Lots of work, a little truck progress

I haven’t gotten much accomplished on the truck recently because I’ve been distracted with site work.  Since Smoked Craft BBQ will be operating at Sugar Leaf Co 98% of the time I decided that it would be very beneficial to have some infrastructure there to support the truck.

I’m not just building a food truck. This site work and utilities will hopefully make daily food truck life easier, more efficient and (hopefully) lower costs of operation. 100A electrical service is installed thanks to AnHod Electric in Kingfield. It’s going to be a luxury to have utility power instead of running a generator. I also have prepped the 500 gallon propane tank and moved it on-site. Having propane delivered to me will be easier, more cost-effective and efficient. So much better than me driving the truck to somewhere that can fill the two 25 gallon/100lb tanks mounted to the back of the truck every couple days.

The concrete pad for the propane tank was poured in a form made of 2x6s a month ago. At the time I really had no idea how I was going to move it. That was a bit of a puzzle for a while. Moving large, heavy stuff by yourself is always a challenge. Then one day the idea popped into my head: “I wonder if it will fit in the log arch?” I built this log arch a few years ago to move a huge white pine away from the water line at the old cabin. Turns out it’s also helpful for moving concrete pads.

Also had 15 cubic yards of crushed stone delivered in the past week. The stone was primarily to bring up the tapered grade around the 24×20 area (erosion control) and to provide a base so the truck doesn’t sink when driving onto the pad. I also used some of it to build the crushed stone base for the propane tank. I realize these photos don’t convey much and are indirectly related to the food truck but they help establish that there’s a LOT more work involved in launching the business than just building the truck. It’s very satisfying for me to put in the sweat equity and see the results.

I did have some help building the picnic table you see in the photos above. I welded the picnic table style frame while my girlfriend did the belt sanding and polyurethane on the pine. I plan to build another table similar to this one. The pine slabs used for the table are from the huge white pine I mentioned earlier.

I hope to see some of your smiling faces enjoying some of my food at this table sooner than later.

I did mention that I have completed a little work on the truck. I started installing the 18 gauge stainless panels. This stuff isn’t as easy to work with as I had hoped. I’m adjusting. Bought some new drill bits and a few diamond-encrusted saw blades. Waiting for some cutting oil to arrive before I start working on the ceiling. I have a bunch of 4″ round holes to drill for the LED ceiling lights. The cutting oil will hopefully make the two 4″ carbide-tipped hole saws last long enough to cut 9 holes.

It’s nice to be making progress on the truck but at a much slower pace than I had hoped.