I am Chad Nicholls. And this is my home on
the internet. Here you will find what most people don't do in
there free time. This is my home on the web. Check out my many hobbies
and various interests in life
If you are inspired by any of my projects please
sign my
guestbook
or send this site to someone.
"Soccer Dad"
My oldest son Mason started soccer this year (2009) I have been the
assistant coach for coach Rosie Patchen
Check out our Winning Team!!!
"New House Project"
In 2007 we purchased 4 acres of woods off
of craigslist in Northwood, OH. So the plan was to build a new house
closer to work cause I was tired of the drive. Well here we are a year
and a half later with the sort of finished product. A 4,200 square foot
4 bedroom 4 bath homestead of the "Nicholls" as usual she was a DIY
project of the largest proportion. I bought a bobcat and a grapple
bucket and started clearing the woods after the driveway was started.
I got a deal on a 2700 square foot "model house" that was built by IBS
in Indiana. I registered to be a "dealer" so I got a great deal on a
house. It was assembled at the factory for potential customers to tour.
It was disassembled tailored 150 miles east and put on our foundation.
In typical Chad faction, it wasn't exactly what we wanted so we added on
a bit.. The rest is history.
I started with a bare frame. The frame was made by Lippert Manufacturing
in Elkhart Indiana. I was originally made to be a 2006 "Potomac Liberty
RV" They went out of business in summer of 2006. The frame was on the
assembly line the day they closed down the plant. It was then sold at a
local auction. A local surplus dealer in Hudson, MI by the name of Tri
State Surplus bought two of the unfinished frames along with other RV
stuff. I have gotten to know Ed the owner of TSS very well over
the life of this project.
This is NOT a kit. Or a plan. I reverse engineered the entire rig. The
floor plan was locked only to the length and the fact that I needed to
make it a mid bath front master bedroom. The rest came out of hours of
thinking or on the fly revisions as we went. I learned a few lessons
along the way but for the most part it went very well. As far as I have looked, I believe this
may be the largest homebuilt rv with a slide out that has been finished.
Last
Summer we were interviewed by
RVTV as you can tell by my interview I was extremely
nervous. Check it out below.
We were featured in the August issue of popular Mechanics. They held a
contest for the pan Top 10
Coolest Backyard Inventions of 2008.
We won for the "Teched-Out
RV". They sent a photographer out
from New York (Chad Hunt)
to take photo's of the rig.
Click here to read the article.
On Thursday Aug 21 I was in the local Toledo blade
By MEREDITH BYERS
Northwood man builds a winner Chad Nicholls was
recently featured in the magazine Popular Mechanics this month
as a winner of the Top 10 Do-IT-Yourself projects in the United
States. He won with camper he designed to be 31 feet long and
built from scratch
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I started with a bare frame. The frame was made by Lippert Manufacturing
in Elkhart Indiana. I was originally made to be a 2006 "Potomac Liberty
RV" They went out of business in summer of 2006. The frame was on the
assembly line the day they closed down the plant. It was then sold at a
local auction. A local surplus dealer in Hudson, MI by the name of Tri
State Surplus bought two of the unfinished frames along with other RV
stuff. I have gotten to know Ed the owner of TSS very well over
the life of this project.
