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Wow. Looks like you did a great job with them. I use to live in Texas, those drawers can keep those fresh tortillas from HEB warm on camping trips as well.
Drawer System or No Drawer System
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I built mine during some time off during the Covid outbreak in 2020. Mostly 5/8" plywood with 3/4" maple for the drawer faces. I used polyethylene for the sliders instead of typical drawer slides.
I don't camp as much as I'd like, but I find them unobtrusive for daily use. I also like that I can keep my tool bag and recovery gear locked up, out of the way and out of sight.
I don't camp as much as I'd like, but I find them unobtrusive for daily use. I also like that I can keep my tool bag and recovery gear locked up, out of the way and out of sight.
went with the OVS as well.. only a single on the passenger. will do a fridge slide on the driver. Just enough room for everything I need.
Made this today.
Had just a shelf in there for the dog before. It was a hassle to take in and out. Basically had to be assembled in the vehicle.
This setup, yank the drawers, four thumb screws to remove the two halves of the shelf. Box slides out the back.
Now I'm thinking of a box that could hold up just the shelf halves for the dog, but be open underneath. I do use that space occasionally for things that wouldn't work with the drawers.
Had just a shelf in there for the dog before. It was a hassle to take in and out. Basically had to be assembled in the vehicle.
This setup, yank the drawers, four thumb screws to remove the two halves of the shelf. Box slides out the back.
Now I'm thinking of a box that could hold up just the shelf halves for the dog, but be open underneath. I do use that space occasionally for things that wouldn't work with the drawers.
Amazing workmanship! Any reason you left the jumpseat in place rather than taking them out?
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If I daily drove my truck I would not want a drawer system. You do loose a lot of cargo carring ability. Especially if a fridge gets bolted down. My truck is a toy and I’ve got a M101a trailer to use if I need to haul something large. Over the years I’ve run a home build platform with action packer boxes below it. Now a set of custom spec Drifta Drawers. The drawers allow you to access half your cargo without unpacking. That is the big advantage. I choose Drifta’s as I could spec the dimensions I wanted and I love the table that stows above the right drawer. If I had the time and tools I’d homebuild but wood shop is not my hobby. These drawers are the same height as the closed tailgate.
Too much effort to put them back in if I need seats for some reason, and I don't feel you gain much space. If you built something to go over the wheel wells and into the space the seats currently are, you'd have to put it in, in pieces, and even then I don't know if there's a way to Tetris them into place. Or, you'd have to pull the top.
I wanted this easy to yank out when needed.
Drawers you just lose cubic footage, but you gain organization and I would think some safety in a roll over
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Custom.
I designed it, mocked it up out of plywood, and had a fabricator bend up and weld it together. PRLC finished it off by doing the swing outs for me
Where’d you source those grab handles? I like those.
It's been a while, but I believe I found those Amazon. In my notes I have "Kipp pull handles" written down, but no more specific info.
McMaster has a large selection of quality pull handles: McMaster-Carr - https://www.mcmaster.com/products/handles/pull-handles-and-knobs-2~/handle-style~pull/
Might also try: Home page - https://www.austinhardware.com/
Might also try: Home page - https://www.austinhardware.com/
While drawers can certainly be cleaner and more tidy, I didn't like the lost storage volume that comes with it (not to mention expense) - my $.02.
I went with this solution and couldn't be happier. I still keep everything organized under that platform (recovery, camping, cooking, others) and have plenty of room leftover. The flip top makes everything easily accessible - here's my finished build.
Good luck!
I went with this solution and couldn't be happier. I still keep everything organized under that platform (recovery, camping, cooking, others) and have plenty of room leftover. The flip top makes everything easily accessible - here's my finished build.
Good luck!
If you only go camping on occasion, I might not bother. I have a half width low profile (8" ?) drawer that I made for my FJ55 that now fits perfectly in the 80. On the other side is a fridge slide. I can sleep inside the rig if necessary. It stores some tools, spare parts, recovery equipment, marshmallow skewers... And takes up very little cargo space.
Also agree on the cargo “loft.” Mine is a piece of wire closet shelf from Home Depot, zip tied to the grab bars. Nothing heavy ever goes up there. But that could change.
Also agree on the cargo “loft.” Mine is a piece of wire closet shelf from Home Depot, zip tied to the grab bars. Nothing heavy ever goes up there. But that could change.
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Lower profile and an attic rack is where it’s at for this kinda thing. You can still haul most stuff and you have. Lot of other stuff stored away and outta sight. I have found that keeping stuff in totes and what not is more imcumbering on cargo space when trying to fit bigger bulky items in that area vs a low profile drawer set up as your only constrained by over all height
My old set up, just haven’t had to replicate it in my new 80.
My old set up, just haven’t had to replicate it in my new 80.
Nice work!
Kinda looks like you took too much outta the side panel, but realistically, you not likely to put much weight up top anyway I guess
Dog mostly. Plywood is a lot stronger than people think, and there's a lot of structure there in a small amount of space.
No more snacks for doggo then!
I agree plywood has a lot of inherent strength. I'm sure it'll be fine. Looks spindly at a glance, but I like the weight reduction! Really creative
I work in construction, and we do a lot of high end commercial fit out stuff.
So much of the joinery items have carcasses similar to what you've done. They remove maybe 70-80% of concealed flat panels to reduce weight, easier to transport and install, and make it easier to run cabling for speciality lighting etc.
I find it interesting.
For the companies producing it, they still purchase the same amount of material, have a stack more machining to be done (CNC cutting tables), and a load more rubbish to manage at the factory, but the weight reduction alone offsets all that.
I own one of the companies doing it.
The machining doesn't add up to much on the cnc. Each one of those holes takes maybe 7 seconds to cut out. My machine spits out a sheet on average in six minutes cutting out cabinet parts. Those parts took a while, but I had some profiling toolpaths in there too that are slow.
It's amazing how much less stuff gets damaged when it's lighter. A few years ago I started trimming weight out of things when I could, and in some cases even adding handles cut into the parts to make it easier to carry. Sometimes you just build a giant beast and you're f'd through and through....