Lorry living - essentials v's nice to have

[LFD]

I’m looking for some lorry living advice!

I’m finally upgrading my lorry from a 3.5t to a 7.5t – the living area is empty just now so I’m looking for advice on what everyone sees as a necessity for a days eventing and what is nice to have if possible (budget restraints). Lorry will be used for 2 horses to event, training/schooling nights and 1 or 2 overnight events per year.

TIA!

 

[OWLIE185]

Weigh your horsebox with your horses yourselves, your gear and a full tank of fuel and water and see how much weight you have left to avoid you going overweight then you can work out how much weight you have left for all the additional things you want installed.

 

[Pedantic]

Hot chocolate machine a must

 

[Pearlsasinger]

When working out how to you use your available payload, try to give things a dual purpose, e.g. storage bunker with a cushioned top as a seat, to keep the weight down.

 

[LFD]

Weigh your horsebox with your horses yourselves, your gear and a full tank of fuel and water and see how much weight you have left to avoid you going overweight then you can work out how much weight you have left for all the additional things you want installed.

Very good advice.

The lorry is down South and I'm in Scotland so I'm not able to weigh it with everything inside before I have the living built which is a pain. It has a approx 2 tonne unladen payload - add 2 horses (15hh TB and 16hh WB) me, tack, water & fuel - probably adding up to 1.5 tonne??).

 

[sidewaysonacob]

Essentials given your requirements would be IMHO:

- a toilet 'room' for a portaloo - if you were mostly doing overnights I'd say the horse area could be your 'bathroom' but if you're doing day events unless you always travel solo somewhere private for a wee is fairly vital!
- something comfy to sit on, e.g. padded bench with storage underneath
- a surface for food and drink prep (even if your 'kitchen' has to be a camping stove and washing up bowl to keep the weight down) and some storage for food drink and cooking stuff near it
- an insulated luton (condensation dripping on your face at 3am is no fun) or comfy seating-that-turns-into-a-bed with somewhere to store bedding
- hooks for hanging show jackets etc or a small wardrobe
- internal lighting running off a leisure battery
- If you're eventing then a small fridge/freezer so you have somewhere to keep your ice packs would be handy - and to run a freezer I think you'd need gas
- I'd usually add 'more storage that you can ever possibly imagine needing' but if payload is tight (add bedding, feed etc. to your 1.5t of used payload for overnights) that might be a bad idea...

 

[LFD]

Thanks to everyone for their help - after a positive mechanics inspection I'm off down south to view the lorry and chat about the living this weekend! All help greatly appreciated.