TABER, Alta. — Marv Mountstephen has quite the imagination. He also has quite a bit of experience building trailers and when he had a chance to combine the two, one customer drove away with a trucker’s dream motorhome.

Mountstephen operates Outlaw Welding and Mechanical in the rural town of Taber, Alta. The shop’s typical work is on truck bodies and trailers working in the oilpatch, although Mountstephen also has experience building horse and racecar trailers.

Built like a tank, this isn’t your husband-and-wife
retirement truck, says its creator.

He always dreamed however, of building a motorhome on the back of a Class 8 truck.

"I’ve had something like this drawn up on the computer for about 10 years and even laid in bed at night thinking about it," says Mountstephen. His idea spread by word of mouth and eventually found a guy in Regina who was eager to participate.

The customer brought in a 2008 Pete 389 long-nose, equipped with a 538-hp Cummins and a 13-speed Roadranger UltraShift transmission. An UltraCab was spec’d on the chassis, but behind the curtain there was just empty space instead of a bunk.

That empty space became Mountstephen’s workshop.

"The nice thing about building it on a truck is you don’t have to worry about weight," explains Mountstephen. "It’s built like a tank and if it doesn’t last for 40 years I’d be surprised."

Since the big rig had the ability to carry more weight than a typical motorhome, the sinks, shower, and washer and dryer installed were residential quality, instead of lightweight RV models. As well, the customer decided to add a few more features.

The ‘sleeper’ is more like a bachelor suite than truck cab

"There’s a hot water heating system in there, there’s tool boxes, a pullout barbeque, a 330 gallon fresh water tank, a diesel generator… short of a pool table and a hot tub I’m not sure what else could go in there," notes Mountstephen.

The folks at Outlaw Welding and Mechanical did not install the flooring or granite countertops, and the mural on the back was done by a guy in Regina, but other than that, Mountstephan was in on every step of the process.

"We probably spent 2,500 to 3,000 man hours on it," he says. "But if we did another one it would probably take about half that time. We’d never done anything like this before and it was a good learning experience."

Including the truck — which was also fully loaded — Mountstephan estimates the whole get-up cost about $400,000.

"It’s not for the typical retired husband and wife," he adds.