Shipping your wife, er, I mean life, in a container

So let's say you and your wife have spent the past few years up-fitting a few shipping containers to live out of in a foreign country. When I say live out of, I actually mean live in. Everything put together for electric, plumbing, places ready to have holes cut for doors and windows that would obviously be cut out once they're at the destination, as a shipping container wouldn't be much good with holes in it, that you'd live out of in that country for a few years. Maybe one 40' and two 20' containers, just to be generous. Let's say you want said container to go to South America, let's say Guatemala. Inside these containers, you have 1-2 automobiles, 1-2 motorcycles, all your personal effects, and everything you need for off-grid living (solar panels, water catchment, etc...). I know there's all kinds of fees for shipping haz-mat (as the autos and bikes are considered such as far as I understand), getting the containers out of port, blah blah blah and so on.

Ok, here's the question. Around how much would it run you to have said containers put on a truck(s) at your house in the U.S. (how do they do that, by the way, don't they need a crane or something? :huh), driven to a port, shipped to South America, taken out of port, put on another truck(s), then set down where we want to live (another crane?).

I've looked online at a few places and most of them make you put in all your info for a quote, and all of them seem to expect to supply you with the container, which I'm not interested in.

Also, any insight into the ISBU homes is welcome too. I've already got plenty of experience with the alt. energy side, but just starting to read about the modular home stuff. Would this end up being less expensive/more convenient than just purchasing a home there?

No answers at all to your questions but I am very interested in seeing pictures or reading more details about this. Quite an interesting idea.

Well, no real pictures, this is just a blossoming idea in my head. The (soon to be) wife and I both love traveling and have serious aspirations for living abroad in the next few years and I think this would be an awesome way to do it, assuming it makes $en$e, if ya know what I mean.

have you tried contacting any of the companies that sell cargo containers? Worst case, they'll at least be able to answer your questions about how to get one picked up.

And yes, they normally do use a crane or a truck with a roller type of bed device on it with a winch.

It's an intriguing idea.

One possible scenario, you arrange to buy the container, take all your stuff to it rather than have it brought to you, and then have it loaded onto the appropriate ship. Assuming that you've already taken care of the hundreds of details involved with the idea already.

Loadall trailer (a low boy that tilts like a flatbed tow truck), container is winched into place. Or just a big damn forklift. If you want it on top of a mountain, expect a really big helicopter.

Not sure if the reality of cutting holes in the containers is gonna make anyone willing to ship them overseas. Most containers are leased and structural integrity is a liability.

Construction projects use a lot of containers for offices and storage on jobsites.

Customs issues with importing motor vehicles is a whole 'nother ball game.

The cost of shipping containers overseas combined with the cost of importing all your junk I'm sure would FAR outweigh the cost of buying and rebuilding another container on location.

That is if they would be within the legal zoning of even living in one.

Try contacting Security Transport in Wilmington NC, they handle cargo containers at ports.
Also have branches in Norfolk, Charleston.

Epes Trucking, corporate offices in Greensboro NC.

Guatamala is Central America.


Interesting idea. Where would you set up this home/container once it arrives at the destination? I would imagine you would have to buy some land(hard to impossible without citizenship). Or rent a trailer/camping spot. Seems cost prohibitave at that point.


How about throwing it all in storage near your home and travel light and cheap?

I'm sure you would see more of the world without having to deal with the container.

cargocontainerhomes.net/ is one site.


Google has a crapload of info on these as well. Interesting concept and some really nice designs out there.

As far as getting them off loaded at you final destination, that would be the simple thing. After that, you need to hassle with Customs, Immigrations, etc. and hoping that where you're going to "build" is accessible by the trucks that have to haul the containers. Same with the heavy equipment that would have to unload the containers.

If you had a means to unload the contents at the site, you could possibly be able to lift the containers from the trailers by blocking them up enough to allow the trailer to be pulled out from under them. But again, empty weight on those containers is in the "Damn, that's fricken heavy" category. Not positive, but it seems to me that I have seen these on the highway with weights of 40,000 lbs for a 40' container.

I have a 40 footer here at my shop and it's Tare weight is something like ~7700, so 40K is definately a reasonable assumption for something loaded with household goods etc.

hahaha yep...

...yeah, just like all good ideas, this one turns out to have sucked haha. Well, just kidding kinda, but you guys have brought up a lot of pertinent challenges/impossibilities, a lot of which I had casually considered, some that I had not.

This has really just been a thought experiment, I'm in Africa right now doing a project with solar energy, and the slow pace of things grants me a lot of time to day dream, one of which has been building one of these with the works. I know her parents have one at a job site, I think a 20'er. My parents have also expressed interest in a ISBU house and are planning on moving in the next 5-10 years, so who knows, maybe we'll be involved in a domestic variant in the next few years...

This thread led me to find: http://weehouse.com/index.html# weeHouses

Man, I'd love one of those, maybe with some form of garage built into or near it.

They seem the perfect size for myself, the wife, the cats and possibly a mini-human. I want a house of my own, but all the more normal ones bore me and look like a lot of wasted space you have to fill with furniture you'll never use.

40k is the loaded gross weight.

Household goods weigh considerably LESS than commercial freight.

Stuffed floor to ceiling in a container with furniture would be about 20k at most.

Shipping containers are generally 4-7k empty.

Containers could make ideal emergency shelters for natural disasters. You could ship a lot of them quickly, or have readily converted "parts kits" to utilize containers already "in country."

Refrigerated units would already have the airconditioning set up. Diesel Thermokings last a long time.

I've got a friend (ex-pat) who lives in Guatemala. Apparently the little town he lives in got together and after years of fundraising managed to purchase a used ambulance from the U.S.

It took 9 months for it to clear customs :eek1

Mind you, this was an ambulance, which had the full support of the local government.

Seen this kind of trailers in Sweden at least that put down some support legs on the side and have hydraulic arms to lift up and down a container sideways:



/Johan

call a shipping agent

I'd think that buying an RV would be a good cheap way to live here.
It'll have about the same amount of space as your container,
you won't hafta spend your time building it,
many have the ability to haul cars and bikes in 'em,
and if you DID buy or ship a container over here, then you'd hafta buy or lease some property to stick it on.

In an RV, you can move from region to region as your mood or the seasons dictate.
You wouldn't hafta plant semi-permanent roots in the ground until said mood strikes ya.
You could live in it while traveling around exploring this great country of ours.
And if you DID wanna plant roots, then you could live in this WHILE remodeling your container to live in. Once it waz done, you could just sell the RV!

(can you tell that this idea has crossed my mind already too??)


you might find somma this reading prevalent and interesting... http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=526283

It's a cool idea, but having foriegn registered vehicles in country for over a year will be more expensive than buying them there (google Carnet de Passage). The cost of moving the containers around and placing them someplace cool would probably be higher than just renting a house that is already there. If you will be at each location for a year or two, it seems easier to ship all your stuff to a rented house.

I do like the way you think though.

Be much cheaper to buy or rent a house and furnish it locally than to buy and build something in the Expensive States of America and then paying a king's ransom to get it shipped there.

The only valid reason I could see for doing it is if you were doing something or a job where you needed specialized equipment or needed a lab that you knew you couldn't get or set up quickly.

What about a live aboard? A 40' or so sail or motor boat can carry a bike or two and older ones cost about as much as CONEX house will.

My SO has been playing with the idea of a portable life since he was 5, at least according to a childhood friend.

After coming across this couple http://www.hackneys.com/mitsu/ we built a rough variation. Used it for a month long vacation.





Now we're working on an upgrade.