Drawer System Extension (1 Viewer)

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Brentbba

Former Golfer
Joined
Mar 27, 2003
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429
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10,846
Location
OC, CA
Finally getting around to posting up some pictures of a drawer system extension I completed on President's Day and took thru it's maiden voyage on a 4 day expedition out to Anza Borrego this past week.

First I'll say my craftmanship is not close to the workmanship and quality of Jeff Kaufman, who's rear drawer system is the basis for my extension. I have his sleeper extension, but wanted more built in storage space and still wanted the sleeping extension for when the 2nd row seats are out. I'd already put a piece of oak plywood under my ARB fridge (will get around to the Slee Fridge slider some day).

What I did was design something that bolts into the four bolt holes from the seat and seat latches from the 2nd row seats. On the PS, I just built a flat extension out to the rear of the front seats. Great place to just put 'stuff'. On the DS I built a storage compartment with an hinged top. It extends out from the end of Jeff's drawer all the way to the back of the drivers seat. For this construction I used 3/4" birch laminated plywood. Maple is to hard to find in SoCal, so I couldn't match Jeff's wood. All the sides and corners are held together with nothing but 3/8 dowels and wood glue and it's very, very sturdy. All this was built with nothing but a skill saw, router, drill, dowel jig from the FIL, and wood glue. Hinges are european type cabinet hinges. I only had time for two coats of spar urethane prior to this trip, so I've got one more sanding and coating of urethane now that I'm back.

I have to say for an amature woodworker, it turned out pretty damn well. Total cost was about $80 for a couple sheets of 4'x8' birch plywood, hinges, longer bolts and urethane. FIL supplied the dowels and jig.

I also had room on the front of the thing to mount a fire extinguisher.

First pic is on sawhorses in the garage so you can see the flat PS piece and the compartment with extinguisher. Second and third pic are of the flat piece on the PS.
Anza Borrego 2007 054.jpg
Anza Borrego 2007 046.jpg
Anza Borrego 2007 047.jpg
 
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More pics of the storage compartment. Open and closed from the DS rear door and a view from the rear showing Jeff's drawer as well so you can see the full length.
Anza Borrego 2007 049.jpg
Anza Borrego 2007 050.jpg
Anza Borrego 2007 051.jpg
 
Last two. I have a twin size inflatable mattress that fits right in there so sleeping is very comfortable. Last three nights, I didn't even bother rolling the sleeping bag and matteress up. When I needed access to the storage up front, I just folded the mattress and bag back. Made things very easy.
Anza Borrego 2007 052.jpg
Anza Borrego 2007 053.jpg
 
Wow, that looks great! I am getting ready to build mine soon. Are you going to put some additional tie-downs on it? How'd you mount your CO2 tank?
 
Very nice work Brent. All the pieces flow together very nicely. Well done. :cheers:
 
Nice work. Why the plywood on the PS?
 
suhweet!
plans for sale?
 
Brent very nicely done, beautiful work.:cheers:

Dude, you did a killer job.. i just put the outback system in and yours makes ME jealous actually!!

:rolleyes: I don't think I would go that far.
 
very nice!

:cheers:
 
Nice work. Why the plywood on the PS?

Just to have a completely flat space up to the PS front seat and not deal with the dip to the foot well.
 
suhweet!
plans for sale?


Nope - This is a one off. GREAT respect to Jeff Kaufman for the detail that goes into his beautiful work. I know it's his profession and only a mild hobby for me, but this took quite a few hours over several days to completely cut, glue and clamp up, not to mention the time to urethane and sand.
 
Wow, that looks great! I am getting ready to build mine soon. Are you going to put some additional tie-downs on it? How'd you mount your CO2 tank?


I do plan on ring style tie downs. I plan on inlaying them with the router. I just ran out of time to do it before this trip. A trial and error on a scrap piece comes first!

For the CO2 tank - check out the FAQ section. The picture at the beginning is of my mount and there's a thread in there with more pics.
 
Looks good. I really like the clear coated wood but it just wouldn't work for me. When I go wheeling, I really load it up back there and I also have a Lab and a Dobe to think about.
 
Looks good. I really like the clear coated wood but it just wouldn't work for me. When I go wheeling, I really load it up back there and I also have a Lab and a Dobe to think about.


I do know what you mean - no dogs here, but part of me would like to cover it with gray carpeting to closely match the OEM carpet. The only thing really holding me back is the thought of covering Jeff's beautiful work with carpet!
 
Very Nice, I likeeeeeeeeee it! Hope to see it in person.
 
does this system bolt into the floor in any way or is it just "laying" there? seems to be bolted in. any up close shots of that?
 
Brett,

That's really nice.
I did something similar to my cruiser. I took the middle seats out this summer. Now my sleeping platform extends from the rear gate to the front seats. Under it in the front, there's enough space to store my CampChef stove. I like what you have done with your fire extinguisher I will copy that idea and implement something similar.

Regards

Alvaro
 

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