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The drawbridge is powered by a pair of 3,500-pound winches with automatic load holding. When horizontal, it is our back porch. When it is depressed below horizontal, a 9-foot motorcycle ramp can be used on the end of it to reach the ground. We have a third winch for pulling motorcycles up the combined 17-foot long ramp into the "garage".
Our design includes a queen-sized bed over the garage, and a 42" Japanese Ofuro soaking tub in the bathroom.
The box is completely insulated with 3.5" of rigid polyiso foam board in the floor, ceiling, walls, and drawbridge. The insulated steel door and screened double-pane windows are Energy Star rated. We have slept in it in below-freezing temperatures, and had to turn the heat off- just the body heat from my wife, myself, and the dog was enough to keep us warm.
We have a 600 Ah lithium house battery bank, a super-quiet CAT inverter generator, and shore power backup. We are also planning to install 2,000 watts of solar panels on the roof, as well as a heat pump to provide heating and cooling year 'round.
We also had a 600-pound gun safe custom-made for it.
