Youth Sports Team Needs A Food Truck? Make One Out Of A Vintage Camper Trailer!
If you are in charge of the concessions stand for your child's team but there is no building available, consider transforming a vintage camper trailer into a food truck with custom cabinetry! All you need is a little imagination, a lot of volunteers, and a fundraiser to help with the costs. Here are a few important steps to repurpose an old camper into a food truck.
Find the perfect match
Ideally, the camper you choose should have a large window on at least one of the sides. That way, you will be able to take orders and serve food through the opening. The old window can be removed and replaced by a horizontal door that will double as a canopy.
Of course, you'll want a camper trailer that is safe, especially if your team needs to haul it to different playing fields. The framing, undercarriage and axles should be free of rust and functional. Ask a mechanic to help you pick out a safe trailer for your team.
Gut the interior
Once you find a camper, it will be time to get down to the nitty-gritty and rip out the interior. However, it's important to understand that some of the materials inside the trailer may contain asbestos. Fortunately, you can gut the trailer outside, which will help disperse the asbestos. However, you still need to protect yourself from exposure. To do this, cover your entire body from head to toe with protective clothing and a breathing mask with a HEPA filter on it.
That's when the fun begins. Take hammers, chisels, crowbars, and anything else you can think of to rip out the old cabinets, seating and table. If there are any metal objects, set them off to the side to sell to a scrap metal recycler. Put everything else in a dumpster.
Make repairs
Once you have everything out, it's time to make repairs. Look for signs of water damage and corrosion and fix them. Take a level and make sure the walls and flooring are even. This is important because you want your custom cabinetry to fit in nicely. If the walls and flooring are uneven, you may have to remove them and replace them with new surfaces. Ask an auto body technician for guidance if you are unsure.
After the repairs are made and everything is plumb and even, give the camper a good cleaning. This can be a job for the teammates, since there should be no dangerous spots or sharp edges.
Measure for cabinetry
The cabinets are the most important thing you will have inside the food truck. Actually, they may be the only thing. To make sure you get the right sizes of cabinets for the best layout possible, it's a good idea to measure twice. You'll want to measure the length and height of every wall, and the height and width of the window you will be serving your customers from. Draw a schematic of your trailer and annotate the measurements on it.
Take the measurements to a custom cabinet maker. He or she will help you choose cabinets that will work best for your particular situation. If the trailer will be towed to different locations, tell the cabinet maker that you'd like the cabinets to have storage systems inside them. That should help reduce the amount of movement inside the cabinets when the trailer is being towed.
The cabinet maker can also hook you up with the countertops and the horizontal door that will double as a canopy when you are open for business. This can simply be made from a lightweight countertop material that can be supported with a metal rod when in the canopy position.
Concession stands are a great way for sports teams to fundraise. Hopefully, this article has sparked an interest in restoring a vintage camper and re-purposing it into a food truck.
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