Building a Gypsy Wagon

Step 11 Living Space

Only with time will the wagon really take on a personality as it get lived in and things are arranged "just so". Like a ship or any small living space, a good deal of thought needs to go into every little detail, especially when it comes to storage. I think it will help me minimize and is now my real "escape pod", whether its to get to the mountains or beach, or to just someday hit the road. Here is a three photo pan to give a feel for the space.

There are a few more photos of the rig and other stuff on my weblog at http://paleotool.wordpress.com/ under "projects" and "vardo". It will be updated as it is continually improved.

Comments

[TheZuke!]

Nice!
To make it look a little more "authentic", maybe paint the wheels with
"wooden" spokes?

[paleotool]

I don't intend to make it look like something its not but I do intend to paint the wheels red.

[TheZuke!]

Red will be fine,
The "sporty" looking wheels it currently has just look a tad...
anachronistic?

[zapskate]

love the choice of words!!!! that word needs to be used way more often!

[Azizas Place, Cambodia]

Cool.

Very, very, Cool.

[HI-WAY MAN]

AWESOME, IDEAS A PLENTY. GREAT FOR A BUG OUT SHELTER.COULD BE REALLY SELF SUFFICENT WITH THIS TRAILER. INSULATED PANELS FOR YOUR WALLS AND ROOF WOULD HELP IN THE COLD.PERHAPS A VENT JUST BELOW THE PEAK ,OVER THE BED & TWO SMALLVENTS IN THE FLOOR {UNDER THE SHADED TRAILER WOULD HELP COOL THE TRAILER}FOLD DOWN PORCH WOULD BE COOL.

HAPPY TRAILS

[love4pds]

This is AMAZING!!! Have you figured out how much it weighs?

[frazeeg]

Just a little nitpick - you can spruce up that pan image and remove that break by using a free software called Autostitch.

Other than that, nice looking project.

[paleotool]

Seems an odd nitpick. Its about the wagon and I wanted to distort as little as possible. I'm very sorry you don't like to mosaic photo and I considered making a pan in Photoshop, taking out the vignettes, etc, but it didn't seem necessary. I sometimes need do this for projects at my work and have the ability but chose, perhaps wrongly, not to do it. It was a sort of homage to Lloyd Kahn's style from his architectural photos to create and intentionally broken mosaic. Maybe that come from learning photography prior to cgi and digital slr processing. I will try to get around to making a full 360 panorama when I get her cleaned back up.

[frazeeg]

You misunderstand - I like the photo fine. I've done the same thing before I found out about all the nifty computer programs that can "fix" those line breaks. I'm a child of the computer age so these are the sorts of things I notice.

Not to spam your comment box with irrelevancies about photography and post-processing.

Anyway, I find the idea of the Wagon intriguing since you seem to be able to fit so much into so little space. It's refreshing to see, especially in this age of "bigger is better" everything. Why use more than you need? Efficiency is a beautiful thing.

[stevie l]

AS A UK GIPSY I FIND THIS PROJECT BEAUTIFULL WELL DONE KEEP THIS ART ALIVE AND DONT STOP YOUR WORK ,,,,,, VERY WELL DONE

[paleotool]

Thanks a lot. The UK waggons were my main inspiration for this. I just returned from another trip and am as happy as can be. I only regret I waited as long as I did to build it.
Cheers

[rickzc]

Absolutely beautiful craftsmanship. I've been interested in building a tear drop for years, and recently just started the preliminary work.

You project has given me some ideas. Beautiful!!

[paleotool]

Thanks. There's a lot of great information about teardrops and other small rv types on the web. Good luck!

[harthoppy]

Incredible!!! Very nice.
I don't know where you live but this would not work in south Texas where I am at. But if it would I want one just like this !!!

[paleotool]

Why wouldn't it work in texas? Too hot?

[harthoppy]

way too hot in the summer . might be a great idea for fall or winter things like Duck season .

[Gottwinkies]

um...not in winter up north LOL. Great for summer maybe with a few mods? solar powered vent fan?? Always wondered if those would work in a camper type structure. I have been fascinated by tiny campers/homes since a local kid here did a teardrop camper for his senior school project. Oh, and btw...looks good, too! Nice professional look to the outside. Very cool, nice 'ible.

[paleotool]

This will primarily be used in cold to very cold weather. It is very easy to heat a space this small. For cooling, there are factory built solar vents for RVs but it is against my grain on this project to buy one. I do intend to build one or two using old eMac fans and some small solar panels. If you keep the windows open and park in the shade its pretty cool but the bugs could be a problem in some areas. For this, I have a mosquito net to hang over the bed.

[harthoppy]

I am definitely interested in this project. I almost have my wife convinced we need to make one.
I can see a few improvements we would need though.(Solar hot water heater,Small solar panel to charge small thins like a portable fan )I am definitely a huge fan of this project!

[paleotool]

Thanks for the comments. I intend to electrify with a small solar panel and battery, mainly to run lights and a fan. I will probably haul a 35 gallon water tank in my truck as this place is too small for lots of water. I have seriously considered a water jacket for the wood stove as an easy option for regular hot water.