Well, in inves­ti­gat­ing options for Bug Out Shel­ters, I have inves­ti­gat­ed mod­u­lar homes, cab­ins, log cab­ins, earth shel­ters, trav­el trail­ers, campers, etc.  The one thing I have found (and not just recent­ly) is one that is pre-built and can be shipped and dropped off right to you.  You can lease, finance, or pur­chase them, get them from 20 feet — 60 feet long, sin­gle or dou­ble wide.  Each one is eight feet tall.

Inter­est­ing…  So, let’s see.  You can buy them new or used.  Used is less expen­sive.  You can get them as is or repaint­ed.  I might sug­gest repaint­ed, as any rust would be scrubbed away and the con­tain­er would be primed to help pro­tect it under­neath the paint.  You can get them with win­dows (they have office type con­fig­u­ra­tions), air con­di­tion­ing units, and more.

Now, all of that said, you can spend any­where between $1,500.00 and 4,000.00 for a ship­ping con­tain­er.  I am think­ing used, bare bones, with noth­ing else.  No win­dows, noth­ing.  If you are handy, you can cut out your own win­dows, and install them your­self.  The oth­er issue, as I see it, at least where I live (north­east­ern Unit­ed States), is insu­la­tion.  You have to insu­late it on the exte­ri­or, inte­ri­or, or both, some­how.  In the sum­mer here, you will be in a sweat box.  Con­verse­ly, if you do not, in the win­ter, you will freeze because the met­al will get ice cold, or cold­er when the tem­per­a­ture dips below 32 degrees Fahren­heit.  With that, the win­dows are a neces­si­ty, for the cross breeze, and some OPSEC.  In the win­ter, you would def­i­nite­ly need insu­la­tion as well as a heat source to heat the unit.  Oh, and those win­dows might come in handy to let some of the heat out when the wood burn­ing stove gets a lit­tle hot.  While your at it, the doors might need to be sealed a bit bet­ter, as to not let out the heat, as well.

A kitchen unit of some sort may need to be added so cook­ing is a bit eas­i­er.  Maybe one of those wood or coal cook­ing ranges.  Here are a cou­ple to review:

• http://www.goodtimestove.com/kitchen_ranges/victorian_cooking_ranges.html
• http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200307953_200307953

Cook­ing in the sum­mer might be a lit­tle warm, but then again, you could always cook over the fire or on a grill.  Over­all, how­ev­er, they will serve the pur­pose of heat, cook­ing, and puri­fy­ing water for clean­ing, drink­ing, and bathing.

You might also want it close to a water source, and to build an out house out back as well.  Or if you wish, design and build a small sep­tic sys­tem and add a toi­let your­self.  Just men­tion­ing it, as I am sure you will have thought about it.

The inte­ri­or, you can frame out your­self if you wish, and add dry wall for a more fin­ished off look too.  Add a cou­ple of solar pan­els, a cou­ple of deep cycle bat­ter­ies, a decent sized invert­er, and a few low volt­age appli­ances, such as one of those Cole­man Pow­er­Chill cool­ers, some low volt­age light­ing, and I think you might have a bug out loca­tion.

As for the thick­ness of the steel, I am not sure about that, so I am not sure if it will with­stand a round from a high pow­ered rifle or not.  Just men­tion­ing it, in case any of you took pot shots at rail­road cars or ship­ping con­tain­ers as kids.  If you did, please let me know the results.  I am curi­ous for rea­sons of OPSEC.

Anoth­er down down­side of a ship­ping con­tain­er for your bug out loca­tion is that it looks out of place.  If you leave it unat­tend­ed most of the time, some­one might come upon it, break the lock and make them­selves at home.  That would be bad, espe­cial­ly if you are caching sup­plies there.  You may have to seal and bury them.

Here are a cou­ple of resources for ship­ping con­tain­ers:

• http://www.azteccontainer.com/
• http://www.howtodothings.com/business/a3619-how-to-buy-used-cargo-containers.html
• http://www.buyerzone.com/industrial/storage-containers/qz_questions_885z.jhtml?_requestid=15556
• http://www.storagecontainerauctions.net/BuyStorageContainers.html

And… Here are a few resources on design­ing and con­vert­ing ship­ping con­tain­ers to homes:

• http://www.shippingcontainerhousedesign.com/
• http://www.containerhomes-info.com/
• http://www.containerhome.info/
• http://www.containerhomes.net/
• http://video.bobvila.com/m/21320565/converting-steel-shipping-containers-to-housing.htm
• http://zerocabin.com/

Enjoy.