Another new trailer build....

Schmelly...it looks like you're pointed the right direction...
 
Why paint it blue...???
 
I think the red & yellow colors are just perfect to catch potential customers eyeballs (which does have value)...I agree about white or silver for the roof...and you might consider insulating the floor...
 

backrhodes it's not going to be blue...I was going to paint it blue...But now it is going to be black and white giving it more of a diner/retro look...Black where the red is and white where the yellow is....
 
I removed the rear window last night...Up next is to get a wall in the back.

Schmelly, why did they want the back window removed ?

BackAlleyBurger


Schmelly, why did they want the back window removed ?

It's a fire hazard...combustable material....Apparently I could possibly get it waived if I wrote a letter to the State Fire Marshal and told him of my hardships at removing the window....Then maybe they would let it stay in there...But that would could take months which I don't have.

sooooo....its a danger unless your poor ??... then its ok?? lol..got to love city/county/state government, lol

What exactly was combustible about that window? Or can you not have windows in all of your service windows?

Maybe the window was plastic and not glass...???
 
This seems SO odd...
 
And IF the back window IS removed, what will take it's place...???

He has nowhere to put the cooking appliances...the whole trailer is one big window except for the 3' or so from the door to the nose.
 

How many times have new posters been told to check with local officials before starting a build?

rethink the black trailer... I have a black trailer and people drive past me not even seeing me, I added yellow and orange flames to catch the eyes... Even my friends say some times they drive right past me the first time.  I don't think the eyes catch the black or something like that

I`m with WildDog on this one. Black? Seriously......you need to research articles on what colors attack people, black is not one of them. I have a friend whose trailer is rust color, God, what was he thinking? I think he painted it to match the color of his truck. You need yellow and red.
Just my pennies worth of info. But what do I know, I fry taters and cakes under a yellow tent, have for 11 years. Can`t recall ever seeing a black tent or trailer.
Good luck.

Hey guys....The trailer is not going to be all black...It is going to be white with a black stripe....The whole inside of the trailer is going to be black, white, and stainless....We feel this will give the trailer a retro-classic-diner type feel....
 
I may add some vinyl graphics or something at some point to grab people's attention.....I am also going to run a string of rope lights around the top of it......
 
As far as the window goes...It had plastic trim, that was the part that was combustible....And yes for people planning on doing their own builds they should use me as an example....DON'T BUILD ANYTHING UNTIL YOU TALK TO THE INSPECTORS.....
 
I am looking for a propane deep fryer in the next two days.....any good brands I should keep an eye out for....Anything to stay away from ? thanks

We also dropped the trailer off last night to have the hood and exhaust put in....I have been dealing with the installer for about 3 weeks now...He knows all about my trailer and situation....
 
So he told me a week ago to drop it off yesterday...Well we drove an hour and I got to a house on a dead end road with nobody there...Luckily the neighbors came home and I asked them where their neighbor was...They questioned me, and then made a call...Then some guy shows up (not the one I was dealing with but the guy's friend he works with)
 
He looked at the trailer and asked me how much "Rich" quoted me....I said he quoted  $500 and that he told me it could be a little more since the fire chief told me i needed air gaps welded on the inside of the hood....
 
Now I don't know about you guys but to me "a little more" on a $500 job would be around $100....
 
Then this guy tells me he wouldn't touch it for anything under $1500 and that I might as well take it home....I ended up talking to the guy...he was a biker type who builds custom bikes, etc...I told him he should do his bike side work and let "Rich" take care of my trailer....He agreed...I called Rich 3 or 4 times yesterday but he was at a wedding in Rhode Island or something... So I have yet to talk to him since I have dropped it off...So I have no idea what is going to happen....
 
The stress of this build is really starting to take it's toll on us....If the hood and fan does not get installed this would be the third time we have been blown off...On top of it if he does do it , it won't be until Sunday...So he has taken at least one day away from us...
 
This has to be the most stressful project I have ever undertaken....Sometimes I notice I am having breathing problems...I am getting gray hairs...my skin is wrinkling at a crazy rate....I can't sleep....I am getting "stress itchies".....It feels like I have a 1000lb weight on me....Mt gf and I have argued more in the last few months than we ever have on our entire 6 year relationship...We just borrowed some money since we have gone above and beyond our budget.....
 
This is not any easy undertaking for anyone thinking of doing it...There is a lot involved.... We've been doing this in regards to this project since February...We just want it done so we can start selling !

schmelly; I hear what your saying, but dont get to discouraged.. all things that come hard are worth the stress believe me.youve done a great job so far dont let these little "work arounds " get you down what they really are , are attitude builders it will seperate the wannabees from havethe bees if you get my drift.. keep in there keep swatting those flys and chin up. show em what us yankees are made of buddy. good luck. by the way did you say you had a spot already lined up?

Buck & Vi's


schmelly; I hear what your saying, but dont get to discouraged.. all things that come hard are worth the stress believe me.youve done a great job so far dont let these little "work arounds " get you down what they really are , are attitude builders it will seperate the wannabees from havethe bees if you get my drift.. keep in there keep swatting those flys and chin up. show em what us yankees are made of buddy. good luck. by the way did you say you had a spot already lined up?

Thanks for the encouragement Buck....Yea I think we will get there....This process has been going on for so long the end still seems so far away when hopefully in reality it is near....
 
And yes, I have a vendor spot leased (already paid) from a local city....It is a yearly lease....So we have that part taken care of...As soon as it's done and inspected we can get sellin'.

    ......................................

I'm back...The guy who installed my hood screwed me over pretty good...I asked him to put rock wool above the hood - he never did...He scatched the brand new windows with the hood...he may have also scratched the new stainless steel backsplash....I asked him to be careful on the roof as I had just finished sealing it a few weeks ago...I am pretty certain he purposely dug his heels into it...there were some very deep indentations in to ...The roof was then leaking....It also caused the plywood on one of my walls to bow out..
 
He also did not seal any holes on the hood fropm the previous installation...I had asked him to do this....None of the gaps inside the hood were sealed either...I don't think he used to proper sealant on the fan  and he also left wide open drill holes...Water was coming through it and into the trailer...Over all it was a horrible job.....This was on top of him blowign us off for 2 consecutive weeks...
 
When my gf talked to him on the phone he changed his tune real quickly saying that's what we get for $500..A shtty hood and fan installed on our shtty trailer...We deserve the shtty job he told her...
 
We are debating taking him to small claims court, and when I get a chance I am calling the BBB on him....
If anyone in New England is interested who it is:
Rich Pare
HD Mechanical & Welding
 
He is bad news, stay away from him. He is one nasty fellow.

On a brighter note we are continuing on here...
 
Power question:  I am looking at getting a 50 amp power inlet (male) that will be mounted to the trailer,..,.It's the twist style inlet...
 
So I need a power cord...I can get a new/used 25foot 50 amp cord but it only has the male end on it....So can I buy a female end to put on it? IS this allowed ? do they sell twist style 50 amp female ends i can put on a cord ? 
            thanks, Schmelly

Schmelly,
 
How are you running your 12v wiring (water pump, etc.)? Are you running in a separate conduit from the AC wiring?

go cruise a couple of the bigger boat/yacht site.... what you want is a marine grade 50 amp ship to shore power cord... 
 
 
from this you can get a 30 amp pigtail for locations with only 30 amp supply, or if your using a temp generator that only has 30 amps out...... the pigtail will also let you plug into 2 30 amp plugs to have full service if you have 2 30 amp hook ups instead of a 50 amp (a common thing) just put a 60 amp main in your service box and enjoy the extra juice :) (a very common boating practice)

and this should hopefully be self explanatory, but you do know to never ever even think about running low voltage wires in the same conduit as high voltage, in fact, its a good idea to color code your conduits just to make sure there is a visual aid to help keep you from cutting into something you think is something else...... 

reese77


Schmelly,

How are you running your 12v wiring (water pump, etc.)? Are you running in a separate conduit from the AC wiring?

Reese, we're skipping installing AC right now...maybe come the spring we will....Or we may end up getting some kind of stand up unit...We saw a trailer a few weeks ago and the girl running it said the stand up worked better than the wall unit....
 
Also, not sure what you are guys talking about conduit ?  - If you mean where are my wires ? They are run inside the walls....Holes have been drilled or cut through the 2" tube steel frame and run through them....
 
I ended up purchasing a 50 amp power inlet in an exterior box, and a 50 amp cord from an RV dealer...The cord has the twist lock type end on it.....Wow what a price jump from 30 to 50 amp......
 
We also took out the 3/8" or so copper propane line coming in.....Replacing it will be 3/4" black pipe...It will end up behind the 3 appliances using propane...each appliance will have it's own "T" and a shut off valve.....
 
Fire Suppression should be going in sometime in the next few days.....
 
Food may be delivered from the distributor on Monday....
 
This is all so crazy....My brain as been completely overloaded for the last few weeks.....I can't wait till it's over and we are serving food....Selling food will feel like a vacation for us, lol.....

Just a thought..... I would not be purchasing $1's worth of food until you have passed any and all inspections.
What happens if you buy $500 worth of perishables and can't sell them?

Schmelly,
im getting excited for you man, i can only try to imagine how you feel !
i decided the same thing on the a/c, its going to be cool enough by the time i get going i wont need it i think..... that gives me some breathing room on the roof issue i have (raising it)

well time to take another step back.....Code is not 50 amp...Code guy told me I have to go 50 amp which is not the case....I probably ripped out the breaker panel which was welded inside a wall to the trailer, and I also ripped off the power inlet on the front of the trailer which was also welded for nothing....
 
I thought it seemed odd that I had a licensed electrician go through my trailer, then the code guy basically telling me everything is wrong and that I will have to redo it all....
 
So now that we have not gotten the 50 amp inlet, I think we are going to return what 50 amp stuff we have gotten and just go to a 30 amp...I'm checking with the city now to see if they will switch that 50amp to 30 amp....
 
This whole project seems to be one step forwards, and two steps back....We have dealt with some really awful people along the way - ignorant, stupid, mean, drunks, dumb, power hungry, rude, and just basically classless.... Never thought I would run into so many people like this with this project....
 
If we ever get up and running we will be working full hours 8am to 7pm about every day....2 reasons - we need to money, and we also want to see what kind of business wee draw in over the different hours....But like I said even working that many hours will feel like a vacation to me....I guess I only will have to worry about dealing with rude customers....Hopefully I don't get too many hot dogs flung back at me.

There's another thread on here dealing with the psychology of colors. Green & blue were not recommended for food establishments

IT'S FINALLY DONE ! WE'VE BEEN ON THIS PROJECT SINCE FEBRUARY ! AND WE JUST GOT THE FINAL GO FROM THE HEALTH DEPT !!!!! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ! WOOOOHHHHHOOOOOOOO !!!!!!
 
I am having a hard time believing we will be selling food tomorrow but we will be....Sorry if I stopped posting pics but the project got very intense in terms of stress, etc.....
 
She is totally done and looking nice...Give me some time and I will post complete pics of the inside and outside....This has been a long long arduous  journey.....We can't wait to get selling now....
 
I'll try and post an update as soon as I can....Thank you everyone who helped me with questions I had along the way, and for those who offered their advice....If anyone is thinking of building or remodeling a trailer feel free to pm me any questions....I'll try and answer them as best I can, and maybe help save you some headaches that I had to go through.
 

Good to hear you have gotten it done. Now go make some money.

So where are you going to be located and what will your hours be?

hey stubb...we are located in downtown Keene NH at Railroad Square...We are going to start working 9am to 9pm....We'll be here about everyday unless we need to stock the rig, or just really need a day off...I am thinking we may take Sundays off....Anyways instead of posting pics here I'll post a link to Schmelly's Facebook page....There's some pics of the rig, and more there....I also have an awning installed with rope lights now where my serving window is...I'll have more pics up at some point....
 
Today is our 4th day, and each day has gotten better than the last...Today we had already did better than yesterday after the lunch rush....Lots and lots of positive reactions to us thus far.....At some point I'll get some pics of our food items up as well.....
 
Yesterday we added home fries, as well as Texas fries to our menu, and they already are selling.
 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Schmellys/211866282216901