Confessions of a Sauna Builder: My New Trailer Sauna
I’m excited about my latest project: a wood-burning mobile sauna.
Unlike all of my other projects, which I design and build to meet the needs of my customers, this one is for myself. Over the past five years, I have been without my own sauna. It’s a long story. Basically, I sold my house (and sauna) expecting to buy another and build a new sauna, but because the lending rules changed after the housing crisis, with a bias against self-employed folks, I have been stuck in renter’s hell. So, while my customers have been basking in the warmth of my creations, I have been languishing in a sauna-less purgatory, dependent on the generosity of my clients for the too infrequent sauna. Like the proverbial cobbler whose kids have no shoes, I have been the sauna builder without a sauna. For renters like myself, the mobile sauna is the perfect solution.
It is a 5’x8′ sauna built on a commercial utility trailer. It is lined with northern white cedar and fired by one of my custom Lämpimämpi wood stoves. It has an arched roof using laminated bent cedar supports and aluminum sheet. It feels a lot roomier inside than you would think and comfortably holds four people. And, yes, it meets the two-thousand pound gross vehicle weight restriction of the trailer, so it doesn’t require a huge truck to haul it.
I’ll use this sauna for promotion—look for it at various venues and festivals including the Ithaca Festival parade (Again! Our first mobile sauna appearance was back in 2014). I’ll be taking this one with me on vacation or to my favorite park or forest stop. So, if you see it, feel free to stop and ask me to show it to you. Who knows, if it is hot I might even have a few spare towels.
