Hey all,
So I'm 75% of the way finished with my new cargo area box. I think I've waxed poetic about this before, but i wanted a box that would replace only one of the 3rd row jump seats as I need the 5th passenger pretty often and wanted to keep one of the jumps in. The project is progressing nicely and I'll do a write up on it when I'm done. However, in my hours of hanging out in the back of the truck with a tape measure, pencil and befuzzeled look (fortunatly peppered with flashes of inspiration) I noted a little fact about the back of the 80. the height of the 2nd row seats with the backs folded down, but not fliped forward, and the 3rd row seats with backs folded down, but not up to the full stored position and the top of my new storage box are all about the same. i.e. pretty flat area the size of the entire back of the truck.
I've read all the write ups about sleeping systems and some really clever layouts of different pieces to change configurations for different storage/seating/sleeping needs. I'm a big K.I.S.S. advocate so I like simple (and cheep) straightforward solutions.
I was thinking that if you had a single simple board about the size of the back of the rig with the seats all folded as above mentioned, you could just toss that big flat board on top of the seats (and in some cases the rear storage boxes) and presto, flat sleeping surface.
So to pop my own bubble, I would say heres some of the problems to solve with this aproach:
1. The single board would be pretty big and hard to get in/out of the truck and if you needed to use the seats while your getting somewhere, where do you put the board.
2. The board might damage the backs of the seats when installed.
Possible solutions
fix for 1. Make the board sectional/roll up/folding or something so it could be stored up in the safari rack or in the back when in transit.
fix for 2. Make the system have "legs" of some kind that would allow the board to sit just slightly above the seats/cargo box.
My wife and I slept in the back of the truck last trip out to Moab and it was great. Not having to set up a tent was wonderful and in the strong wind metal and glass instead of nylon was a huge bonus. That was an easy trip because we didnt take the kids so i just took out all of the seats and tossed in our sleeping pads. Now that the cargo box is in, i need to bring up the sleeping level to that height.
The varing needs I have for school-bus to expeditionary rig call for clever simple solutions. What's everyone think....
Chris
So I'm 75% of the way finished with my new cargo area box. I think I've waxed poetic about this before, but i wanted a box that would replace only one of the 3rd row jump seats as I need the 5th passenger pretty often and wanted to keep one of the jumps in. The project is progressing nicely and I'll do a write up on it when I'm done. However, in my hours of hanging out in the back of the truck with a tape measure, pencil and befuzzeled look (fortunatly peppered with flashes of inspiration) I noted a little fact about the back of the 80. the height of the 2nd row seats with the backs folded down, but not fliped forward, and the 3rd row seats with backs folded down, but not up to the full stored position and the top of my new storage box are all about the same. i.e. pretty flat area the size of the entire back of the truck.
I've read all the write ups about sleeping systems and some really clever layouts of different pieces to change configurations for different storage/seating/sleeping needs. I'm a big K.I.S.S. advocate so I like simple (and cheep) straightforward solutions.
I was thinking that if you had a single simple board about the size of the back of the rig with the seats all folded as above mentioned, you could just toss that big flat board on top of the seats (and in some cases the rear storage boxes) and presto, flat sleeping surface.
So to pop my own bubble, I would say heres some of the problems to solve with this aproach:
1. The single board would be pretty big and hard to get in/out of the truck and if you needed to use the seats while your getting somewhere, where do you put the board.
2. The board might damage the backs of the seats when installed.
Possible solutions
fix for 1. Make the board sectional/roll up/folding or something so it could be stored up in the safari rack or in the back when in transit.
fix for 2. Make the system have "legs" of some kind that would allow the board to sit just slightly above the seats/cargo box.
My wife and I slept in the back of the truck last trip out to Moab and it was great. Not having to set up a tent was wonderful and in the strong wind metal and glass instead of nylon was a huge bonus. That was an easy trip because we didnt take the kids so i just took out all of the seats and tossed in our sleeping pads. Now that the cargo box is in, i need to bring up the sleeping level to that height.
The varing needs I have for school-bus to expeditionary rig call for clever simple solutions. What's everyone think....
Chris
