Prelude and Coda

My friends and family have heard me talk about starting my own food business for years, and over the last few years the focus has been on a food truck. Finances being what they are, I’ve had a number of setbacks in my plan, but as of July, I am building a hot dog cart.

The first day of the build I put together the trailer for the cart and framed the cart.

First Frame in of the cart

I was pleased with the progress and let it rest for a few days while I took care of work and looked over the build video instructions I have. This morning I went out to start work again and realized that I had actually messed up the framing. I pulled the frame apart and reassembled it properly, which oddly enough brought the cart into square, and painted the interior.

Reworked frame painted

My hope is that by the end of this weekend it looks more like a cart and less like a frame. I still have some parts to buy so this will be an on going project, but the key there is that it is going. Check back to follow the progress of the prelude cart, and hopefully I’ll be selling you some great street food soon.

Toby

07/13 UPDATE:

I worked on the cart this weekend and am getting to a point where I can’t go further without spending money I really don’t have to spend. I hope tips are good this week!

When last I posted, I had finished re-framing and painting the interior of the cart. Next up was the fire box. I picked up the materials and started the very dirty work of cutting up concrete board. The construction video says it will be messy, and it was. In fact it was so messy I had to stop building for a while on Friday to remove the concrete board particulate from my eye. It felt like I had a boulder in my eyeball, but I eventually removed it and had just enough time to clean up before I had to go to parents day at Ailsin’s camp and then head off to work.

This morning, we went to the farmer’s market and then I got back to work. I finished the concrete board box (and my eyes stayed debris free thanks to the work glasses given to me by my neighbor Liz). Here’s a picture after getting the box built.

cart with hot box built in

I took a bit of a break to chat with neighbors and grill meat and then got back to work finishing up the cook box by lining it with galvanized steel flashing. I finally finished for the night around 11. I still have a few screws to drive to finish the steel install, but it is basically done, and here is what it looks like:

cart with lined cook box

The next step for me is to build the bread box and get the 1/4″ sheeting for the top. Then we start putting the pieces that make it look like a hot dog cart on it. It’s getting closer, and I look forward to seeing you all on the street soon.

Toby