A stay-at-home dad is turning a Boeing 737 plane into a camper trailer for family vacations
2021-01-22T17:33:51Z
- Stay-at-home dad Steve Jones is converting a Boeing 737 plane into a camper trailer.
- Jones has been renovating camper trailers for over a decade.
- Jones' plans for the Boeing 737 camper include adding French doors and a rear balcony.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
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Steve Jones knows his way around a plane.
A former aircraft technician turned stay-at-home dad, Jones has found a creative way to combine his love of planes with his duties at home.
Last year, he transformed a 13-foot-long nacelle of a VC10 jet engine into a camper trailer for family road trips.
Now, he's set his sights on something much larger: a decommissioned Boeing 737 plane.
Take a look inside what he calls his "craziest project" yet.
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Stay-at-home dad Steve Jones is transforming a decommissioned Boeing 737 plane into a camper trailer.
A former technician for the Royal Air Force, Jones has been renovating camper vans and trailers for over a decade and calls the Boeing transformation his "craziest project to date."
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The plane, which Jones purchased through industry contacts, originally belonged to the low-budget UK airline BMI Baby that was grounded in late 2012.
Jones wanted to convert as much of the plane as possible, but also knew he had to transport it 130 miles from the Bruntingthorpe Airfield to his home in Lancashire, so decided to cut off a section just before the wings.
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The dimensions of the future camper trailer came to 32 feet long and 13 feet tall.
To transport the plane in October, Jones hired a specialty company that was able to lift the aircraft onto a wide-load trailer using a crane.
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The aircraft turned quite a few heads on the highway, especially in Jones' hometown, he told Insider.
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"It was just a funny sight to see, because I live in a very rural area. Most things you see down my lane are tractors and trailers, not aircraft," he said.
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Jones' first order of business after receiving the plane was to pressure wash the outside, since it had accumulated dirt and grime from being exposed to the elements.
Next, he built a steel frame, or chassis, for the plane to rest on.
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Jones' vision for the trailer includes a fully restored, authentic cockpit, he told Insider.
Tracking down all of the parts, which were scrapped when the plane was decommissioned, will take the longest amount of time, he said.
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While he tracks down parts from the cockpit, Jones is mapping out how he will renovate the rest of the Boeing 737 interior. Jones has budgeted around $21,800 (£16,000) for the entire project.
His plans include French doors with a glass balcony at the rear and a walk-in shower toward the front.
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The camper trailer will be able to sleep four with a cargo deck bedroom and double bed suspended from the ceiling that can be lowered to the floor.
This is not Jones' first aircraft conversion. Last year, Jones transformed a 13-foot-long engine shell from a VC10 jet plane into a camper trailer.
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The build took him an estimated 1,000 hours, he previously told Insider.
Jones has much more space to work with in the Boeing 737 than in the VC10 engine shell, which he said will make the renovation easier.
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Beyond moving the location of the galley kitchen slightly, he plans to maintain the plane's original character. "It's all about authenticity," Jones told Insider. "I like things being as they were."
Jones plans to keep the camper trailer at a friend's caravan park nearby once complete and rent it out to families and other travelers.
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Jones' goal is to allow families and other renters the chance to "get up close and personal with an aircraft" and "enjoy a bit of a different experience," he said.
"What better way than to go into a flight deck, sit down with your partner, get yourself a gin and tonic, and sit down and have a laugh and a joke," he said.
- Read more:
- A British man spent over 1,000 hours transforming a jet engine into a camper trailer for family road trips. Take a look inside.
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- Look inside a luxury hotel made of vintage train cars that sits atop a bridge in South Africa's largest national park
- Take a look inside one of Austin's 'weirdest' homes, a $2 million lake house that resembles a sand dollar from above
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