Box truck camping tips..

[BoyScoutGirl]

...however i live in SF and i don't know what i'd do with my car to get to the fabulous gentry way office. anyone taking a truck out from SF? i assume not all budget offices are as burning friendly :/

esmeralada, you have several options, each of which is - in my opinion - superior to driving a box truck across the Golden State.

You could:
1) Carpool from SF to Reno, whether in your vehicle or another
2) Take the train from SF to Reno
3) Take MegaBus from SF to Sparks for $1 each way
4) Fly into Reno and taxi to Budget

Each of these options would be far cheaper than renting and driving a box truck that far. Remember that a significant portion of the cost of renting a truck is the mileage. Plus, do you really want to drive a vehicle that large any farther than you have to? They guzzle gas and require more focus and attention than smaller vehicles to drive.

[edbrez]

...however i live in SF and i don't know what i'd do with my car to get to the fabulous gentry way office. anyone taking a truck out from SF? i assume not all budget offices are as burning friendly :/

esmeralada, you have several options, each of which is - in my opinion - superior to driving a box truck across the Golden State.

You could:
1) Carpool from SF to Reno, whether in your vehicle or another
2) Take the train from SF to Reno
3) Take MegaBus from SF to Sparks for $1 each way
4) Fly into Reno and taxi to Budget

Each of these options would be far cheaper than renting and driving a box truck that far. Remember that a significant portion of the cost of renting a truck is the mileage. Plus, do you really want to drive a vehicle that large any farther than you have to?

Agreed, I originally wanted to fly into San Fran and drive from there. Flights were much cheaper than into Reno.
When I considered mileage I really was saving by flying into Reno.
Everyone is different in what they need, I am bringing essentials on flight i.e clothes and picking up everything else in Reno
Of course i'm traveling internationally so I am a bit more restricted

[Savannah]

If there's a train from SF to Reno . . . okay wait, I got curious . . . there are! . . . you could get a friend or a taxi to drop you in nearby Emeryville, CA--30 min away--in order to prevent having to be on a connector bus, and take the California Zephyr from Emeryville straight through to Reno. Amtrak has a rather fabulous baggage allowance. I believe it's still 3 checked bags free, 3 more for a small fee each + carryon.

Look for the Zephyr train; you can't easily do a combo using Amtrak train AND Amtrak's connector buses if you start directly in San Francisco. It would be a tremendous hassle changing vehicles, but more importantly, the Amtrak connector buses (and certain of their trains) don't allow Checked Baggage at all.

(Whether Checked Baggage is allowed on a train is listed in the "Amenities" column next to the train in sample itineraries.)

[junglesmacks]

You could also just drive to Reno and park at The Sands hotel which is burner friendly and will most likely be running a pre-burn group rate again. Last year it was like $29 if I remember right..

[theCryptofishist]

As the Budget on Gentry Way in Reno is very burner friendly, there's another reason to rent there.
Conversely, there are going to be a lot of people who need space to ship things to and from the playa. If they pay in advance and adhere to some sort of sensible plan about your dropping off or their picking up the cargo (oh, how themic) it might make the from San Francisco more worth your while. Especially if you can find a second, trustworthy, experienced driver.

[International Incident]

I've read this thread, and i apoligise if the answer to my question is in here and i have missed it.

Do the 20ft Budget box trucks have something on the side that you can attach a tarp to?

Ta

[junglesmacks]

I've read this thread, and i apoligise if the answer to my question is in here and i have missed it.

Do the 20ft Budget box trucks have something on the side that you can attach a tarp to?

Ta

On the side as in where? The outside or inside? If you mean on the outside being a tarp and all, then no.. they are totally smooth on all sides. The only way to tie something to it is to literally loop the cord under the undercarriage and up around the top of the entire truck. It's not as bad as it sounds, either. Get a few hundred feet of paracord and you can do whatever you want. This last year, I lashed a 40' x 20' silver tarp over the entire thing like a tent and it was a bit of wrangling, but not un-doable..

If you mean on the inside, there are all kinds of tie downs with horizontal rafters running the length from front to back.

Also.. there's only 24' and 16'.. no 20'..

[International Incident]

I've read this thread, and i apoligise if the answer to my question is in here and i have missed it.

Do the 20ft Budget box trucks have something on the side that you can attach a tarp to?

Ta

On the side as in where? The outside or inside?

Also.. there's only 24' and 16'.. no 20'..

Ah OK - 16ft - on the outside. For tethering stuff.

[junglesmacks]

Yeah.. see above. The height of the bottom of the box is about chest high, so there are all kinds of wheels and axles and what not to tie whatever you want to.. but it's all around 3' in height. Above that, there's not much if anything to tie to. The side view mirror assembly maybe?

[International Incident]

Yeah.. see above. The height of the bottom of the box is about chest high, so there are all kinds of wheels and axles and what not to tie whatever you want to.. but it's all around 3' in height. Above that, there's not much if anything to tie to. The side view mirror assembly maybe?

Thanks mate. That is very helpful! I'm sure I can rig it up.

[ygmir]

Yeah.. see above. The height of the bottom of the box is about chest high, so there are all kinds of wheels and axles and what not to tie whatever you want to.. but it's all around 3' in height. Above that, there's not much if anything to tie to. The side view mirror assembly maybe?

Thanks mate. That is very helpful! I'm sure I can rig it up.

light chain can be useful, with straps to hold it to the truck.........good for the shelter, too!!

[Canoe]

Ditto on flying into LA, make your way to Reno, pickup box-truck in Reno (reserved from burner friendly source, well documented on ePlaya). Enjoy everyone around town while shopping for your supplies.
You have the extra arrangement for the trip from LA to Reno, but you really save on mileage and gas, and stress, and you get to rent from a Burner friendly source for a fair price.

You could also just drive to Reno and park at The Sands hotel which is burner friendly and will most likely be running a pre-burn group rate again. Last year it was like $29 if I remember right..

Make the res in advance. I didn't.
Post-burn I was walk-in and got dinged for $99.
Those in line around me had reservations from $35 to $55, with one $65 a night.
One guy made his reservation just before coming inside, on his smart phone. He was the $65.

They were really busy when I checked out, a manager serving me, and as a cash customer they had to go up to the room to check it for damage/theft. The manager saw the twenty I left for the clean-up-after-burners cleaning staff, and promptly lost the record of all my long distance calls...
Netted out similar to having a reservation.

[junglesmacks]

Flying into LA and driving to Reno?? You crazy.

[lucky420]

I think there's a handle on the outside back of the truck

[Canoe]

Flying into LA and driving to Reno?? You crazy.

My bad. I thought I read they wanted to go through LA instead of SF.
But the main point is to get the truck in Reno, from the good source, for many good reasons.

[junglesmacks]

Absolutely agreed!

Flying into LA and driving to Reno?? You crazy.

My bad. I thought I read they wanted to go through LA instead of SF.
But the main point is to get the truck in Reno, from the good source, for many good reasons.

[usurpedus]

besides covering with a tarp for some shade what could help keep a box truck cool in the mid day? seems a swamp cooler would be difficult to vent out the humid/hot air..

any easy solutions that have worked for you guys?

[AntiM]

The humidity of a swamp cooler is not going to heat up the box truck. It needs no venting, unlike AC.

You're not from the West, are you?

[FIGJAM]

Sorry AntiM, but you got that one backwards.

Still it would'nt be hard to vent the swamp cooler.

[BoyScoutGirl]

FIGJAM, I'm still a bit confused.

To clarify, you're saying that because swamp coolers work by adding moisture to the air, the higher the humidity, the more poorly the swamp cooler works. Thus, the air of swamp-cooled spaces should be vented, whereas A/C units just lower the temperature of the air so they can use the same air over and over without venting?

But I thought "regular" A/C units also changed the moisture content... or is that just a side effect of cooling the air?

[FIGJAM]

AC units cool AND remove moisture from the air.

That's why air conditioned areas need to be kept closed up.

Swamp coolers need to completely EXCHANGE the air every 1 to 3 minutes to be affective, but work great in a dry enviornment like the playa.

[Savannah]

[random]

. . . You know . . . I love it that there's a place in the ether where humans have devoted 10 pages' worth of Q&A to the art of living comfortably in the back of a truck.

[/random]

[FIGJAM]

It the way of the future!

Gotta be ready.

[ridingnitro]

A swamp cooler will totally work with a rental budget truck...

We flew in from NYC to SF a few days before the burn, in about a day and a half I threw together this

photo-5.JPG

photo-6.JPG

And this.

photo.JPG

That was all for a 16' budget rental, and the back wall was in two pieces that needed no fasteners on the playa. Pop the top piece in the door channel one side at a time, slide it all the way up, do the same for the bottom piece then drop the top piece into the channel on the bottom. 20 minutes tops of setup time.

The swamp cooler was 1/2" plywood. 36"x24"x12" The cooler running on low kept the truck really cold all week.

Also picked up a queen size futon, couch and carpet off of craigslist for free. Made for quite a comfortable home on the playa

[lucky420]

That is supersweet ridingnitro

[FIGJAM]

Beeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuutiful!!!!!!!

[edbrez]

That is genius
10 pages about box truck camping and you just solved 90% of the problems
Cooler more secure comfortable space and by the looks of it, dust free also! Wow oh Wow
I feel this may become a trend

[Canoe]

Watch out for the floor-standing/stand-alone A/C units, one-tube vs. two-tube designs vs. window models.

A quality window model that does not allow for bringing in outside air cannot leak air and reduce efficiency, also has less drag on the outside air circulation, will be the most efficient to operate: slightly over the two-tube floor model, much more so than the one-tube design.

Two-tube stand-alone floor designs - circulate outside air through the A/C unit to get rid of the heat (that the A/C has removed from the inside air). Inside air and outside air do not mix; outside air goes back outside, inside air gets chilled and stays inside. One tube is for intake of outside air; the other tube is for exhausting that air with the heat.

• Negative:
  
  • technically, as the outside air is hotter than inside air, the heat isn't removed from the A/C unit's coils/fins as efficiently, but there's a fan for that.
• Positive:
  
  • the inside air you're paying to chill (and dehumidify) is left inside for your comfort.
  • runs less than the one-tube type, therefore uses less electricity to make/keep the space comfortable, often dramatically.

One-tube stand-alone floor designs - use inside air, exhausted to the outside, to get rid of the heat the A/C unit removes from the inside air.

• Positive:
  
  • you only have to hook up one hose.
• Negative:
  
  • Inside air is exhausted to the outside. The cool comfortable air your A/C chilled, and your chilling dollars, thrown away to the outside.
  • Hot air is drawn inside. As the cool inside air is drawn through the A/C unit and exhausted outside through the one hose, it creates a negative pressure inside the structure. The air removed is made up as the negative pressure draws hot air from the outside to the inside through any available openings, leaks, etc.. (In high humidity regions, the incoming air also brings humidity with it, lowering comfort.) One-tube designs are always playing catch-up: the more the A/C runs, the more hot air it draws inside that the A/C has to run to chill to keep the space comfortable. You're subjected to that heat while the A/C does this. The A/C can gain on this (it does chill the space), but it takes longer and so it has to run more because of this, using more electricity, that you pay for.
  • The outside air drawn in by the negative pressure can contain dust and contaminants: from outside, from passing through walls, or through leaks in the foundation (sucking in soil gasses, including radon).
  • The manufacturer saves costs as it only has to buy/make one tube, yet they can market the one-tube unit as claiming the same efficiency rating as the two-tube unit, as the A/C unit uses the same pump, coils, etc., so it uses the same electricity to run the pump for an hour, even though the A/C unit will have to run more hours to keep the inside temperature the same, hence cost you more to run.

Window A/C units often have two modes:

• one that circulates the inside air for chilling it, while the outside air is circulated to get rid of the heat (functioning like the two-tube stand-alone designs), and
• the other that will allow for bringing in outside air chilling it as best it can and throwing it into the room. This mode isn't very efficient, and if available, often leaks a bit when running in the first mode, reducing efficiency.

The extra cost of running a one-tube stand-alone design is responsible for the perception that floor-standing A/C units are much less efficient than window models, although all floor-standing units have extra air drag through the tubes, that some electricity will be used to overcome. That said, if the coils and pump are the same, a quality window model that does not allow for bringing in outside air cannot leak outside air and reduce efficiency, and there is less drag on the outside air circulation, will be the most efficient to operate: slightly over the two-tube floor model, much more so than the one-tube design.

But, the Swamp Cooler blows all of the above away, when used at BRC. Moist chilled air, for a fraction of the electricity, a fraction of the fan noise, on demand, less capital and operational cost, practically self-cleaning for a week's use, and no playa wear & tear on your A/C unit or generator.

[junglesmacks]

The more I look at this, the more in awe I am. I want this. Do you remember the dimensions of the panels?

Also.. if you were just snapping the panels in the door channels, you would still have a good amount of gap around the edges and especially around the top since it makes about a 6" radius 90 degree turn at the top. How did you seal it in on the sides and top?

If the swamp cooler is doing nothing but blowing in, how were you blowing exhaust out?

[ridingnitro]

The more I look at this, the more in awe I am. I want this. Do you remember the dimensions of the panels?

Also.. if you were just snapping the panels in the door channels, you would still have a good amount of gap around the edges and especially around the top since it makes about a 6" radius 90 degree turn at the top. How did you seal it in on the sides and top?

If the swamp cooler is doing nothing but blowing in, how were you blowing exhaust out?

Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact dimensions of the panels. I went to the budget location I was renting from on my way to home depot with a tape measure and took a few numbers down. The channel that the door slides in is made up of two parts, the actual track that the door's casters roll in, and then the sheet metal groove that the track is set back into. There was about an inch from the track to the beginning of the grove. Those two inches (one one each side) gave enough tolerance that popping in one side at a time and using the track and groove to hold things in worked.

I had prefabbed the panels in advance of getting the truck, but once I picked up the rental and took it back to my brother's place to load up I did a test run of setting it up. There were some last minute adjustments made with a circular saw and belt sander in order to make it fit well. When it was said and done, I was working with about 1/4" of tolerance up the sides, but when the cooler was in place and weighted down with water it kept the panel pushed tight against the track. The top of the panel extended about 3 inches up into the sheet metal housing where the roll up door is stored. To seal the bottom, all I did was place a thin stip of old towels across the bottom of the truck floor and rested the panel on top.

You can't see in the above pictures because they are blocked by the braches, but there were 4" circular vents in each top corner of panel. Just a round hole that I dropped an HVAC 4" plastic grille cover into that had some foam AC filter material jammed into to keep the dust out. Also, the positive pressure from the cooler would force the dust out as well. It was quite dust free in there all week.

For this year I am going to make some changes. Probably a side by side panel system with the cooler on the left and a full sized door on the right. The small door that I did last year worked well, but wasn't as comfortable to more in and out of as I would have liked. But I since I more or less designed that panel on the fly (I had flown out to the bay area with my swamp cooler design sketched out and the fan, pump and pads preordered to my brother) and working out of an unfamiliar workshop, that was the best I could do in a short period of time.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! I was very happy with how that turned out. Last year was our second burn and after 2011 I promised myself that I would design something that we could live in that was comfortable and allowed for all day sleeping, but didn't cost $4000 or more to rent.