Drawer box sleeper pad 100 series (1 Viewer)

[orors]

Just 95% finished our Draw box’s / sleeper pad for our 100 series LC.
Structure is 3/4 Pre finished maple plywood
Drawers 1/2 Pre finished maple plywood
The locking drawer slides and piano hinges are off of Amazon.
We cut out an access panel on the top of the drawers so we can access them inside the car, if needed.
We put the side front parts behind the tie downs up front so we could use the tie downs when we buy sheets of plywood. ( May be it’s over kill to tie down plywood. But at +$100 a sheet I rather be safe then sorry).
We made one box as big as the two seats and one box as big as a small seat in case we wanted to reconfigure someday.
We’re roughly in it for $450 or so, took us about 14 hours of time over 2 weeks to complete.

I need to finish the drawer fronts - Trying to come up with a way then can disconnect and be used as a table top or table with legs.

 

[Not So Yeung]

How about a prep table resting on the left drawer and have attachment points for legs to make a free standing table.

 

[suprarx7nut]

That sleeper panel looks mighty. Does it hinge backwards into the cargo area?

 

[orors]

The box’s are 42” long, and the sleeper pad is just under 30” long for a total of 6’. I had to cut it 5 times to get it to fold back with the roof.

My wife is working on a sleeping pad out of some old couch cushions we had. I’ll post some pictures when she gets done.

How about a prep table resting on the left drawer and have attachment points for legs to make a free standing table.

I like that idea thank you, I was thinking I could make the legs fit into the space in between the edge of the box and the drawer.

 

[hoser]

I think one of the best Pros of a drawer system is having heavy items contained in case of a roll-over/accident. Are you installing some sort of latch on those top access panels?

For the table, I'd use the largest piece of wood (2nd row) and screw in legs fastened by T-nuts. One leg should be adjustable in height. Replace the piano hinge with some lift-off hinges (detachable).

Double locking slides require two hands to open the drawer. Replace one side with regular slide and drawer can be opened with one hand.

 

[menancyandsam]

Great work coming along nicely.
On the side wings I like how you position the facing wall indented so you have some easy access space. In my experience I'm always looking for something in that side wing after I load down the top with heavy items. It becomes a pain to move stuff off the wing to flip it up. Wondering if its possible to make the facing side removable? Would love to make mine removable but not sure how to go about it.

 

[hoser]

@menancyandsam I have the same experience as you when accessing stuff under the wing. I have both Trekboxx and ARB drawers and I prefer the wings access on the ARB. The Trekboxx has a hinge like OP's.

Even when there's stuff on top, I can usually access most stuff underneath. Best shown here in Chowcares video...

 

[menancyandsam]

@hoser - Arb solution still requires you to lift the wing to access although it is easier then tilting on a hinge.

I was thinking of having access from the front. I know I can simply cut the wood & leave it open for easy pass through access, but would like to be able to attach frontal piece for looks & holding things in place but be able to detach so I can reach in & grab things. Maybe cut the front panel and install a spring like this ) ( , on the sides that will press in lightly to hold the panel in place.

 

[hoser]

Sure, still requires you to lift but it's a 1-2 ft lever.... better mechanical advantage.

You can also make the front open for easy pass through. And then change the drawer fronts so they extend towards the tail lights. Every time you close the drawer, the pass through also closes.

 

[orors]

Are you installing some sort of latch on those top access panels

Didn’t even think about an accident! Thanks for the heads up. We will have to figure some thing out. The 1 locking and 1 non locking drawers slides is blowing my mind. Got to return 1 pair and buy a non locking set.

The prefinished plywood cause things to slide around very easily. Need to add some tie down spots to the back eventually.
We were thinking of packing clothes in the wing spaces….. we’re planing on camping this weekend, and testing everything thing out.

 

[suprarx7nut]

@menancyandsam I have the same experience as you when accessing stuff under the wing. I have both Trekboxx and ARB drawers and I prefer the wings access on the ARB. The Trekboxx has a hinge like OP's.

Even when there's stuff on top, I can usually access most stuff underneath. Best shown here in Chowcares video...

@hoser - Arb solution still requires you to lift the wing to access although it is easier then tilting on a hinge.

I was thinking of having access from the front. I know I can simply cut the wood & leave it open for easy pass through access, but would like to be able to attach frontal piece for looks & holding things in place but be able to detach so I can reach in & grab things. Maybe cut the front panel and install a spring like this ) ( , on the sides that will press in lightly to hold the panel in place.

Some fancy Euro hinges and a reinforced 3D printed carbon fiber bracket yield something you guys might like...

 

[GVegasG]

Looking great. Great idea making top accessible. Is it only half accessible or both (front and back) are removable?
Newbie question - are all sides of drawers 1/2 plywood including bottom? How did you attach to each other, pocket holes?
I also noticed that you made some kind of a groove on 3/4 plywood for top pieces to sit on. Is that correct ?

 

[hoser]

@hoser - Arb solution still requires you to lift the wing to access although it is easier then tilting on a hinge.

I was thinking of having access from the front. I know I can simply cut the wood & leave it open for easy pass through access, but would like to be able to attach frontal piece for looks & holding things in place but be able to detach so I can reach in & grab things. Maybe cut the front panel and install a spring like this ) ( , on the sides that will press in lightly to hold the panel in place.

I gave it some more thought. Front access isn't that great because the opening is a bottleneck. I think the best solution would be to cut the wings into two sections. The rearward wing would be smaller, maybe 1/3 the length, just large enough to reach in a grab stuff. Would also allow easier access to jack compartment. The larger wing would have lip on the bottom so that when it is opened, it opens the smaller wing too, in one motion. See pic:

 

[orors]

In a pinch (I wanted potato chips ) the opening up for the drawers near the end of the LC helped, but we have 6 - 2.5” thick spelling cushions. It’s easy to move the smaller cushions and access the drawers. The cushions were from a 5” thick high density foam couch cushions we use to have. We used a jig saw and a foam cutting blade to cut them. They are 30”x 30”x2.5” and the small ones are 15”x 30”. My wife like to sow things that look funky….

think the best solution would be to cut the wings into two sections. The rearward wing would be smaller, maybe 1/3 the length, just large enough to reach in a grab stuff. Would also allow easier access to jack compartment.

Definitely going to cut the wings into 2. We put our clothes in the sides and really only accessed the part with out the wheel well.

GVagesG
Only the rear of the drawer is accessible through the hatch’s. The front half is closed off (closer to drivers side)

The drawers are all 1/2 plywood, except the bottom of the larger drawer it’s 3/4” (might be over kill) The smaller drawer bottom is 1/2”
I did a dado / glue / some nails to put together the drawers boxes. I cut a slot 1/4” deep for the bottoms to fit into / glue and 23 gauge nails. The big box moves very smoothly, but the small box isn’t perfectly square so it’s tight when you first pull it out.

The frame has 3/8” dado for every thing to sit on. I used glue and screws to put it together. I can’t say what the longevity of building it like this will be. I like pocket screws but I like using my table saw better

If you have more questions, feel free to ask.
Thanks for good ideas!