I picked up a Military Shelter known as a S-250. My plans are to turn it into a small camper for those weekend wheeling trips. I've started stripping out all the old electrical, PO's bed and building mounts to mount it in the bed easily.

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/140/l_fec93632c1dd4c51b305dde2f4738555.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/118/l_6eac4c05e4ea4c159c98fc868eb8b725.jpg
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/141/l_1004c688d3f642a584ff785f3536e33f.jpg

I plan on setting it up for mainly 12v items. I've picked up a bunch of 12v lights for interior lighting, a car radio for some tunes and some electrical items for rewiring the inside. I have a small sealed deep cycle battery I'll use when unhooked from the pickup, but be able to charge it going down the road.

Thanks for looking,
Rick

How much does it weigh as is?

How much does it weigh as is?

My question as well.

Without all the military equipment, 770lbs.

Rick

Without all the military equipment, 770lbs.

Rick

That's not as bad as I thought. Looks like it would be great for a long bed truck or the front of a trailer.

Build on.

Here's another gentleman who build himself one, I'm kinda following his path as I go.
http://www.sanlee.com/S250/MiscPics/bunk.jpg
http://www.sanlee.com/S250/MiscPics/camper.jpg

I managed to pickup a frosted tempered window for one side, its about a 20x30, for free. And I have a cabinet left over from my remodel of my kitchen to use for inside storage.

Rick

You get this from GL?

Wow, talk about feeling secure when you are asleep!

Picked it up from a guy up in Delta, PA. But yes, they can be bought a GL's.

Rick

What's the inside dimensions? I'm not sure side to side would be enough length for some. That bed looks pretty short.

Dont have the measurements infront of me, but in my pic, that is a twin size bed. I plan on running a Full bed once I'm done building it. I know I measured and a Queen size would fit with about 10-12" left at the door opening.

Rick

The sealed battery I picked up, I shoud have no issues mounting that inside the camper right? Its the same kind of battery used in electric scooters for the hanicap.

electrical is 75% done, just need to finalize the outside hook ups and the 12v inside/outside hook ups.

Rick

Sealed battery, no, you shouldnt have any issues. My car has the battery under the back seat, from the factory.

IF you even have a doubt, mount it in a battery box, hidden, and route a small vent line from the box, to the outside, but.... not needed I think.

Thats what I figured....Thanks!
Rick

hey! I know DP Dusenbury! :D That's a nice looking setup. :D

Is that thing made to withstand rounds from small arms fire? Up to what caliber?
Looks awesome, and if armored at only 700 pounds, not bad at all.

Is that thing made to withstand rounds from small arms fire? Up to what caliber?
Looks awesome, and if armored at only 700 pounds, not bad at all.

Uh, no. :shaking:

It's basically 2 sheets of aluminum sheetmetal with a foam core.

Uh, no. :shaking:

It's basically 2 sheets of aluminum sheetmetal with a foam core.

Relax, I wasn't getting excited. I didn't think it was armored, but seeing a post above talking about "feeling secure" made me wonder.

Thanks for clarifying.

I talked to DP a few times now, seems like a stand up guy!

No real progress, hoping to paint it this weekend.

Rick

How are those things set up in the military? is it made for the back of a truck? Shelter of storage? Very cool, I'll be watching the build.

From what I've seen, they are used for moblie communications. And they seem to fit the chevy trucks and hummvees. The amount of electrical outlets, 120 and 240 was incredable. over 30 outlets!

Rick

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/117/l_dcaf072957c44f96bc61955f6601ab8a.jpg
Got the primer down and first coat of Smoke Gray paint down. Started to take shape of what I thought it would. Just changing the color to the white primer dropped the temp inside 15-20* compared to what it was before. Now its within 5* of outside air temp. Not bad!

Rick

Whats the going rate for a decent one?

This may be a stupid question but what are you using to get it in and out of the bed of your truck?:confused:
Love the idea of the build. Rock on.

I paid $700 for this one. I've seen them as high as $1500 and as low as $500.

The whole getting in the truck bed has been yet to be decided. For Now I use my grandparents forklift on there farm. But I'd like to keep it at my house so I really dont know what I'm going to do.

The best thing I've come up with is to build a table at bed height so I could use a come-along or a winch to slide it out on this table. It does have 4" wide skids on the bottom so it should slide pretty easy. I've been wanting to mount a Winch in the bed for a while for pulling atv's etc into the bed, so this could work for getting the camper back in to. But it does have a big downfall sitting on a table that high. Getting in it or high winds may move it. I just dont know what I'm going to do yet?

I'm hoping to pick up a longer Car Trailer or lengthen mine the 4' I need to fit this infront of my Jeep. But thats the next project lol

Rick

How's it coming along?

Its completely painted on the exterior and thats pretty much as far as I went. The last 2 weeks or so has been crunch time to get my Heep ready for a trip this weekend.

I also need to decide on placement of the windows. There will be one on each side so I have a cross breeze when they are open. But I need to figure out for sure which size bed I'll be using. Its set up right now for a twin regular mattress. But I have a nice Queen Air Mattress that would fit too. so what I'm saying is I want the windows centered with the bed.

With a queen I'll have 12-15" at the end of the mattress to the door. Enough to sit on the edge of the bed and get dressed. But I I used a full mattress theres enough room for two adults to sit on each size and get dressed and leave the bed open.

Rick

Came up with a idea on getting it around the yard. I just bought a 24' Gooseneck so now it will never be in the bed of the truck. I'm basically gonna build a Wagon underneth of it so I can pull it on and off the trailer and around the yard..... Keep it low and put some small air tires under it.

Rick

I bought about 25 of these shelters back in 96 or so from DRMO at Mc Clelland AFB in the Sacramento area for in the area of 125-150 each.

Lately I have seen them for an average price of 1K. Makes me wish I would have kept more of them.

I purchased a M1028 CUCV thats made to carry the fully loaded shelters back in 1995.

Shelters
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j184/mag-lock/Vehicles/CUCV%20M1028/M250CommunicationShelter.jpg

M1028 CUCV
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j184/mag-lock/Vehicles/CUCV%20M1028/M1028CUCV.jpg

How did you go about loading and unloading these?

Rick

The first time I loaded one of these shelters I used a floor jack and lots of blocks of wood, lately hydraulics have helped raise and lower the shelters into place.

Keep in mind the M1028 has a PTO on its NP205 TC and mine has a direct mount hyd pump to provide hyd power to the cylinders.

The military used helicopters and cranes and forklifts to get the job done.

How did you go about loading and unloading these?

Rick

Had some time today to tinker on the camper.

Decided on a Full Mattress so the wife and I can sleep half way comfortable and still leave room for the dog on the floor.

I had a extra cabinet from our kitchen remodel so I flipped it up on its end, remounted the doors and I have a nice little cabinet now. On the bottom shelf it stores the sealed battery, a radio w/ speakers, master kill switch for 12v system and on the top its enough room for the little things like plates/forks/knifes etc..... I left enough speaker wire so I could take the pair of speakers outside for listening to tunes. Fits perfectly under the electrical box. Just need to pick up a antenna.

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/152/l_b18317bd20cd49e28778766816a2a3ff.jpg


Also managed to get one window installed. Centered it where the full bed will be. They are 20x30's and once I pick up some more aluminum for the framing on the other side that one will be in too.

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/134/l_7815d0c0ba8b413e8280f19e2c73610d.jpg

Hope to have the outside window trim painted and the inside painted this weekend. The maybe I can finsh the electrical for the final time!

Rick

Got it painted inside and the trim outside!

Went with a serene blue inside, it was left over from the babies room. As soon as it dries, I'l get the rest of the cover plates and trim up and get pics!

Rick

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/90/l_4b95601421f646f299ec8ea90bd6b94c.jpg
Best pic I could get of the inside. 90% of my electric is done, just need to come up with a plug in for 12v and 120v for outside....

Rick

Awesome project. you've done a good job!

Those shelters were call "Rat Rigs" when I was in the Army. They were used as commo shelters. In my unit, they were mounted on HUMMV's , but you also saw them on CUCV's During Desert Sheild/Storm they were great because of the large AC unit used to keep the radios and other gear cool. :smokin:

For Sale......... Sniff....

http://baltimore.craigslist.org/rvs/1789965867.html

Rick

aww why you gotta sell?

Wifey wants a popup. something we as the family can take out. 4 of us wont fit in there lol

It sold last night!

Rick

hmm well life is full of trade-offs ha..but your project has intrigued me and now i'm looking into one myself :D

I will be interested to see how this turns out. Subscribed.

When I was in the military my team had several of these. You can get a lot of different options in them. Different access doors and such.

I will be interested to see how this turns out. Subscribed.

He sold it so that's going to be unlikely, unless someone from here bought it. :(

Well I suppose i could continue the thread or start a new one if you guys are interested. I started my own S250 camper build a few months ago.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CTiWnI8rWqg/Tcte13Zqw6I/AAAAAAAABOw/TsfCS1YXU_I/s640/IMG_20110511_193956.jpg

Lets see more, Keep it going!!!

Rick

All right then. I'll start with my goals for the shelter. I'm basically looking for a warm comfortable tent that also provides a few comforts such as lighting/electricity, a portipotty and some minimal storage. I also want to be able to remove the shelter from the trailer easily so i can use the trailer to haul stuff when needed.

So starting off with the trailer. I picked up an almost new M101A3 at GovLiquidators for a bit over $600.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--sLgMqSpVS4/TYvHeiabaZI/AAAAAAAAA8o/tdiOzHLuPDw/s800/m101a3.jpg

Threw on some LED military lights for $50, and spliced a regular 4pin trailer connector on it before i even drove it out of the base.

I was curious about the whole dump trailer thing so i swapped out the front bolts for some quick disconnect pins and played with that for a while.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cigTpa8yE00/TbYzFE-OuGI/AAAAAAAABJ0/sS5f2AvKaUk/s800/IMG_20110425_190549.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9YY-JKdFlcE/TbY0PwQaIEI/AAAAAAAABJc/YGgvfhLaljg/s800/IMG_20110425_190257.jpg

After that i spent a while tracking down a local S250 shelter for a price I could afford. I found one at a local surplus yard for $650. I also found an aluminum ladder that fit just right on the trailer, a rear support leg for it and a beatup gypsy rack. got all that for a great price and he loaded the shelter on the trailer for me. Towed it all home and got to work mostly just cleaning out all the junk littering the floor of the shelter.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-e8EQICCM3I8/TcXQsag0iYI/AAAAAAAABMY/MpXRg9x4Ky8/s800/IMG_20110507_152858.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4NEuLVU-mjE/TcXQxblpD9I/AAAAAAAABMc/8xsY1EidE5g/s800/IMG_20110507_152851.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TF3wizFNXMo/TcXRN0MZrJI/AAAAAAAABM8/yrMbpwcjlGk/s800/IMG_20110507_155841.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CTiWnI8rWqg/Tcte13Zqw6I/AAAAAAAABOw/TsfCS1YXU_I/s800/IMG_20110511_193956.jpg

Next was starting to try to figure out what i was gonna keep from the interior and what had to go.... after many afternoons of removing a little here and a little there. I basically decided almost everything had to go. I gutted the whole shelter including removing all the connector boxes that were riveted on the side walls and a large box on the front wall by the door. These were useless and took up valuable space on the inside. This was the most time intensive part of the whole project. I must had drilled out hundreds of rivets, then after the boxes were cut off the frames had to be re-riveted on. In between all that dissassembling and drilling, i modified the tailgate chains a bit so i could keep the tailgate parallel to the ground so the ladder would work and i also used google sketchup so see how i could arrange stuff inside to make the seating / bed fit. https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Ck05VP9YumM/Tijlboh-NbI/AAAAAAAABbU/zL6sN-MYM3w/s800/IMG_20110721_190328.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-txKCh16gcL4/TijlkxFlXLI/AAAAAAAABbs/-i5UZFVfl6g/s800/IMG_20110721_190422.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ye1uUb0EM8E/TdSzCLCEplI/AAAAAAAABPQ/ET4xwpDsmHI/s800/shelter%2525202.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qrZwwC8K82o/TdSzCYNUVTI/AAAAAAAABPY/Ci_vBr3a_yw/s800/shelter%2525203.JPG

After i removed all the junk inside (minus the breaker box and the folding table, i kept those) i patched up any rivet holes, scuffed the old paint a bit and painted the interior completely in rustoleum glossy almond. Next was the electrical. I choose to do it in plastic waterproof conduit and boxes. I want to have a true dual 12V and 120V system so i added two switch boxes with outlets and picked some simple lighting fixtures but wired them so each fixture has one light hooked up to the 120V and one hooked up to the 12V. I used CFBs for the 120V but plan on buying 12v LED bulbs for the others just dont have the $$$ for that right now, more important things are needed.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bd_U_od1Xto/Tijk_i7httI/AAAAAAAABbA/IK_FwhiUyVs/s800/trailer.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-INpjdWgV1uM/Tijk_t5_USI/AAAAAAAABbE/MAhYn9xbmxQ/s800/trailer%252520%2525283%252529.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-1c0nWHbN9FU/TijlBVPfJOI/AAAAAAAABbQ/bH-jQQnndKw/s800/trailer%252520%2525282%252529.JPG

I also removed the two huge blowers that were originally installed on the front of the shelter because they were 120V only and were REALLY loud. I will be installing 12V high output computer fans in their place and left the wiring ready for when i get them.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V36Ek98XDss/Tijk_WhI4zI/AAAAAAAABa8/KrSpH7CcMOU/s800/trailer%252520%2525284%252529.JPG

I was using some tiedowns to hold the shelter up against the front wall of the trailer but they looked ugly and i ended up buying some cable parts and turnbuckles and made up some nice cabling. I tried to use stainless hardware whenever possible, but the cable itself is plastic coated galvanized steel.

I ordered the cushion foam a week ago and received it a few days ago. Cost me about $80 for all the pieces pre-cut. Today I went to Home Depot and picked up the plywood i'd need to make supports for the bed/seating. Took 2 full sheets of 3/4" cabinet grade wood. This will be enough to fold down to a 75" x 60" queen bed and barely leave enough floor space to still use the portipoty at night if needed. My wife went to joans and found some nice MARPAT woodland camo fabric. Cost $10 a yard but i didnt' want to wait to order online so we picked it up. I got all the wood cut, glued and screwed today. Tomorrow i finish fixing it to the trailer and learn how to do some uhpolstering. :D I'll post up some pics tomorrow when (hopefully) the bed/cusions are done.

cool, I want one.


found this manual:
*TM 10-5411-205-13 SHELTER, ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT S-250/G (http://www.gichner.us/Tech%20Manuals/S-250G%20TM%2010-5411-205-13.pdf)

I had one of these on a 5/4 ton Dodge when I was in the Army. The version I had was our missile repair shelter. We repaired missile guidance systems inside. I think it is actually made out of Magnesium rather than Aluminum so you have to be careful what material you work on it with. Use rivets and silicone sealant. They have a special paint that along with the material helps radiate heat so it is difficult to see with an infrared camera / scope. If you have a self focusing video camera aim it at the shelter and it will not be able to focus on the side. Also, it has a built in Faraday Cage for radio frequency isolation. Cool box for a small camper.

I'll be watching this.

Well I spent the weekend cutting, gluing, screwing (not the good kind), and uhpolstering. Pretty much finished it up (still need to attach the back rests) but only got to take a few in-progress pics. Here's they are. I'll post more once the seating area is completely done.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-k49kqNl4bCk/Tj_l-QgRLdI/AAAAAAAABek/w-l7QEfNYHs/s800/IMG_20110805_204112.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-MPC6IRLSvvk/Tj_mD2TDogI/AAAAAAAABeo/Y-spqwCgJY0/s800/IMG_20110807_184658.jpg

heres the cushions done!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B8hCVg_kwG8/TkCdXDM3xBI/AAAAAAAABfI/r2-o8q2mEeg/s800/IMG_20110808_190558.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-01Hq0YtrfaE/TkCdRGhObuI/AAAAAAAABfE/JVaffY9xXjs/s800/IMG_20110808_190707.jpg

nice:beer:

Turning out SWEET!

Rick

Really nice, keep the updates coming!

I have seen some other s-250 builds but yours is my favorite, simple and practical. Will it be able to slide out using the dump feature on the trailer and a winch?

Nice job! Like your floor-mounted fire extinguisher detail in SketchUp, too ;) I finished an S-250 conversion (as much as the're ever finished...) a couple years ago. I have mine mounted on a trailer and use it as my own Comms Shelter for amateur radio and CAP. They are awesome! PM me if you want to sell any of the items you took out; I might find a use for them in mine. Did you get one of those monster power cables for your AC hookup?