Need help for mobile set up

[Sean84]

Hi i am very inexperienced to all this stuff but since i have been roasting for the last couple of months I've been really keen on setting up a small mobile trike. After researching on the net I've drawn up a plan for the trike and was just wondering if anyone can see any flaws in this plan. Would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks Sean

[JPA]

Hello Sean and welcome

Looks pretty similar to what I was wanting to do a few months ago! I've since shelved the idea due to the difficulties I found when getting into the nitty gritty...mainly cost and weight :P Are you thinking of setting this up as a trailer or integral with a trike?

First up I'd make sure you've checked out all the permits/licenses etc. I'm not 100% sure but you may need a second sink (one for hands, one for washing up) and I seem to recall one needs to have warm water. This may be different depending on the extent of the 'mobile food vehicle' definition.

I'd also start dimension-ing things out because you can get a better feel for how much room you're going to have. Oh and weight. That's what detracted me as once you add a machine ~ 50kg, grinder ~10-15, maybe 30 litres of water, battery ~30kg, pumps, structure etc. you realise you're lugging around something like 200+ kilos. I do a lot of cycling but that's just a bit ridiculous! That assumes you don't mean motorcycle.

I also don't see a fridge anywhere in your drawing above? That's certainly a necessity for milk, and something else that the battery will need to power. Your battery is something you'll need to consider carefully and keep in mind that deep cycle batteries can be big and bulky. You'll want plenty of capacity and this is especially important with deep cycles since they don't like to be used anywhere near their max capacity. You'll also lose some power to efficiency of the inverter. If I remember correctly I was looking at the big 230 amp-hour. But do calculate how much you'll be using. In regards to your grinder, there seemed to be a fair bit of variance in the wattages - eg. Kony @ 350W but a Major @ 650W, and you can potentially save yourself some battery capacity by thinking like this.

Lastly - what machine are you looking at? Gas fired one's are hard to come by in Aus, but a must for mobile use. I think you may also need them to be professionally certified (the gas work).

I hope the above isn't discouraging. People have done it so it's certainly possible - but planning will go a long way!