work experience, a lot of effort and free time.

Before investing money in such structures, you need to find out from the regulatory authorities the legality of the movement of such a vehicle in order to avoid any violations. Otherwise, traveling with him will not work.

A large mobile home can be made from a van, but the price is too high. Cheaper options can be made from:

bus;
gazelles;
an old but still sturdy trailer.

To build a mobile home, it is necessary, in addition to the vehicle, to make a plan for the future construction. Planning will make your caravan as comfortable as possible. It can be simply drawn on paper or designed on a computer.

RV communication

If there is no electricity, gas or water in a mobile home, then it can hardly be called a comfortable journey. For the presence of electricity in it, batteries and chargers are used. How the electrical wiring will take place in such a house must be planned and displayed in the drawing. You also need to think about where the external connector will be located for recharging the battery. They come in different capacities. It should be selected according to the expected range of travel and the load on the electrical network.

Gas cylinders are often used to cook food and heat the van. If you use electricity for this, then the financial costs will be much higher. When a mobile home is equipped with a kitchen, it is necessary to install an extractor hood with a ventilation system. This is especially important when using gas.

It is not recommended to independently install the gas system and the electrical network if there is no relevant experience. Such work should be done by professionals. If incorrectly installed, it could cause injury or death to the traveler.

Such a kitchen cannot be as comfortable as possible without a dedicated storage space for water. Usually, a special container with a pump is used to supply water to the tap. As a sewage system, they also use a container inside the room under the sink or outside. Sometimes such a motorhome is equipped with a shower. It will be difficult to make a bathroom in it, and a dry closet is used for this.

Furniture must be installed small and compact, since there will be little space in such a house. To save space, you can use folding beds, sliding tables and the like. Such structures must be well anchored to the walls to ensure safety while driving. Furniture for a motorhome can be bought ready-made in a store, but if there is a great desire to save money and learn something new, then you can easily make it yourself, taking into account the size of the room.

Sometimes car seats are used as a sofa and chairs. It is quite possible to equip a house on wheels from a trailer with your own hands. Before that, you need to prepare the room. Depending on what basis is taken - a minibus or a homemade trailer - the stages of work will differ.

Using the Gazelle and the old bus

It is necessary to start altering the minibus with a complete cleaning of the body from seats, trim and dirt. After that, you need to cut out all the holes for windows, ventilation, and so on.

The further sequence of actions will be as follows:

Leveling and cleaning all damaged surfaces. To do this, use a metal brush, hammer or special equipment for leveling dents. If necessary, then it is necessary to weld the places of corrosion where holes have formed. Then they are cleaned and primed to prevent further rust formation.
The interior is carefully insulated, including the floor and ceiling.
After the thermal insulation coating, it is necessary to sheathe everything with waterproof plywood.

After such work, you need to carry out gas, electricity, water supply, install a bathroom and furniture. To securely fix the furniture, it is necessary to pre-install thick plywood on the walls. Furniture needs to be attached to it. Alternatively, you can install reinforcing strips on the floor and fix the headset to them.

If such a house is made not from an old trailer, but from a gazelle or a bus, then the chassis must be brought into working order. Then such a structure will actually be mobile.

Trailer as the basis of the design

You can also make a motorhome with your own hands from a trailer, but there will be much more work here. First you need to clean the chassis from corrosion and other defects. Then all the holes, as in the minibus, need to be welded, cleaned and primed. This is followed by painting.

When the base is ready, you need to start building the floor, walls and roof. You need to act in the following sequence:

After these works, you can start installing gas equipment, wiring electricity, organizing a kitchen and toilet, as well as installing furniture. Then you should install the headlights, license plate and fenders. The trailer is ready for travel.

Before starting work, you need to think carefully about the possibility of performing them efficiently. They require special skills and a lot of tools. But in any case, you can make a trailer house on wheels with your own hands if you have a great desire to learn how to do it.

Comfortable movement

Although such a structure is not intended for permanent residence, the need for comfort on the road and travel has not been canceled. Today, there are many techniques that can make living in a mobile home easier.

Indoor light

To ensure the availability of constant light and electricity, you can use a battery or accumulator, a charger, wires for electrical wiring, a control panel for supplying electricity.

Heating in the house

For these purposes, you can use several types of heaters. It is preferable to use a gas cylinder, as this will also enable cooking.

If the technology for installing gas supply is rather complicated, then you need to seek help from a specialist. Do-it-yourself construction of such a vehicle is commendable, but the safety of its inhabitants must be taken into account first of all.

Water supply, kitchen and bathroom

Any home will not be comfortable if it does not have basic amenities such as a bathroom, a well-equipped kitchen, and the availability of water. At the planning stage, you need to think carefully about their location for maximum comfort. Do not forget about the automatic water supply system and tanks for it.

Furniture installation

When installing furniture, certain difficulties may arise, since it should be as compact as possible along the entire perimeter. Basically, they use folding furniture, which can be folded out if necessary. This saves a lot of space. You can buy it only to order, and it will not be cheap.

It is better to make at least 2-3 windows. Due to their large number, there will be no need to turn on the light during the day.

Legality of construction

If we talk about the legality of movement, then such a vehicle will not have any special status of a vehicle. A RV in the legal framework does not differ from a conventional trailer. All that is needed is the presence of headlights and dimensions on the back side, as well as a license plate.

An additional permit is required if such a trailer exceeds the dimensions:

4 meters high;
2.55 m wide;
10 meters long.

If the dimensions are larger, then such a vehicle can move according to special rules: the presence of flashing lights and police escort. You can make good money on such facilities by organizing a business. There are many options for such entrepreneurial activity.

Alternatively, you can make such houses to order for summer vacations and temporary residence in the country. This does not require large initial investments, since small economical motorhomes can be made without insulation.

Houses like this can be rented out. An entrepreneurial activity of this kind is new. The market value has not yet formed, and, accordingly, you can set your own price. The number of such facilities should be increased as the client base expands.

You can also make your own car park and use it as a hotel. An important factor here is their division into economy classes, medium and vip.

Tom Grantham, 29, and Kylie Barnes, 30, spent $ 2,000 to buy out an old shuttle bus - and turned it into a posh mobile home for a family of five with all the amenities and even a fireplace!
How did they do it? Let's get a look!

When Tom Grantham and Kylie Barnes bought a 23-year-old shuttle bus for $ 2,000 in 2011, probably no one except them believed that this purchase would make sense. The couple had to invest many months of labor and about $ 15,000 to turn it into a super home on wheels, equipped with everything necessary for a family with three children.

The spouse has personal memories associated with this bus: as it turned out during the purchase, for many years he had been running along route 51 from Grimsby to Loot, passing by the spouses' house every day. Now he's turned into their very own luxury travel van.

Tom and Kylie have three children - Henry, 3, Poppy-May, 7, and Logan, 8. They will not be cramped in the former bus converted by Tom's forces!

The RV's main living room has two wide sofas. You can sit on them with the whole family, admiring the views, and if necessary, they are decomposed into two wide double beds. "This is the perfect car for a weekend trip as a family!" - says Tom. He was mainly involved in the technical part and the manufacture of furniture, and Kylie became the interior designer.

In the mobile home, Tom has built all the necessary amenities, equipping it with a stove, oven, gas fireplace, sink, toilet and shower. From the previous bus, only the traditionally decorated driver's seat remained.

To fit a bedroom for three children in the car, I had to try hard, using all the space vertically, from floor to ceiling.

The kitchen-living room in the central part of the van is decorated with light wood and is maximally illuminated.

In their mobile home, the family travels to music festivals throughout Britain, as well as vacations in France and Belgium.

However, when trying to go to Italy, the former bus let the owners down: due to engine breakdown, they got stuck in Switzerland. “It was a nightmare,” Tom recalls. - The police took away our passports, and we had no right to leave the bus! I had to call a friend for help and change the engine. "

However, this story did not make the family disappointed in their mobile home. Children especially love him: after all, it was thanks to him that they visited the French Disneyland!

The conversion of the regular bus into a van for travel lasted more than one year.

The floors in the car are finished with wood and covered with carpets, so that passengers feel at home.

Tom had to make almost all the furniture for the van with his own hands.

According to Tom, the kitchen gave him the biggest problem.

Funnily enough, the family recently decided to list the completely finished and refurbished van on eBay. The starting price is £ 9,100, or about $ 12,000. “The kids are terribly unhappy that we want to sell the van! - says Tom. "But we think it's time to try something else new and interesting."

Making a camper with your own hands is not too difficult for an experienced craftsman. But the timing of such a construction can be very delayed due to the constant improvement of the design. In order not to get into such a situation, you should think over the interior in advance, abandoning obviously unnecessary elements. This is especially important when equipping small cars, for example, when creating a home on wheels from a GAZelle with your own hands.

A mobile home has undeniable advantages - comfort, coziness and mobility. Moscow is a bustling city from which you sometimes want to leave. Trailer owners do not have to find a place to sleep, and travel becomes very economical. If earlier it was not possible to use this original housing, you should first familiarize yourself with their classification.

Types of motorhomes and their classification

When choosing the type of future mobile housing, you can be guided by its division by:

mind - there are trailed, van or mobile homes combined with a car;
class - there are three comfort classes of motorhomes;
trailer type - there are trailer trailers, hybrid trailers and fifth-wheel trailers.

If everything is clear with the trailed view of a mobile home, then the difference between a van and a combined caravan is not immediately visible. In the first embodiment, the living space is located in the van of the car and is separated from the driver's seat.

This option is suitable when traveling together, when no one stays in the "house" during the travels. Thanks to this design, it is possible to fit more functional furniture using a blank front wall.

Motorhomes converted from GAZelles or minibuses are exactly combined.

The comfort class can be called conditional. For example, class “A” mobile homes include spacious trailers made on the chassis of large trucks. Outwardly, they resemble a bus, they can have folding structures, but inside they do not differ in functionality from a small apartment.

It should be borne in mind that the driver must have a category "C" license to drive this vehicle.

There is much less space in it, but it is still convenient to travel in them. What is important - you can drive such a car with a category B license if the weight of the car or the total weight of the car with a trailer does not exceed 3.5 tons.

Class "C" indicates the simplest motorhomes. It can be a small trailer or a minibus converted into a camper. There is no separate sleeping place - its function is performed by folding sofas or armchairs. But by equipping such a mini camper with a roof rack, a folding canopy and a set of camping furniture, you can get a comfortable stay with a minimum of costs.

These construction trailers are also called hybrid trailers to distinguish them from simple trailers. Separately, it is necessary to note the Fiveswil trailers, the shape of which is designed for use in conjunction with pickups. Thanks to this, it is possible to reduce the length of the entire caravan, because part of the trailer hangs over the body of the car.

Mistakes in the construction of mobile homes with your own hands

The prices for mobile homes are noticeably biting. Not surprisingly, the desire of the skilled heads of families to save the budget and do everything yourself. It is important to be wise and learn from other people's mistakes:

you should not do everything from scrap materials - you will have to live in the house for at least a week and you want to spend your vacation in comfort;

serious revision of the body, heating system, wiring will be required - you cannot do without the skills of an auto mechanic;

if you still managed to fit a shower and toilet, do not forget about the drain tank - pouring dirty water onto the asphalt or lawn is extremely unethical;
it is better not to forget to make a connector for connecting 220V at camping sites, well, and a converter for 12V from a car battery.

Making a trailer in-house

If difficulties do not frighten, and the desire for action is unstoppable, you can try your hand at building a house. And to remake a GAZelle or build a trailer-trailer from scratch - the choice is strictly individual!

DIY GAZelle mobile home

To work you will need a grinder, a welding machine, a hand saw for wood and a lot of patience. The step-by-step modernization of the car looks like this:

The seats are removed from the passenger compartment, the old trim is removed. All metal parts are treated with a special solution to prevent rust. The walls and ceiling are insulated with polyethylene foam, plywood sheets are laid on the floor. All wiring runs under the floor and wall cladding, this should be thought out in advance.

A frame for furniture is welded directly into the body. If it is impossible to set the car straight, you can use a pipe resting its ends against the lower edge of the window openings as a level. After rough welding, the frame is removed and everything is welded, cleaned and again brought inside.

Window openings are pasted over with Carpet. Carpet-pasted ceiling panels are also installed. After finishing the interior trim, you can fix the slats under the mezzanine and mount the furniture frames.

For the front seats, you can make a swivel mechanism. To do this, you need a front hub, for example, from a VAZ and part of a pivot stand. The circuit is pretty simple.

The final stage is the installation of the furniture on the frame, connecting the lighting, installing the pump for the kitchen sink, lining the mezzanine and making minor improvements to the interior. For cooking, you can put a small gas stove on one burner.

Instead of welding the furniture frame, you can use ready-made headsets, reinforcing them from the inside with corners and additional screws. You also need to fix the kitchen to everything - the floor, sofa, wall. This is to protect furniture from loosening when driving on bumpy roads.

It should not be forgotten that such a modification of the car requires registration with the REO. To do this, you need to write a statement and receive a resolution from the technical department of the traffic police and the protocol of an authorized organization.

Stylish plywood trailer house

If the car has a towbar, it’s a sin not to take advantage of the situation and not make a nice “drop” trailer for spending the night outside the city. For this:

The side walls of the future van are cut and attached to the base. All openings for doors and windows, as well as for lightening the frame, must be cut out in advance, so it is better to think over the drawing well.

Shelves are assembled from the furniture board and installed on the base. The same shelves will serve as the front and rear walls of the van.

A plywood sheet is bent on both sides in the shape of the van above the shelves, and a load-bearing frame made of timber is fixed on top. One side is lifted, giving access to the kitchen.

The top hatch and skylight are cut out. The entire frame is insulated, the wiring is laid.

Everything is glued on top with veneer sheets. When the door and window openings have been cut, you can proceed to the exterior painting and varnishing.

Doors, top hatch and supply and exhaust ventilation are installed. After securing all the fittings, side lights and wheel fenders, you can safely go on a journey!

And the video shows a detailed assembly of the motorhome with the installation of solar panels:

A motorhome on wheels, and even equipped with your own hands, is the dream of many lovers of auto travel and outdoor activities. It provides its owner with amazing freedom when traveling, freeing him from the need to look for and book a hotel, purchase tickets, pack suitcases, etc. In addition, your own motorhome makes it easy to travel even with a large family, including pets - for this you need to use the appropriate furniture usually transforming.

When a caravan on wheels first appeared on the road, it is quite difficult to answer. The first such experience was implemented by the Jennings company back in the 38th year of the last century, although self-made models of motorhomes appeared much earlier. All motorhomes on wheels can be equipped with almost all the necessary attributes of a familiar and comfortable life - bathroom, shower, gas stove, full berth, which are present even in the smallest motorhomes, which are often based on the budget gazelle in Russia.

Depending on the type of motorhome on wheels belongs to, it can be:

trailed;
van;
combined.

A fairly common practice at the present time is the hand-made re-equipment of a suitable vehicle, the same domestic gazelle, into comfortable motorhomes for travel. But before making a motorhome on wheels with your own hands, you need to determine the main purpose of the conversion - long or short-term residence in the motorhome, as well as select or make the appropriate furniture.

RV classes

According to the generally accepted classification, all motorhomes on wheels are divided into three main classes:

Attention! Any class "A" motorhome made on the basis of a bus or truck, according to the transport classification, requires the driver to have a category "C" license.

Speaking about the classification of motorhome trailers, the following concepts should be highlighted:

Trailer tent

A homemade motorhome on wheels does not have to be expensive and difficult to make, especially if it is used relatively rarely and for a small number of people. Some types of motorhomes do not even require furniture, and are used as a sleeping place. In order to independently make a caravan trailer, you will need to make some effort and a sufficient amount of time.

The main "power" element of such a motorhome is a frame, which can be purchased ready-made, or assemble it yourself, which will require skill and certain technical knowledge. In case of self-production, special attention should be paid to the anti-corrosion treatment of all steel elements of the future motorhome.

The frame, mounted on the chassis prepared for the motorhome, can be either steel or wood. When creating it, the main attention should be paid to the quality of the connection of parts, since when such a motorhome trailer moves, the entire structure will be subjected to serious dynamic and vibration loads. Inside such a motorhome, you can arrange a fairly comfortable sleeping place, and at the time of stops for rest, the design of the motorhome unfolds, and a tent is quickly set up on top. Such a motorhome on wheels, the photo of which is presented below, is optimal for short trips and simple outdoor recreation.

Another option for the device of such a trailer can be seen in the video:

How to make a motorhome on wheels with your own hands

In order to make a motorhome on wheels with your own hands, you can use any minibus, truck or even a bus. In order to create it, you will need to make a lot of effort, time, and be ready for a fairly serious material investment, which later will more than pay off comfortably when traveling in your own motorhome.

The process of turning a standard gazelle into a motorhome on wheels will definitely be accompanied by a number of works that are mandatory:

In the event that a mobile home trailer is created for the purpose of long journeys, it is advisable to provide for a good audio-video system and satellite TV... If financial possibilities permit, it would be a good option to install solar panels, which will extend the generator's service life.

Attention! In most cases, re-equipment of a vehicle into a caravan trailer requires that all “alterations” be legalized in advance in order to avoid legal problems in the future.

Internal work

Many lovers of travel with comfort are interested in the question of how much a motorhome on wheels in Russia costs, but having learned the cost of the finished version, they prefer to create a motorhome with their own hands. And this makes sense, since making a motorhome on wheels from a gazelle with their own hands is within the power of any person who is ready to put in a certain amount of effort and spend his time on it.

The first thing that needs to be done inside the cabin of the future motorhome on wheels is to dismantle the partition located behind the passenger seats. If it is bolted, there will be no problems; if a welded joint is used, a grinder is required. After dismantling, the interior should be completely freed from the interior trim. In parallel with this, it is worth checking the metal parts for the presence of foci of corrosion. Take measures to eliminate them, keeping in mind that it will be much more difficult to disassemble a finished motorhome.

Before proceeding with the insulation and interior decoration of the motorhome, you should carefully consider the water and power supply system, since all pipes and electrical cables are best hidden under the casing to avoid accidental damage. After that, a motorhome on wheels based on a gazelle requires serious insulation. In addition to special materials with vibration and thermal insulation characteristics, you can use basalt mineral wool or extruded polystyrene foam for a motorhome.

An important point in the interior and exterior of a motorhome on wheels is the protective treatment of the material used. Thus, additional metal elements outside the motorhome must have a high-quality anti-corrosion treatment. Internal cladding elements are usually made of wood. For their treatment, it is recommended to use a special fire-retardant impregnation, which will prevent the spread of flame, will not allow the formation of fungus, which may simply be impossible to get rid of.

Certain ideas for creating your own project can be "borrowed" from the manufacturers of such houses by watching the following video:

Gas and electrical equipment

Any motorhome on wheels - a Mercedes or a gazelle, requires a special attitude in terms of electricity and gas supply. Do not naively believe that without proper education, you can perform high-quality electrical wiring and install the appropriate equipment in a motorhome. The same applies to gas equipment.

For example, few people know that for a gas cylinder in any motorhome, it is necessary to "allocate" a separate closed area, in the lower part of which there should be openings that communicate with the outside atmosphere. This will allow propane, which is heavier than air, to escape from the RV, if it leaks, and will not cause poisoning or a fire in the passenger compartment.

An important point for a motorhome is the correct calculation of the battery capacity. To ensure maximum autonomy, the daily energy consumption of all devices in the motorhome should be summed up. The resulting value in watts will need to be divided by 12 (V), resulting in a value in ampere-hours (Ah) - it is this value that is indicated on the battery and allows you to judge its power. So, when the energy consumption in a motorhome is 50-60 Ah / day, it is optimal to purchase a battery of 120-150 Ah... Such a motorhome on wheels will be able to function autonomously for two days. It is advisable to provide an external outlet for recharging the battery of the motorhome in parking lots.

Furniture

Despite the fact that at present it will not be a problem to buy ready-made furniture for a motorhome, according to reviews, it is not able to satisfy all the needs of car owners, especially those who create a motorhome on wheels according to their own drawings. Therefore, the best option is either its independent production, or an individual order for furniture production.

In most cases, making your own furniture is more optimal for a motorhome. Since for a small motorhome, for example, based on a standard gazelle or UAZ, not so much furniture is required, and it does not differ in particular complexity, you can save money at this stage of work. For the proper level of comfort in a motorhome, as a rule, the following furniture structures are made:

dining table, to save space in a small motorhome, it is better to use a folding option;
kitchen table with sink and work surface;
open shelves or drawers located under the ceiling of the motorhome;
if you have a toilet in a motorhome on wheels, you will need to make a partition with a door.

When a KAMAZ or a bus is taken as a base for a motorhome, the amount of furniture listed above increases. When making a motorhome on wheels with your own hands, to facilitate the task of determining the type and quantity of furniture, you can use special computer programs, or draw a detailed plan for the future layout of the motorhome on paper, where you can clearly indicate not only the type of furniture, but also its location.

How the most expensive mobile home can be made out can be seen in the photo - clearly visible how sophisticated and comfortable interior furnishings can be.

When building a house on wheels with your own hands, you should pay attention to the quality of materials. So, for furniture it is advisable to use moisture-resistant materials that are resistant to household chemicals, since cleaning in any type of motorhome - from a bus, a trailer or a gazelle - will have to be done quite often.

Perhaps there are very few people who would not like to travel and at the same time spend the night at home without using the services of hotels or hotels. Many will say that this is impossible and every trip is accompanied by a hotel room. Nevertheless, there is a solution - a motorhome or a motorhome. You've probably seen such movable structures in foreign films. And this is not strange, because, say, in America, according to statistics, every 3 residents have a home on wheels.

Such a house is not only convenient and comfortable, but also significantly saves money, since the question of finding a place to live disappears. You can talk about the advantages of a motorhome for a long time, and there are really a lot of them. However, there is one drawback - a car-home on wheels is not a cheap pleasure. But if you have patience and hard work, there is a way out - to build a mobile home on wheels with your own hands.

The main need for such a house is travel, which you can safely send with your family and even small children. The motorhome is also useful for business trips, you don't have to look for hotels, book rooms, collect luggage and carry it with you.

The main thing is that the driver is experienced, with good driving experience and, of course, with a positive attitude towards this type of transport.

Mobile home: what you need for comfort

Although the house will be in the form of mobile housing, this does not mean that it should not be comfortable and meet the minimum needs of the owners.

Home lighting

To supply light to a mobile home you will need:

rechargeable battery;
charger;
wiring system for subsequent wiring;
panel for controlling the supply of electricity.

Heating for home

Several types of heaters can be used to heat a home, it can be a stand-alone type and a gas cylinder. It is preferable to use gas, since, in addition to heat, it will provide an opportunity for cooking.

If you have chosen heating with gas, then here you will have to contact a specialist for help. Of course, building everything with your own hands from start to finish is commendable, but you should remember about the safety of passengers.

Air (ventilation) for home

Ventilation is very important, especially when using gas. In this case, there should be several holes, and one of them will be as low as possible.

For comfort: water, bathroom, kitchen

No home will be comfortable if it lacks basic amenities. Think carefully about where the kitchen, mini-size portable dry closet and shower will be. Also, do not forget about water tanks and pumps for it.

It is better to send the water that will drain into a large bucket under the body. To do this, you can use a special hose that should be laid in the floor.

RV Furniture

Certain difficulties may arise with furniture, since it should be as compact as possible. For such housing, folding furniture is used, it is attached to the walls. In most cases, such furniture can only be purchased on order, which is quite expensive. But if there is an opportunity to do it yourself, then this will significantly save money.