Shipping container??

[IronMonster]

well, hard to argue with free.

 

[rcnpthfndr]

all in all there are 5 Shoothouses like the one pictured and 6 smaller ones that progress in difficulty. the connexs were going to be used for aerial targets but we used them for this project instead

 

[The Heretic]

A track hoe will open these up like a can of tomatoes.
But if it's in a shop they have to get thru that first.
And by the time you re enforce the top to bury it,you might as well do concrete.

A tack hoe/et. al. would (and actually has) open up my shop like a TV dinner. When I was having my driveway paved (got tired of dealing with the weeds in the areas I didn't drive on, and the mud in the areas I did), a piece of equipment ran into the rollup door on one side and tore it off the rails. Hell - you could kick in the rollup doors of most shops if you know where to kick. Most of those rollup doors are fairly easy to get into.

If they wanted the container though, they have to get it out of the shop because there just wouldn't be room in the shop on that side to get equipment into it easily - especially an excavator. The other side has a much larger rollup for an RV.

As for burying a container, generally that is a bad idea - these are not made to take that kind of load. Yes people have done it, buy you would never find me inside one that was buried.

 

[The Heretic]

A $200 dehumidifier from Home Depot puts out some heat as well as pulling moisture out of the air.

If you left it in the container for a few days it would settle down on the RH swings - as long as it's out of the sun.

Most everything in my shop is out of the sun - there are two smallish windows, one on the front that faces the afternoon sun, the other on the side that never faces any kind of sun. The front of the shop gets warm in the afternoon in the summer, but not too bad.

The side with the small vehicle door (the size of a single garage door) is downright dark - there is a wall between half of it and the rest of the shop, so it stays dark unless you open the door or turn on the lights.

I am looking at reefer containers without a working reefer unit - more expensive (about twice as much or more), but they are insulated and have more interior reinforcement - would be much harder to get into I think. Not sure about the end where the reefer unit is though - I haven't looked closely at one, only seen it in photos. I could maybe put a plate of steel over that end.

They sell them that are marine grade stainless steel - harder to cut into with a torch.

 

[The Heretic]

I still wonder about moisture. The containers we have at the rifle range have some small ventilation holes.

Sheldon

Tell the guys at the range to quit shooting the container.

 

[mjbskwim]

There a few building made I couldn't find a way into with a track hoe . If I add a breaker to it,the number would be less. I'll move the building or make a door/area big enough for my machine.
The point is, some would attack the container outside but would probably stop at tearing a wall down without knowing risk v rewards factor.
Of course on a job site there is a good chance there is tools to pawn. At a guys house he may be storing the wife's quilting supplies.

 

[The Heretic]

There a few building made I couldn't find a way into with a track hoe . If I add a breaker to it,the number would be less. I'll move the building or make a door/area big enough for my machine.
The point is, some would attack the container outside but would probably stop at tearing a wall down without knowing risk v rewards factor.
Of course on a job site there is a good chance there is tools to pawn. At a guys house he may be storing the wife's quilting supplies.

Well, in any given personal shop up here, you would find tools, quite possibly a motorcycle or two, some power equipment such as a lawn mower/genset/power washer/etc. - but you would expect to find a shipping container with a gun safe inside. You would have to know it is there.

I've been here for 4+ years and some of my neighbors have never seen what I have in my shop. So I kind of doubt anybody is going to go to the trouble of bringing any kind of "heavy" equipment up here to tear into my shop. They really don't need to; a neighbor's Rhodesian Ridgeback tore into another neighbors shop with his teeth and paws.

 

[Lazyfaire]

That one is definitely cut down as all of the commercially available small storage containers have holes for the dogs/hold down pins in all 4 corners.


The only ones for actually moving freight at 20, 40, 45, 48, and 53 foot containers. The majority of 48 and 53 foot equipment move domestically only.

Anything smaller than 20' is designed for storage, not for transportation. Buy the proper style lock to take advantage of the shroud in the middle as it's specifically designed to be impossible to cut with conventional tools. My customers have had a lot of containers broken into over the years and with how easy it is to roll up with a tilt bed and steal the entire thing, i would be weary of putting too much of anything valuable inside one of these.

Put 3-4 concrete forms with some rebar in them on each side of the box. Bury them 4-5 ft deep. Won't go anywhere. Put a potted plant on top of them, show your softer side!

 

[R3dundantC]

You know if you buy a large enough shipping container you could mount a traditional vault door to the inside behind the double doors.

As for exterior locks we use these puck locks at work but we weld the mounts to the door instead of using carriage bolts.


I think you are over worried though. Anyone with enough time and resources can break into anything. As my dad always says "a lock only keeps an honest person honest". Realistically and statistically thieves are opportunists and the average burglary lasts less than 10 minutes. There are dozens of things they will take from your shop before they try cutting into a cargo container.

A couple of puck locks, some quality IP cameras, and keeping your cutting instruments well away from the safe would be more than adequate.

 

[The Heretic]

A couple of puck locks, some quality IP cameras, and keeping your cutting instruments well away from the safe would be more than adequate.

The last is the problem - all my cutting tools that could get into a container, would be handy right there in the shop - unless I put them inside the container

 

[USMC1911]

Imo good insurance IF something gets broken into is more important then trying to make it impossible to steal. If they want it they will get it. If they dont get in the damage created usually makes the safe/door/container whatever unusable anyway. Pretty good read on here by Playboy long ago about the cost/return of safes vs insurance. YMMV

 

[USMC1911]

And the stock door on a conex could be defeated but man they are heavy if it falls.

 

[Lextruck]

Not sure if this has been said but I owned a bunch of these regular and reefer insulated ones. Be a great start but honestly the sides are incredibly thin just a heads up. Doors look strong just like a cheap safe until you put a hole in it and realise it's mostly insulation. Not saying it's a bad idea at all just that reinforcing it or safes inside is the best ideas. We made an office out of one I was blown away how easily we drilled a hole through the walls

 

[The Heretic]

Not sure if this has been said but I owned a bunch of these regular and reefer insulated ones. Be a great start but honestly the sides are incredibly thin just a heads up. Doors look strong just like a cheap safe until you put a hole in it and realise it's mostly insulation. Not saying it's a bad idea at all just that reinforcing it or safes inside is the best ideas. We made an office out of one I was blown away how easily we drilled a hole through the walls

Understood. I more or less knew that from the outset. The reefers have an inner wall though right?

The container would be inside a building out of sight. Eventually I would put a gun safe or three inside the container. I would also alarm the container. I think I mentioned the downside is that the shop is out of sight of the house and not that hard to break into - but then the house is more out of sight than the shop (the latter being in sight of the road), which is kind of good and bad (I wouldn't be surprised that someone would be more tempted by the shop than the house, unless they knew what was in each).

Crime is very low up here - the worst we have had is one peeping Tom (before I moved here and they think it was a neighbor who moved away) and one dumping of trash on a neighbor's property. Some people leave their shops unlocked. POs left the shop unlocked and open. I often have it open and unlocked if I am working outside during the day - it is right now.

 

[Lextruck]

Honestly it's a great idea. Especially if it's inside a shop and has a safe inside it. My dad just moved and rented a pod to move his woodshop. It was awesome and being able to do something like that with your "toys" inside of it would be really cool. The reefer was a thin layer of metal an inch or 2 of solid insulation and a thin layer of metal again. I guess I was just putting out there that they look very imposing (perfect for making the average criminal move on to an easier target) just thought I'd share how thin the wall is compared to what I imagined it would be knowing they ship cars etc across the ocean in them. If I had the room and now the idea thanks to you I would do it for sure. The floors are strong so great for mounting a safe. Reefers have a grooved floor with drain plugs at one end so not flat/smooth floor. Depending on the bolt size might be interesting drilling between The grooves. The non reefers usually have marine grade wood floors in them from my experience. They are heavy and slightly awkward to move but we were also using 40 footers. Once you oil up the hinges the big heavy doors will swing pretty easily. Good luck with the project it's a great idea. I'd love to have a semi portable safe room I could set up in my shop

 

[The Heretic]

Thanks.

I will probably wait a few years - especially if this timber sale works out and I can accelerate my retirement plans by paying off my mortgage. At that point I will be buying land further out and building a shop from scratch. I have seen complete bank vaults for sale here for about $10K that would make a great gun vault, and building from scratch I could incorporate that into the shop. Also having a separate 20ft. reefer unit for other stuff would be good as an aux. unit for tools and other things to keep safe and organized.

 

[Loggerdude]

So I guess that means I can forget that idea I had about relocating what's left of my grandfather's shop into a 20' Conex so that it'd just be a matter of "disconnect power and lock down, relocate, reconnect at destination"...

If memory serves, they also have a 102' (I'm a railroad history geek) but it's generally only used for ships and seldom goes farther inland than the port complexes where they're unloaded.

If someone wants it bad enough and knows your schedule your out of luck unless you have the funds for your own vault, pay the extra $ per year for insurance and a security system that can be heard for 2 miles and your golden. The man cave cubby would be cool. Omo

 

[The Heretic]

It looks like the timber sale won't get me enough to pay the mortgage - still waiting on all the payments though.

Thinking about going ahead and getting one of these soon.

There must be 5-10 outfits at least, in the PDX area that sell used containers.

Any recommendations on suppliers of used reefer/insulated 20' units? I don't want the reefer itself, so I would prefer a container with that removed and that end blocked off.

 

[Argonaut]

It looks like the timber sale won't get me enough to pay the mortgage - still waiting on all the payments though.

Thinking about going ahead and getting one of these soon.

There must be 5-10 outfits at least, in the PDX area that sell used containers.

Any recommendations on suppliers of used reefer/insulated 20' units? I don't want the reefer itself, so I would prefer a container with that removed and that end blocked off.

I used to buy them dirrect from Maersk........bought them a dozen at a time.........I have an old contact number somewhere for there Portland sales yard, But you need a truck to move them with. The best deals I ever got were from military auctions. The last ones I bought were ceramic coated tanks that had been used for chemicals or molasses. Sold them to people to use for fuel in remote areas.

 

[Argonaut]

I just looked them up.........they have a fancy new web site. There is only one container available in Portland, a 20 footer for 1800.00. I used to get discounts from retail. Many times, damaged ones were the best deal. They were discounted much more than the cost of repair.