Yet another drawer + bed setup

Hi guys

I just finished my drawers system this afternoon. I wanted to keep it cheap and simple, yet clean. I wouldn't say it's flawless but it works. Thanks to all Cruiserheads who did the same and explained it extensively here, I had a good idea of what I wanted. The challenge there was I don't have a garage and my landlord doesn't want me to work on the parking lot. So I made all of it in my kitchen two levels upstairs.

I used 3 sheets of 3/4 '' sanded plywood, lotsa 2" corners and more than 200 6x3/4 philips screws. I got 8' x 6' of leftover carpet for 15 bucks from Home Depot. So far, only the drawers fronts are carpeted (see pictures). Altogether, I kept the hardware budget under $300, new jigsaw included. I spent 18+ hours on it total, spawned on two weekends, including the one with the deadly California heat wave (I thank my sponsors, Arrowhead and Brita, for their support through these A/C-less days).

Some thoughts and advice: don't use a jigsaw, unless you're a 5 in carpentry. Use a circular instead.
The hugest pain however was to install the U-bolts under the floor. I managed to make it using Scotch tape to stick them and some more to extend the bolts so they could be guided through the holes. However, I brutally scratched my hands in the process.
The drawer mounts are raw, ie without slides. No budget, no know-how... Anyway, I don't plan to overload them.

Next step in the oncoming weeks: building another box to replace the right seat of the 2nd row, as the final purpose is to make it possible for two adults and one very young kid to sleep inside the rig during a one-month trip from LA to Colorado and back, through a number of Natl Parks, this fall.

This box and the drawers box should align to create a 6' 2" bed on the right side, whereas I would keep the left seat for the kid's, folding it (the seat, not the kid) and cover it with another sheet of wood mounted on piano hinges. At night, the kid would sleep on a makeshift bed installed on the front seats. I hope I'm clear.

Thanks again guys for all the ideas here. Will post more pics when I'm tackling what's left to do on this project, very soon hopefully.
Cheers Grolar


1. Closed


2. Open


3. Closer look at the drawer

looks great did you use any kind of sliders at all?

Good job tackling the unkown. Looks like you put a lot of effort in to it and it looks good. I hope it serves you well on your trip!

Thanks Lucy, I appreciate your support.

95eighty: yes, scotch tape sliders. Someone mentioned nylon straps somewhere in a previous thread, but I couldn't find any for sale anywhere. Maybe once the tape has melted in Moab and I'm stuck, I'll give them another chance!

Grolar said:

Thanks Lucy, I appreciate your support.

95eighty: yes, scotch tape sliders. Someone mentioned nylon straps somewhere in a previous thread, but I couldn't find any for sale anywhere. Maybe once the tape has melted in Moab and I'm stuck, I'll give them another chance!

Click to expand...

Ok i see.Is it a heavy duty scotch tape?There is an adhesive backed teflon sheet that is available that may also work great.

Teflon? Wow. I would be gratefully taker of the brand/reference.

Here ya go..
http://www.shop.com/op/~Slick_Strips-prod-11898438-17976460?sourceid=298

That ones actaully made from UHMW but will work as well if not better than teflon.We used the teflon stuff at work but can't remember where.I will get back to you on that.

Thanks for that. Not a budget solution though

Nylon skids can usually be bought fairly cheaply through ships chandleries as some boat trailers use nylon skids instead of rollers.

wax/candle wax, rubbed onto the both surface is a cheap carpenters trick.Note: It will be hard to use any adhesive tape products on the surface after use of this technique.

That is a great job! Nice work! If I had a shop, I'd definitely seriously consider making some of my own....

Good job!!

Looks really nice!

Grolar,

I recently made a drawer/bed setup. I finished mine last week. Instead of using two drawers I went with one as I would like to be able to store my guns in the drawer when I got hunting. I almost went the tape route but found a place just a few minutes from work that sold UHMW plastic that was used on the setup by Jeff Kauffman. Instead of making dado cuts on the drawer, I used two strips as guides and then recessed the other three pieces in the bottom of the drawer. Only thing left to do is stain the drawer. Here are a couple of pics.





PS- Just wanted to thank everyone who posted their pics of their systems as it really help me build mine. Thanks!

Update

I'm nearly done. I removed the right seat of the 2nd row and replaced it with a wooden box that's gonna be used as a pantry. An cooler just fits between that box and the front passenger seat. I carpeted everything as well. Next step: completing the window shades.

Grolar, FWIW, I have trailer that uses a sliding frame for transporting sea kayaks. It came with 1" wide plastic strips on the frame over which the 'box' slides. Sun finally got to it after many years and I replaced them with Lexan strips from Home Depot. Seems to work well. In my case they are just riveted on, but I assume you could glue them if you've left at least 1/8" of room in the frame. Cheap and easy to test in any case. I think they sell the same in 'plastic' strips that you could prototype with.

sory to dig up an old thread but...

i wanted to know how well this is working without sliders of any sort in the drawers.
thanks

I have drawers with over 10yrs/100k miles logged with no sliders. No problems

looking at this, I'd say that real drawer slides are not really necessary with the tail gate there for support. Dang good!

Well, six months and 7,000 miles have passed since. The drawers have been working pretty well and I had no issues. In fact, they're sliding better and better, as wood grinding on wood ends up creating kinduva "sanding".
I obviously didn't overload them, as I mainly put clothes and recovery gear inside. I'm very satisfied with this solution, which allows more space IMHO.
As for durability, the whole stuff seems to be rock solid. The rig is currently in Baja and I'm not, but once it's back I'll send more pictures to show (off) how it looks.

WoW great job!! I have been going back and forth about keeping my 3rd row of perfect leater seats or not. this gave me some idea of the benifits of the added space .