If you are worried about the high mileage engine, perhaps you should consider a diesel. I know that Detroit Diesel (DD) with 200,000 is considered barely broken in (we used to have an Eagle 05 highway coach… our current bus is a Cummins Diesel).  And you can always slap a http://www.goldenfuelsystems.com Greasel type unit on it and “recycle” your used oil! [8D]

Thanks Mike for the idea.  Are Jerry cans still being mfg’d ?  I was thinking about some kinda lil pump to pump it back in the fryer once the vendor arrived at the second location and was trying to get back up and goin again with the fryer.  Wouldn’t it be tricky to pick up a can full of hot oil to pour it back in the fryer and I am an old little skinny girl anyway !  !!??

Don’t forget the Air Conditioning! Or the heater if you are in a winter area!

I didn’t build mine, but I designed it and had it built. Make sure that you incorporate ALL the equipment that you MIGHT need in the future…. What about a char broiler and a steam table, microwave, space for a slicer, with an outlet for it….
 
You will need or be required to have some of the equipment you have listed…. 3 compartment sink, with drain boards… hand sink, are you required to have a dedicated produce sink?… I am… what type of drains?  Do you need “p” traps at each sink, along with air gaps?,,, or will one service all sinks.
 
Back flow device for fresh water fill?
Is the drain from your sinks required to be plumbed to the waste tank directly, or indirectly?
 
Correct sizing for fresh and waste water tanks..most require 15% larger for the waste tank so there is no chance of overflow.
 
Figure out what size your rig is going to be, and start laying out your equipment, see how it fits, and that it is laid out correctly for maximum efficiency.
 
A sandwich table is a must if your doing lots of sands and or burgers….I have a 2 door, wish I had room for a 3 door…  Put as much referigeration as you can..I have a 2 door r/i in addition to the prep top… It’s enough room, only because I have access to a walk in and freezer for my bulky storage items.
 
Good luck with your venture.

The major piece of advice that I have learned is that you need to measure everything, and then measure again.  Make sure that you have the physical space for your equipment before you buy it.

Most equipment is mounted on stainless steel tables and then those tables are either tacked to the floor (if you have a metal floor) or braced against the sidewall, preferably against a stud.  However, food trucks are a bit different than trailers. The majority of food trucks that I have seen all have custom constructed interiors.

ps303 …I see that you asked about fryers for a mobile unit, but I see no replys or suggestions.  That is a question I would like to pose…If a mobile unit is moving to a 2nd location in one day, how can that be done with red hot oil sloshing around ?  ….I am new to the mobile food idea, but been working in the restaurant world for years.  Learning this message board deal is a little tricky too .   Thanks to all…..Karen

Drain the oil into a “jerry” can, that is what I would do… # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerrycan

Mike

ps303 …I see that you asked about fryers for a mobile unit, but I see no replys or suggestions.  That is a question I would like to pose…If a mobile unit is moving to a 2nd location in one day, how can that be done with red hot oil sloshing around ?  ….I am new to the mobile food idea, but been working in the restaurant world for years.  Learning this message board deal is a little tricky too .   Thanks to all…..Karen

You can insert a baffle with a silicon gasket lid.  Check with the manufacturer of the fryer, they may already have something.  If not, it’s all custom.

To be honest, we always referred to any can that you could carry (with a built in handle) as a “jerry can”. 
Not only    but these as well. 

Can you reuse your original cooking oil containers?  If not, can you get a couple from another restaurant?  We used to get food grade jugs that had oil in them from local restaurants before we started food vending.  They were good to clean out and carry water for the pets when we camped… among other uses.

I am still in the planning stages now of my mobile truck.  Am trying to cover all the bases as far as knowing in advance every step I will take during production.  The HD may or may not have something to say about reusing the orginal containers.  I have put that question on my list of things to ask my HD.  Thanks to all for thinking of solutions. 

I can see emptying the unit for the night but if you are say rolling down the road a few miles to another stop that emptying would be a hassle.  I’ve read about the food trucks in CA and NY about how they do a lunch time crowd and then move location for say a night time gig.

I am sure there is some sort of lid and I am sure the fryer manufacture knows more about this type of thing. I’ll keep poking around and post back what I find.

 
I saw a glimpse of an odd looking fryer on a tv show the other night….it was unusally deep, looked like it was 24 inches deep but had about 6″ of oil in it.  It was on a truck and I wondered if that design was simply to allow for the movement of the truck while underway…….
 

For those of you that built your own food truck or trailer, would you do it again? 

Yes we would. And we are planning to build a bigger mobile kitchen to supplement the cart.

Did you learn any lessons that you care to pass along? Code related issues will be different for each sate/county/city.

We should have built a kitchen to start with. We knew we would be traveling to different states.  We had a large cargo trailer that we could have used instead of selling it for far below what it was worth. We should have pushed a little with the HD guy in NC to get the Corain approved for all the countertops instead of having to use part SS (gets too hot in the summer sun and Corian IS NSF approved for commercial kitchens).  We are far from happy with our SS fabrication.

What was your motivation for building your own instead of buying something already made?

We have been in residential construction most of our lives (my father was a tile setter, David built his first house at 16 yo… it was his family’s vacation lake house and he ended up building most of it).  We kept looking at the various “commercial” units and decided we could build it, build better, build it to suit our needs and build it CHEAPER.  Even now, with all the “remodeling” we’ve done on the cart to get it to where it is right now, we only have about $3000 in it. It was built “out of pocket”.  But we had a lot of stuff on hand when we did it (trailer frame, lots of aluminum, corian, etc).  Even if we had to buy everything, we would still have about $8000- $9000 in it.  We counted our time as nothing.

Here is my situation.  I have realized that a food truck is a better bet for me for many reasons and I would like to see about building my own truck.

Here is our situation… We live fulltime in an RV, we do not have a “home” like the others do. We do not live in one spot all the time… or we could depends on how we feel.  We have to be self-contained at all times. So there are small problems with most commercially built units that make it to where it simply doesn’t work for us.  The thing is this… we have both worked in the manufacturing end of other businesses.  If we are capable of working for someone else to commercially manufacture an item, them why can’t we manufacture an item for ourselves. BTW, David worked in a trailer plant in MI and built “park models”(plus the cabinetry) in FL. If we are qualified to work in multi million dollar homes, then we should be capable of building a hot dog cart. A food truck/cart is, at it’s simplest, a pile of “parts” put inside a “box”.

Just get the local codes (or the toughest codes for any area you might be moving to/selling in), look at the commercial units and see what you would need to do.

take a look at and talk to wild dog he built one hell of a good loking rig.

To be honest, we always referred to any can that you could carry (with a built in handle) as a “jerry can”. 
Not only http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=605&parentcatid=469 these types   but these as well.http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=576&parentcatid=469 Fort-Paks  http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=481&parentcatid=469 Carboys

Can you reuse your original cooking oil containers?  If not, can you get a couple from another restaurant?  We used to get food grade jugs that had oil in them from local restaurants before we started food vending.  They were good to clean out and carry water for the pets when we camped… among other uses.

Take a look at Chefbuba’s trailer, this will give you an Idea of size, and whats needed……………..Bill

From reading a thread or two of people doing this, building their own trailers… You will need to treat it as a brick and mortar build in some areas. Call in the building inspectors as well as the health department. But this would depend on your area I guess and your health department. I would check with your local health department first before doing anything.

Mike

Yes all the proper local and state agencies will be talked to. However they can’t answer every question.  Especially as to whether or not it’s worth it to build my own or buy something used.  Plus they can’t offer me real live experience.  They can offer codes that must be followed.

Start off by figuring out what type of equipment you want/need and then research the companies that manufacture the equipment.  Obtain the spec sheets for the equipment and then lay everything out on paper.  Obtain prices of new and used and figure your cost.  Now that you are familiar with cost, you can compare buying a used rig to building one.  Also consider… when do you want the rig?  You may not find a used rig in time.
 
Personally, I build my own stuff because I have access to equipment and 3D design programs.