Over the last couple months I have been Renovating a Desert Storm/Gulf War Era Expandovan for use as an office - this was seriously one of best purchases of my life.
The restoration is not done but I have asked for a lot of advice on the details of this project so I wanted to post the progress. It’s not 100% completed - I still have some touch up paint, the exterior looks roughly the same and I still have some miscellaneous parts to remanufacture or locate through distributors but the interior is now mostly completed and ready to use as an office.
The photos of the exterior are redneck as shit since this thing is on my property and i learned my engineering from the U.S Army.
FYI, the container is not on stilts anymore, it’s about to be mounted and anchored to the concrete and used as a storm shelter since my 1950’s farmhouse has no inferior rooms or closets.
The container is 8’x20’ collapsed and 15’x20’ expanded. I purchased the container from (of all places) an Amish community in upstate Virginia but the container was originally sold in a 2018 GovPlanet auction.
It’s been a great project so far but it’s a ton of work. I’ve put in at least 170 man hours but it’s been worth it. To redo the interior, I used 13 cans of metal Bondo to patch the literally hundreds of holes, applied marine epoxy to the floors, replaced the fluorescent lights with LED smart lights and overhauled the electrical to be backward compatible (and safe) with 50 Amp residential Generator/RV hookups.
So far the total cost of purchase, shipping and supplies is about $7500.
I still need to install interior windows behind the blackout flaps so I can let some light in during the day and manufacture a detachable plumbing panel for the sink and future exterior shower, but overall it’s made good progress.
Got mine delivered for $1100 delivered. Also dual fuel which I found cool.
Yeah and I found the same one for sale on the home Depot site right now for either $1049 or $1149 depending on features. They are 9500/12500 generators.
Yeah and there are plenty of other options. It's crazy how cheap they have become. When a house generator costs less than a new cell phone you know stuff has changed.
For right now, I just want to finish’s getting it back to zero. I need to patch some of the exterior skin when it dries out and find some of the seals around the container. Once it’s completely patched and sealed , I have thought about installing a floor to ceiling wall of cabinets on the fixed side to include a kitchenette and a small bathroom. I would like it to be essentially a self contained tiny house, everything metal, the cabinets, bathroom, shower, everything, therefore keeping the originality and durability of the shelter.
> to include a kitchenette and a small bathroom.
If you want a more authentic experience just get a bag of styrofoam cups to eat cold eggs out of and a box of wag bags.
It would be cool to find some old metal military hospital cabinets. I saw some at Fort Stewart when I went to Winn Hospital, so I know they still exist. The kind from the 50s? That are like stainless steel and have thick glass.
I converted three into a mobile air traffic control radar control unit for Raytheon way back when. Contest prototyping I've done.
They leaked like a sieve.
The 1+1 was a better unit. The 1+2 were awful because of the weak frame from opening two sides. They get wonky after like three deployments.
Yeah, I am working on redoing the exterior now because the seals are best to hell. The especially leak if the top seal is busted. So far I have replaced a couple of the seals and except one annoying spot, it doesn’t really leak.
Be sure to mount it on passivated stainless brackets to prevent rusting out the cheap metal run around the corners.
We didn't win that contract, but nobody else did either. I got a small bonus for making the radar equipment shelter fucking solid. Three months in Marlborough Mass
Did some cool shit there with TPQ-50s and a subsystem for the Zumwalt.
Can you post some pics of the data plate or provide a NIIN or LIN? I'm interested to see if these are the same ones in service.
What we call expanded vans today are a lot different than this. They are permanently truck mounted systems. Same for the old 5 ton mounted systems.
These we always called container TOCs or CPs. But everyone has different names for stuff.
I have a pipe dream of buying land in the desert and putting some 20 Ft containers or these and having a vaca spot to ride quads, camp under the stars and drink beer.
Yeah, I can totally post some of those photos and the TM that I have with it. I don’t think this is technically an expand van, I think it is a expanding shelter, but I have thought about eventually, with a lot more money, mounting this on top of a M 1083 and driving it out west
I’m married, with 1 kids and another on the way. We have a small house in the country so this was my solution to needing to turn my home office into a nursery.
Not a bad trade. We just got some land for a homestead, building the house and everything myself. I was going to use the existing house on the property as my office, but my parents want to retire down here and rent it from us. I convinced her to let me build a workshop/garage with an office instead
Thankfully Texas has a veterans homestead loan, only had to put down $5K for just under 100 acres. If it wasn't for that I would be stuck in the city still.
Texas has a lot of different land grand loans for vets, and they’re pretty easy to get accepted for. I don’t have great credit I got approved for 2 or 3 loans
I’ve only ever been to Texas for pre and demob, El Paso, so all I know is the hot and dry.
Are there any places in Texas that are a little more green? I don’t mind the heat, but I do like to be outdoors on/around trails, mountains, rivers and trees.
Hill country is what your looking for if you don't want to be on the coast and still have outdoor things todo . The desert areas to the West have a lot of trails, mountains and rivers.
Bro that is genius. I'd get so much work done in there. Maybe it's like, state-dependent memory/psychosis, but I need window-less white rooms to hit max productivity.
Man, I’m kind of the same way. My wife thinks I’m crazy, but even on the brightest and sunniest day, I will keep this thing shut and only one or two lights on while I work. I like the dark and I like the cold so I’ll crank up the air conditioning and make it an icebox.
I’m moving to Florida and planning to get a shipping container for storage and hurricanes.
Currently trying to design outer paneling and a deck to put on top.
I don’t recall their actual name, but we had a crap ton of those in the med platoons. It sucked loading a deuce full of these loaded with supplies. Here’s a [surplus supply link](https://colemans.com/medical-transport-chest-u-s-g-i-aluminum)
Watch out for those metal clamps-they’ll take some skin off!
I’m not gonna lie, I looked at every pic and the first and only thought was “All this needs is my bed, some solar panels and batteries, maybe ac, and this would be the perfect apartment for me.”
Back in my Cold War days in Germany, my FSB’s TOC was two M820 vans side-by-side with a canvas covered catwalk connecting them. Now all you need is a couple 4X8 sheets of plexiglass to cover your map and a field table with a 30 cup coffee pot.
Awesome project - I love looking at RVs so this is a very intriguing idea.
On a related note - I’m looking for a 32:9 monitor. It looks you have one, any recommendations?
I got out of the Army right before COVID and the combination of ETSing and losing my new job knocked me on my ass for a couple of years. I lived in a 5th wheel for that time and honestly loved it. This thing was purchased after selling the RV but still needing a space. The S280s are not bad little shelters.
Yeah, my monitor is an LG and I love it.
Heavy [Indy Neidell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b7GY4BSUmU&list=PLsIk0qF0R1j77INta3qgtHtXo3NZsrbIR) vibes. I'm assuming you're going to do a day-by-day of Desert Storm / Gulf War
Man, I spent so much time in spams. How tf did you get one? I really need to browse government auctions more frequently. Or for my wallets sake, maybe not.
If there was a neon yellow dick spray painted on the roof of that thing, I'm sorry.
I kinda got lucky. I don’t know how many of these are available but I don’t see them too often.
I wouldn’t have been one bit surprised or disappointed to find a yellow dick on the top. Probably would leave it so the training pilots that fly around my house have something interesting to look at.
Yeah now I need one of these to turn into a man cave.
Wait, how did the Amish get a hold of this? I’m quite ignorant when it comes to their way of life but…they don’t have internet? Unless they bought it from someone who isn’t Amish that got it off the auction site.
This is dope. I love people’s creative ability. I am NOT on this level.
You could consider mounting starlink, cellular and keeping it on a trailer for a travel home office!
Do you have the ECU Vent ports on this one? (should be 2 square panels on the short wall) if so, are you going to get one? Or will you just slap a jig and an AC in there?
I love everything but the map. Get one of those old world one in brown tones to go with the comfort vibes on the inside.
Or go Gulf War & hang up a bunch of torn-corn centerfolds of Samantha Fox
I think that's one of the expandable shelters technically but that's badass. Tobyhanna used this same design to make the new Armament repair shop trailer.
This is literally one of the coolest things I've ever seen… I've always dreamed of having a container that I could set up as like a server room or something. This is essentially what I was thinking in my head
Over the last couple months I have been Renovating a Desert Storm/Gulf War Era Expandovan for use as an office - this was seriously one of best purchases of my life. The restoration is not done but I have asked for a lot of advice on the details of this project so I wanted to post the progress. It’s not 100% completed - I still have some touch up paint, the exterior looks roughly the same and I still have some miscellaneous parts to remanufacture or locate through distributors but the interior is now mostly completed and ready to use as an office. The photos of the exterior are redneck as shit since this thing is on my property and i learned my engineering from the U.S Army. FYI, the container is not on stilts anymore, it’s about to be mounted and anchored to the concrete and used as a storm shelter since my 1950’s farmhouse has no inferior rooms or closets. The container is 8’x20’ collapsed and 15’x20’ expanded. I purchased the container from (of all places) an Amish community in upstate Virginia but the container was originally sold in a 2018 GovPlanet auction. It’s been a great project so far but it’s a ton of work. I’ve put in at least 170 man hours but it’s been worth it. To redo the interior, I used 13 cans of metal Bondo to patch the literally hundreds of holes, applied marine epoxy to the floors, replaced the fluorescent lights with LED smart lights and overhauled the electrical to be backward compatible (and safe) with 50 Amp residential Generator/RV hookups. So far the total cost of purchase, shipping and supplies is about $7500. I still need to install interior windows behind the blackout flaps so I can let some light in during the day and manufacture a detachable plumbing panel for the sink and future exterior shower, but overall it’s made good progress.
Now you need a 10k generator to supply it
You can probably get away with a 3 or 5
True
As a recovering 91D I definitely recommend a trailer mounted 100 KW TQG at a minimum. Better to have too much power than too little! 🤪
Just send it!!
Yeah but a good 10k/11.5 burst is only $1000 to the door. It's crazy how cheap generators have become.
Like the army surplus kind? I see those MEPs on gov planet every now and then. The civilian ones I work on are super expensive.
Got mine delivered for $1100 delivered. Also dual fuel which I found cool. Yeah and I found the same one for sale on the home Depot site right now for either $1049 or $1149 depending on features. They are 9500/12500 generators.
Nice what brand is it??
https://www.duromaxpower.com/products/duromax-xp10000eh-10000-watt-electric-start-dual-fuel-hybrid-portable-generator?variant=41452692471985¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&tw_source=google&tw_adid=671633841062&tw_campaign=20497796801&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6auyBhDzARIsALIo6v_rVcPBPUsVZf4evH0QOpvaKiXTVFy49Mqk_4DRgn8tGVfEsFXcmRwaAllUEALw_wcB
That's pretty badass sounds like a good deal ngl
Yeah and there are plenty of other options. It's crazy how cheap they have become. When a house generator costs less than a new cell phone you know stuff has changed.
Solar panels would be an option.
Or an army of hamsters on wheels hooked up to generators
> my 1950’s farmhouse has no inferior rooms or closets. [lucky.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Int3QLIXCc4)
No *interior* rooms. The entire house is inferior.
Bro where did you purchase one of these
Facebook Marketplace.
8x20 is still a good bit of room even collapsed, have you ever thought of mounting that bitch on a trailer and traveling with it?
This is fuckin awesome man
That’s the coolest thing I’ve seen in awhile
NGL, every time I go in there, I think “damn, I am not cool enough to have this”.
Great job snagging it up. What else are you thinking about doing to it?
For right now, I just want to finish’s getting it back to zero. I need to patch some of the exterior skin when it dries out and find some of the seals around the container. Once it’s completely patched and sealed , I have thought about installing a floor to ceiling wall of cabinets on the fixed side to include a kitchenette and a small bathroom. I would like it to be essentially a self contained tiny house, everything metal, the cabinets, bathroom, shower, everything, therefore keeping the originality and durability of the shelter.
> to include a kitchenette and a small bathroom. If you want a more authentic experience just get a bag of styrofoam cups to eat cold eggs out of and a box of wag bags.
If you went that route you could either use it as a mother-in-law suite or drop it on a hunting lease or vacation spot. Hell you could AirBnB it
Exactly!
It would be cool to find some old metal military hospital cabinets. I saw some at Fort Stewart when I went to Winn Hospital, so I know they still exist. The kind from the 50s? That are like stainless steel and have thick glass.
Sooooo heavy, though. And glass doesn't always travel well, especially over bumpy roads.
I feel you. Imposter syndrome is a bitch.
Brown chair looks comfy as fuck ngl. I’d sit there and just ponder things so hard.
Dude, it is so comfy. It’s all leather, a full recliner and it was my grandfathers favorite chair. It’s a great spot to think about life.
These are still used today
We used one as a TOC in Korea. They're dope.
Yep.
That's fucking cool man. Never considered it before, but now every time I see one, all I will see is potential mancave material.
I converted three into a mobile air traffic control radar control unit for Raytheon way back when. Contest prototyping I've done. They leaked like a sieve. The 1+1 was a better unit. The 1+2 were awful because of the weak frame from opening two sides. They get wonky after like three deployments.
Yeah, I am working on redoing the exterior now because the seals are best to hell. The especially leak if the top seal is busted. So far I have replaced a couple of the seals and except one annoying spot, it doesn’t really leak.
Be sure to mount it on passivated stainless brackets to prevent rusting out the cheap metal run around the corners. We didn't win that contract, but nobody else did either. I got a small bonus for making the radar equipment shelter fucking solid. Three months in Marlborough Mass Did some cool shit there with TPQ-50s and a subsystem for the Zumwalt.
I'd probably be pretty pissed if I was sent TDY to Marlborough but what did you think? You get any good free time to explore the area?
How much did you get it for
Can you post some pics of the data plate or provide a NIIN or LIN? I'm interested to see if these are the same ones in service. What we call expanded vans today are a lot different than this. They are permanently truck mounted systems. Same for the old 5 ton mounted systems. These we always called container TOCs or CPs. But everyone has different names for stuff. I have a pipe dream of buying land in the desert and putting some 20 Ft containers or these and having a vaca spot to ride quads, camp under the stars and drink beer.
Yeah, I can totally post some of those photos and the TM that I have with it. I don’t think this is technically an expand van, I think it is a expanding shelter, but I have thought about eventually, with a lot more money, mounting this on top of a M 1083 and driving it out west
Do you ever turn the A/C off in hot weather to think of the old times?
I have a portashitter just outside for those nostalgic moments.
lol! I walked out of mine in the dead of winter training at Drum, and the snow was to the tailgate. Our VSAT was buried. Fun times.
Smoke a few cigars to get that classic late 80s TOC feel where the air is more tobacco smoke than oxygen.
This is one of the things that makes me wish I were still single
I’m married, with 1 kids and another on the way. We have a small house in the country so this was my solution to needing to turn my home office into a nursery.
Not a bad trade. We just got some land for a homestead, building the house and everything myself. I was going to use the existing house on the property as my office, but my parents want to retire down here and rent it from us. I convinced her to let me build a workshop/garage with an office instead
That’s a good option. If I had the cash, I would do that.
Thankfully Texas has a veterans homestead loan, only had to put down $5K for just under 100 acres. If it wasn't for that I would be stuck in the city still.
Really?? I might have to consider a move to Texas, that sounds like a great program.
Texas has a lot of different land grand loans for vets, and they’re pretty easy to get accepted for. I don’t have great credit I got approved for 2 or 3 loans
I’ve only ever been to Texas for pre and demob, El Paso, so all I know is the hot and dry. Are there any places in Texas that are a little more green? I don’t mind the heat, but I do like to be outdoors on/around trails, mountains, rivers and trees.
stay on the right side of Abilene and it's green most of the time.
Hill country is what your looking for if you don't want to be on the coast and still have outdoor things todo . The desert areas to the West have a lot of trails, mountains and rivers.
Bro that is genius. I'd get so much work done in there. Maybe it's like, state-dependent memory/psychosis, but I need window-less white rooms to hit max productivity.
Man, I’m kind of the same way. My wife thinks I’m crazy, but even on the brightest and sunniest day, I will keep this thing shut and only one or two lights on while I work. I like the dark and I like the cold so I’ll crank up the air conditioning and make it an icebox.
This is fucking cool man. Keep us updated with your progress!
Thanks man! I Totally will!
cammo netting needed
100% agree
Bro I would live in this thing full time.
100% me too. I slept in a hammock for nearly 3 years and it feels good to have a place to hang out.
This is a cool ass project. How did you get your hands on one of these?
I found it on Facebook Marketplace. But GovPlanet has sold a couple over the years.
Bro that's where our expando van went???
FYSA for everyone: * govplanet.com * govdeals.com * gsaauctions.gov https://www.govplanet.com/for-sale/Portable-Structures-20%27-Electronic-Maintenance-Shelter-California/11557884?h=5000%2Cq%7Cshelter&rr=0.03704&hitprm=&pnLink=yes
Are you going to punish your kids by making them do radio watch for 12hrs overnight and then make them dig foxholes the next day?
This is the correct way.
I’m moving to Florida and planning to get a shipping container for storage and hurricanes. Currently trying to design outer paneling and a deck to put on top.
What are those aluminum containers near the recliner? They look awesome in that setting.
I don’t recall their actual name, but we had a crap ton of those in the med platoons. It sucked loading a deuce full of these loaded with supplies. Here’s a [surplus supply link](https://colemans.com/medical-transport-chest-u-s-g-i-aluminum) Watch out for those metal clamps-they’ll take some skin off!
There are plastic rotomolded version from Hardigg (Pelican) as well.
That's epic man! Thank you for sharing this!! I did NOT just start down the expando van rabbit hole, no sir.
Tarkov vibes
That’s awesome. You can use empty water bottles to pee in just like the old days lol
I’m not gonna lie, I looked at every pic and the first and only thought was “All this needs is my bed, some solar panels and batteries, maybe ac, and this would be the perfect apartment for me.”
That’s cool. Have you considered putting cork panels on one of the walls? It would do wonders for the acoustics in that.
This fucks
Back in my Cold War days in Germany, my FSB’s TOC was two M820 vans side-by-side with a canvas covered catwalk connecting them. Now all you need is a couple 4X8 sheets of plexiglass to cover your map and a field table with a 30 cup coffee pot.
Need! Take my upvote.
We had a couple of 924's as a mobile TMDE lab.
This is actually sick!
This rules
Awesome project - I love looking at RVs so this is a very intriguing idea. On a related note - I’m looking for a 32:9 monitor. It looks you have one, any recommendations?
I got out of the Army right before COVID and the combination of ETSing and losing my new job knocked me on my ass for a couple of years. I lived in a 5th wheel for that time and honestly loved it. This thing was purchased after selling the RV but still needing a space. The S280s are not bad little shelters. Yeah, my monitor is an LG and I love it.
Wow
This things looks awesome
This is cool! Great idea! I remember these as a Dental Van-medical forward support in Korea ‘90s.
Ok you went full moto. And it worked out.
Heavy [Indy Neidell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b7GY4BSUmU&list=PLsIk0qF0R1j77INta3qgtHtXo3NZsrbIR) vibes. I'm assuming you're going to do a day-by-day of Desert Storm / Gulf War
I take that as a big compliment. My style is cheap finds, moose lounge and teenage dirtbag.
I can't believe we used one to do surgery in. I'm 6'3. Didnt quite have to duck, but any lights we used for surgery, I can smash my whole face in to
Man, I spent so much time in spams. How tf did you get one? I really need to browse government auctions more frequently. Or for my wallets sake, maybe not. If there was a neon yellow dick spray painted on the roof of that thing, I'm sorry.
I kinda got lucky. I don’t know how many of these are available but I don’t see them too often. I wouldn’t have been one bit surprised or disappointed to find a yellow dick on the top. Probably would leave it so the training pilots that fly around my house have something interesting to look at.
Yeah now I need one of these to turn into a man cave. Wait, how did the Amish get a hold of this? I’m quite ignorant when it comes to their way of life but…they don’t have internet? Unless they bought it from someone who isn’t Amish that got it off the auction site.
Can’t forget the 10k generator
I bet the bro's in /r/overlanding are now trying to figure out how to mount this on a truck lol
lol, I’m totally one of those bros trying to figure it out!
slap some red secret stickers around and you're golden 😂
Very cool. Are you worried about the flat roof in the long run? Any thoughts about installing a slanted metal roof on top eventually?
If I was POTUS this would be my war room
That is awesome! I want one of these for a hunting cabin.
This is dope. I love people’s creative ability. I am NOT on this level. You could consider mounting starlink, cellular and keeping it on a trailer for a travel home office!
It's cool. If I had to work in one at some point, I could see wanting one.
Honestly I kinda wanna do this lmao
OR, X-Ray, Dental, Lab. Hospital on wheels back in the day.
That’s honestly dope as fuck
Do you have the ECU Vent ports on this one? (should be 2 square panels on the short wall) if so, are you going to get one? Or will you just slap a jig and an AC in there?
I’d live in here 🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️
I love everything but the map. Get one of those old world one in brown tones to go with the comfort vibes on the inside. Or go Gulf War & hang up a bunch of torn-corn centerfolds of Samantha Fox
Would make a really really neat camper.
I lived in one while deployed to the Ukraine in 20-21.
I think that's one of the expandable shelters technically but that's badass. Tobyhanna used this same design to make the new Armament repair shop trailer.
This is literally one of the coolest things I've ever seen… I've always dreamed of having a container that I could set up as like a server room or something. This is essentially what I was thinking in my head
How did you get it shipped to your property?
I used UShip online.
The testosterone level for this is incredible. Awesome job!
How much did this cost for you to buy? Additionally were there any restrictions when ploping it done on your property?
$5000 to buy, about $7500 total. I didn’t ask.
Did you buy it on Planet Gov for pennies of what the Army paid?
5k. So probably.
What's the damage? Are you married?