Stealth Box Truck Tour - His Custom Tiny House After Divorce

[Music] we have the uh tower of power i like to call it i definitely thrive from the simplicity and i get killer sleep in here i'm a huge fan of experiences over actual tangible things hi there my name is joe hovorka this is my 2016 isuzu flatbed with a custom box and i'd love to take you in for a tour [Music] so we are in the rear of my living box uh facility if you will uh as you walk in the door here to the left is my kitchen um and it's uh somewhat like a galley on a sailboat tight and efficient uh you have your sink here uh which closes nicely if you don't want to do dishes you can just keep them in there out of sight this sink uh is a dometic uh sink typical of i think most rvs uh after your use this thing has been killer no problems at all uh pretty heavy duty i'm not the easiest on equipment of any kind but this thing has been uh beautiful a really awesome true induction cooktop i never liked electric cooktops as you can't control the flame i've done a bit of cooking in my life working in restaurants this thing is unbelievable super safe because it's not open flame the only drawback is it is glass and if you drop a metal pan on it can break that's the uh the extensive duct tape over here but this thing has been golden it uses very little electricity as my whole rig runs on electricity from the air conditioning to the heat to the refrigerator so having something that is extremely efficient is money below the kitchen cooking area i've got pots and pans um your typical stuff you'd find in any well-stocked kitchen i think cutlery cutting boards matches lighters and some various tools and below that we've got our trash which i clearly need to empty and just storage area for food first aid kit things like that and all of the interior doors on this thing have locking latches i think most of this was designed very similar to the inside of a sailboat so once you close things nothing opens when you're flying around the road up high here more storage for bowls cups tea whatever vices i may be into at the time and more vitamins anything else you might like always important over your cooking area to have a vented skylight if you will as in with any good kitchen you have a beautiful view looking out the window one of the many things i love about living like this is you tend to only cook what you eat you don't go overboard with a bunch of other stuff so i rarely have leftovers that ultimately go to waste and i rarely cook more than i'm willing to eat and it does promote efficiency in that way which i have become a huge fan of oh and then we've got you know a few spices uh hand washing station which is more important now than ever kids and that is my uh that is my kitchen and my rig is uh my closet which for a guy like me has plenty of space i have all the uh nice shirts that i rarely get to put on all my daily t-shirts a few other nooks and crannies um and then below that is uh one of the sweetest elements on this rig is a fridge that slides out this angle fridge super environmentally friendly energy efficient has a lock that keeps it closed it can be a reefer or a full freezer cannot do both at the same time but i've used it as a full freezer and it's phenomenal you just turn it all the way to frozen wait an hour and you can put ice and everything else in there and it stays rock rock solid frozen forever plenty of storage for two maybe even three people but it's just me so i have everything i need very easy access to the kitchen and like everything else on this rig no problems i highly recommend it [Music] my introduction into the realm of tiny living living out of a vehicle uh was born from a uh a divorce what i like to tell people is uh it's kind of funny um most divorces force the sale of rigs like this uh where my divorce forced me to purchase a rig like this i wanted to stay close to my kids i wanted you know this is during the time of covid i didn't want to rent a room with a bunch of dudes in some house and i also wasn't really keen to try to buy a piece of property or a house here in oregon considering the home prices me getting this thing definitely it was the right thing at the right time and it definitely fills the need i i required which is accompanying my kids to do the various things they do i have one that is a competitive rock climber and one that is a kayaker and this is a great rig to go with either of them um to enjoy uh watching them do the things they love to do um and spending time with them all right so opposite of my kitchen we have uh the living room den chill zone which also acts as a dining area for two or four if you want to squeeze them uh you know two side by side and two side by side here a little tight but it still works i generally use this area as you see it lay down sometime extend extend the uh my little uh yoga pad all the way sometimes i fall asleep here through the night uh fits me well um beautiful view window what six feet by three feet on the side here and below we have storage in here and storage down below where your feet go as well as a comfortable place to sit and do work or read or sleep a ton of food storage up top here for whatever tickles your fancy i clearly need to go to the market this rig does not lack storage at all as you'll see as we go around this is probably my most utilized space in the rig if i'm not cooking or standing at my computer i am in this zone facing one way or another and i think anywhere you have a window with a great view that's where you want to be so that's why this is such an important place opposite of my living room den chill zone to the uh on the left as you come in um we have the uh tower of power i like to call it so you have the microwave you have my uh radio system which uh we have speakers inside and out uh this tower power is impressive i have a 1064 amp hours of lithium battery storage with 600 watts up top i have never plugged this thing into land power since i got it it is energized just through solar generation and through as i drive it also generates electricity i've run the air conditioner here in 108 degree weather in reno with my dog in here and it stayed 68 degrees for seven hours no problem very little drain on the uh on the batteries my heat system which uh the heat comes right out of here that is the only thing that's not electric that's actually plumbed into my diesel gas tank so hot water and heat uh come from my diesel gas tank uh extremely efficient system pulls very little uh electronically as i i think the only thing that is needed is just to run the fans but this thing is magic i do have a bathroom heater that i uh can turn on right here and then the heater for the rig is accessed and controlled right next to my bed so i don't even have to get out of bed in the morning and it's super comfy this thing will fire up from 50 degrees to 80 degrees in seven minutes eight minutes and it can get quite toasty in here as this thing is well insulated but there you go this is the tower of power and below it um the all-important condiment and sweetener uh tray with a few other goodies in here coffee stuff like that but this whole region is pretty much dedicated to powering this whole rig on the outside of the rig directly opposite of this is how you would access uh the actual water and heater it pulls out on a tray so it's extremely well designed and it keeps all of the important stuff in one one spot you don't have to go from this spot to another spot to another spot it's just very well laid out and if i needed to access this in any way i just unscrew the microwave and it's all there for you to see so pretty well thought out and knock on wood it's not giving me any problems uh after a year all right now we are we are in the super comfy zone uh my bedroom um which is uh closest to the cab of my truck um it is a little smaller than a queen super comfy it's kind of a memory foam mattress i have storage above my head uh ample storage uh two spots with uh more blankets um reading materials some headlamps this is a skylight uh that opens up for ventilation it also is an escape hatch i can i can flip a red switch here and actually vacate the vehicle if there's ever a reason to windows at the head and at the feet that open for ventilation more storage above my feet on this side like i said ton ton of storage i can still fit more up here i i never run the heat when i sleep and it's been in the teens in the 20s i kill that when i go to bed and i never turn it on until i wake up in the morning and i've never had this thing the inside of this drop below 50 uh even as it gets to the teens outside and i i get killer sleeping here that you know up there with the best i've gotten you know in a home or on vacation or passed out drunk you know either either or pick your poison i do spend time here reading as well just depends upon what my mood is that's all i want from something like this is something that keeps me safe healthy comfortable and happy and i have it and the big question everybody wants answered is there a bathroom is there a shower is there a toilet yes right here all three i i have a hundred gallons of fresh water in this um with a hot water tank and in here is a toilet and a shower both fully functional i've used a shower multitude of times i use the toilet just a few times but i prefer not to use the toilet especially if i'm in an environment where it's just i don't need to i can use something else keeps this area clean and it's a great use of space for storage for toys uh you know athletic equipment what have you um underneath my feet there is storage in here for a multitude of things i think i have some cleaning supplies in there and then this is interior access to what i call the garage which can be accessed from either side of the outside but it's nice to have access from inside in case the weather's bad and you need to grab grab something quickly super cool design feature that the guy who built this uh made sure was there and it allows me to just throw hide stuff if uh somebody's coming to interview me about my small home i can just shove in there and make him think i'm really keeping this thing tidy [Music] strangers ask me almost on a daily basis what it's like living out of something like this um and my daughter as well um she will have a uh a pickup truck an old pickup coming her way when she turns 16 and she wants to build it out so she can live out of it rock climb do her thing when i heard my daughter say that and i'm sure some parents would be you know totally taken back and be like my my kids want to live out of a vehicle i was so stoked to hear that one because of her independence and that uh that free spirit she has i'd recommend this to anybody who just wants something to be able to leave on fridays come back on sundays or months at a time everybody's situation is different but i've met people who are just taking a break from you know typical normal lives if you will in a city with a very stable job that they just need headspace need to get out and see what else is out there and i've i've talked to people who ultimately returned to those lifestyles but have been better served by getting the hell out of what they thought was their comfort zone and realizing wow you don't need all of this to be in your comfort zone you can literally be in a little camp or a tiny home and achieve and experience great things that you never thought were were really possible and these things aren't necessarily things they're experiences and i'm a huge fan of experiences over actual tangible things your eyes and your feet your feet take you to great places your eyes can feast on and this is just another tool to get you to those places the only entrance and exit to my rig is from the back um super convenient stairs that are attached to the rig and tie down um so in and out super easy um if i'm going stealth i'll keep the stairs up so i just look like a box van parked for the night um and over here is our two valves that get rid of my gray water i don't have black water but this just gets rid of sink and shower water so nothing really nasty i do have small tanks that i can put it into or if i'm at a dump station just right into the dump station so simplicity is what this thing is about and simplicity is what you have here so where we are now is we are on the outside of the rig this is the garage area that i spoke of earlier that has access from the inside so this is all below my bed which is right above here so this area houses my hundred gallon fresh water tank multitude of storage areas i have chairs a little bb gun um my little we boost set up so i have a good sell signal a plethora of tools and recovery equipment a little beer little def fluid picnic table there's a whole host of things in here and the jacks that attach to this box if i want to remove it are all uh stored in here in their own specific places so super easy to access very secure keeping these two doors closed perfect for stuff that you don't need to access uh you know frequently from the inside great places with trash as well so now we're on the other side of the vehicle which also has uh it mirrors the opposite side with access to the garage once again this is all below my bed which is up high here um move a little of this out of the way this is where this is where the magic lies these these are the four 260 amp hour lithium batteries that make this rig uh do what it can do and keep it uh as comfortable as it is this unit also has a heating component to it once it drops below a certain temperature this heater ramps on and keeps this area warm to keep the batteries from getting too cold keep the water from freezing as well and this is the area of greatest concern if you have any desire to take the box off you would pull the jacks out put them on and you just need to unhook the power the gas supply which goes to the heating unit and one little auxiliary plug that i think is for the brakes you disconnect those three jack it up and you drive away with a flat bed and you get to leave this cabin in place with all of the functions that you would have with it the only thing you don't have would be the heater and hot water because you're you're just you're disconnecting the uh the diesel gas tank from this but because it does have so much electricity you wouldn't have hot water but i can run space heaters in this thing all night long without it really scratching the surface of the battery the batteries [Music] hey i want to thank you guys for uh allowing me to show you my uh tiny home my uh box on wheels la tortuga blanca whatever you want to call it uh if you're on social media i'm uh i'm not prolific but i do have a page that's dedicated to kind of me in this box and pictures i like to take i'm found at check in the box that's c-z-e-c-h period in the box um and if you see my rig around um it's probably you you won't confuse another one for this so if you see me feel free to come up and say i ask me questions give me free food and maybe a shave and we'll go from there thanks for coming [Music] you

Channel: Tiny Home Tours

Views: 830,641

Keywords: tiny house, tiny house on wheels, living big in a tiny house, tiny house movement, tiny home, small house, small spaces, small house design, alternative living, architecture, affordable home, off the grid, small space living, tiny house life, diy tiny house, diy home, box truck conversion, van life, off grid living, van build, full time rv, tiny house tour, tiny house living, van conversion, box truck, tiny house build, tiny house nation, camper van, van life build

Id: iP8riesE5Sw

Length: 18min 36sec (1116 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 10 2022