Best material for shelving etc.

[peteinjp]

Looking to build some storage shelves into the back of my BJ44. I have very little space and need to maximize as I have rear seats as well. My plan is to build another camp kitchen as well as shelving and possibly a sleeping platform for when the rear seats are folded up. I used standard 1/2 plywood for the current chuck box and it is too heavy. I need to keep weight down and I am looking for a good stiff material with lower weight that is easy to fabricate with and also easily available. Birch ply is one possibility. Aviation ply is not easy to find here but would probably be ideal. Any other thoughts?

Pete

 

[cruiserpilot]

I don't know much about materials, especially in Japan, but this video should give you a bit of direction. Really good economy of space. I would suggest a thin hardwood, mahogany comes to mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9sU-jNydW60

 

[HJ61 12HT]

Alucobond or similar is the best stuff, plastic with aluminium skin on each side.
It's lighter and stiffer than the same thickness normal plywood.
Easy to work with super durable and is perfectly flat, it's fantastic stuff.

 

[tclark]

That sounds like cool stuff; where would one find it and how expensive is it?

 

[peteinjp]

My thoughts exactly. I was wondering about making a box with it as well. I guess you'd have to miter the edges and use angle stock of something to attach too.

Anyway I think I would have a hard time finding it here in Japan- though it does seem like the ultimate in materials for the job. There is a similar type of panelling here used for housing but it's probably not nearly as strong- and it usually has some ugly pattern stamped into it.

Any other options/thoughts?

 

[B Point]

Where are you located Pete? I'm building a drawer/bed rig in the back of my 80 right now. I just went with 18 and 15mm solid core after giving up on DIY'ing anything lighter and less bulky. Let me know what you find as I would gladly forgo all this wood for something more suitable. Finding baltic birch might be difficult for you as well. DIY resources here are severely lacking..

 

[peteinjp]

I'm in toyama. I've heard that hardwood plys are available including Baltic. But I have not looked into it yet. It's probably the best route to go. But knowing how things are here I'd bet it's pretty expensive. Maybe I should just go with the traditional materials here- pine boards and bamboo....... Ha.

Pete

 

[ducktapeguy]

I'm also looking at doing something similar on my 40, so I'm interested in what you find. After weighing my current chuck box (~45 lbs) I've been playing around with a drawer and chuck box design , and trying to figure out how to cut the weight as much as possible. One material that looked interesting was foam core plywood, used in the marine industry which is about half the weight of normal ply. Don't know how durable it is, but seems like something that could be made at home. Other things I've looked at was using skeleton holes and frame and panel construction to reduce weight. This is all just conceptualizing, I haven't actually made anything, so I really don't know if it's really going to be practical.

For example, using 1/8 ply with 3/4 solid wood frame, this chuck box is approx 20lbs (nevermind the oak look, it just happened to have the same approximate weight as plywood. Roughly the same size as my current one, but half the weight.

As for the drawers, I was thinking of 1/4 all around except for the top and drawer fronts. That alone reduces the weight about 30%. I'm thinking if I were willing to sacrifice removable dividers and used fixed ones, I could go even thinner on the bottom.

Interesting enough, making a drawer system out of 16 ga steel is lighter than plywood, but that's without factoring in any stiffeners that would probably be needed to keep the top from flexing.

 

[JCruse]

I'm in toyama. I've heard that hardwood plys are available including Baltic. But I have not looked into it yet. It's probably the best route to go. But knowing how things are here I'd bet it's pretty expensive. Maybe I should just go with the traditional materials here- pine boards and bamboo....... Ha.

Pete

Doesn't Baltic Birch plywood come from Russia or one of the former Soviet states? That's probably closer to your neck of the woods than the US. Maybe it wouldn't be too hard to get or too expensive. And it is one of the best plywoods after all. I just got a long drawer set built out of 16 ply BB and it's really nice. NOTHING like regular plywood.

 

[peteinjp]

I can get that here and I think that is the way I'll go.

Thx,

Pete