Turning An Orchard Sprayer Into A Camper Might Not Be That Bad Of An Idea

Over the decades, I’ve realized how much television has lied to me.

As a kid, I watched a Brady Bunch episode where cosmetics kingpin Beebe Gallini asks architect Mike Brady to design her factory. She ultimately requests absurd things such as a factory that looks like a makeup container, complete with a roof that lifts up in its entirety, like a giant blush compact. Ultimately, the whole deal implodes when Mike realizes he can never appease BeBee’s diva-like ways.

This, of course, is not how it works in real life – you’d never ask a small suburban architect to design a billion-dollar facility by himself. However, there is a kernel of truth in this tale of Brady’s blueprint blooper, in that people like BeBee Gallini do in fact exist, as my time working with Jason Torchinsky has proved. In fact, he’s my Beebe, and continues to request silly, pointless things for me to draw up for nothing other than pure entertainment purposes.

Back in February, Torch wrote up a strange futuristic-looking vehicle that sprays orchards with God-knows-what kinds of chemicals:

Jason concluded his post with this:

Now, the real question that is very likely bouncing around in all of our heads is how possible would it be to find a used one of these and convert it into everyday street use? I’m sure it’s possible … Maybe if you found one where the whole spraying mechanism had failed? Think what an amazing little camper one of these would make!

My guesses at the time of reading this was that absolutely nobody other than Jason had these thoughts in their heads. I also surmised that Torch would likely reach out to me and see if I might waste a few evenings visualizing what such a stupid camper might look like, and that I would go ahead and do it. Let’s get this over with, right?

Crop Dustin’

If you’re not into apple growing the way that Jason is into taillights, you could be forgiven for not knowing what a self-propelled orchard sprayer looks like. There are apparently non-self-propelled units that are towed behind a tractor, but the ones that caught Jason’s attention have an engine and driver compartment; a good example of one is the Atom 2000 by Andreoli Engineering:

To clear the trees and navigate rough-terrain orchard rows, the Atom 2000 is low to the ground (about 60 inches tall) and features four-wheel drive and steering with wide, small-diameter tires. However, the Atom is made in Italy, and if we know anything about most Italian designers, it’s that they can’t help but apply an artistic bend to even something utterly utilitarian. You go into any random middle-class home in Milan, and the dishwasher will look like something they’d put into the Museum of Modern Art in America. And so, the Italian-designed Atom is a remarkably sleek-looking vehicle with a raked windshield and low-slung cab worthy of a science fiction movie prop.

The sprayer tank sits dead center, while the rather rocket-shippy spray mechanism takes up the rear behind the slotted-metal engine cover. There’s even a ventilation system to prevent the driver from breathing in the sprayed chemicals and to further add to the outer space vibe.

The cabin is accessed by doors with giant side windows. Inside, the driver appears to be flanked by a myriad of pump and sprayer controls.

The Atom chassis is rather low to the ground, and I could see it getting stuck in some situations without raising the height. No problem: it turns out that Andreoli has a version with a suspension that can lift to give you more than ample ground clearance. Look at that sumbitch go!

Now, Jason did mention that these sprayers are not cheap. Even used, they sell for over $100,000, making the prospect of turning one into a camper an even stupider idea than it already sounds.

He did suggest possibly getting one where the spraying mechanism had totally shot craps, but I do see something that might have a bigger impact on getting one cheap. If you think these Atom units look sci-fi, take a look at the next step in orchard spraying: totally autonomous units that one can only assume will be called spraybots:

I have to believe these terrifying-looking things will make the current Atom units obsolete, with the added cost of autonomous tech offset by the savings of not paying humans to operate the machines. Maybe a current Atom could be retrofitted with self-driving apparatus, but unquestionably the depreciation curve on a current Atom just went from a bunny slope to a black diamond. If you found one with the taller ride height, I could see it as being the basis for a rather capable overlanding machine. We wouldn’t just scrap one, could we? No, we need to give the coolest-looking Italian off-roader since the LaForza a second lease on life!

Tanks For Just Memories

A quick look at the Atom 2000 shows that a large chunk of the vehicle is used for the tank in the center, which extends down to the chassis to allow for gravity feeding to the pumps. The engine, pumps, and whatever other mechanicals sit under the cover just ahead of that alien-looking sprayer system.

Once we remove the central tank and rear spray unit, we have a structure that we can work with. I like how low the Atom sits compared to tree-branch-grabbing tall motorhomes that could never go where this futuristic-looking thing could go, though standing in the Atom is off the table given its mere five-foot height.

But what if we install a telescopic top that can raise when you get to the campsite? Lowered, it would still sit higher than the standard Atom, but with hydraulic jacks it could raise to a height that would allow you to be able to stand in the “living area” created by ditching the chemical tank. Now, raising this roof in the area over the engine would create an area around three feet tall and over six feet long: perfect for a double-wide bunk space.

The living space has a countertop with a sink and cooktop, and storage space below. I can’t find any images of the unit without the tank installed, but looking at most of the other pictures, it seems like a large frame “spine” may pass through its center. If that’s the case, it will be a bit awkward in there, but I can work around it and maybe use it as a place for someone to sit.

With all of the spray controls removed from the front cabin, my hope is that you could get at least one more seat up there, if not two small jump seats flanking the driver.

I imagine the metal nose piece on the Atom is robustly built to withstand small trees and brush, but it looks horribly tacked-on, so I’d replace it with a more stylized fiberglass nose panel. A tubular bumper will restore the protection the metal nose previously afforded, with round sealed beams and off-the-shelf round signals completing the look as Jason Torchinsky non-negotiables. The raised center part of the roof will feature skylights and allow for a bit of extra headroom in the center while providing a place to mount things like the air conditioning unit, satellite antenna, and a spare tire.

And here’s the transformation:

In the back, the giant sprayer mechanism obviously disappears, leaving room for a rather larger storage locker for all of your hunting, fishing, or other outdoor gear. The remaining platform could be used to haul other things like dirt bikes, and repeater taillights below can be used if those objects cover the primary lights taken from the sprayer.

Old and new:

The Apple Falls Pretty Far From The Tree

If human-operated sprayers are indeed not long for this world, we need to start thinking of what we could do with the manually driven ones beyond stripping them for parts or crushing them for scrap. At the Autopian, if anything sits around long enough, we will try to turn it into a camper. However, unlike the hearses and mail delivery trucks I’ve converted before, this Atom 2000 actually seems to make sense (in concept, if not cost). It’s an otherworldly-looking overlander with plenty of capability and just enough room to let you discover places your typical Winnebago just ain’t gonna go. Maybe Jason had a point after all, but please don’t tell him that I said that.

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