Home made drawers under $110. Basic measurments added

[plucker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close plucker]

If the fridge opened the other way, I would live in the back seat and the missus could drive everywhere. The kids would get the front seat.

All those other issues would go away then. :lol:

[jarrah7rally Member Find all posts View Profile Close jarrah7rally]

Home made drawers

I've been looking through all the postings/photos, and have to congratulate everybody who has designed & built thier own system to suit own requirements.

A couple of Q's & comments I have:

MDF v's particle board: is there any preference as far as longivity is concerned.

I am tending towards plywood (marine ?) thickness yet to be decided.
Any preferred thickness ?

I observed a design that incorporated a decent size water tank, would it be possible to have a water tank and a cargo barrier at the same time ?

When "profiling" to the curvaeous nature of the cargo area how much clearance has been left to allow for vibration & lifting up the side panel for access to the (oem) jack hidey hole.

Thanks in advance guys

Cheers

jarrah7

[Justo Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justo]

MDF is fine as long as you don't get it wet. I wouldn't even consider particle board. Preference goes to plywood as it doesn't swell with moisture, will last longer and due to having several laminates it will be stronger for the same thickness. Marine ply is good but probably overkill. 12-15mm is ideal and 18mm is getting a bit to heavy for a complete system.
Leave enough room for your carpet to wrap around the side panels, they can be a "snug" fit but not over tight. Keeping the side panels snug will help eliminate any rattles and movement. As for the side panel access if you keep the main drawer unit inside of the wheel arches and the rear tie down point there will be enough room to get the jack out.
Good luck 8)

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

If I had to buy material I would have bought a good quality ply. But as the MDF was left over from making a box in the garage for the kids outside stuff (cricket gear etc) I just used the leftovers with spare holes and pencil lines.

As Justo mentioned as long as the MDF stays dry it will be ok but good quality ply is definately better as it is stronger in all directions.

Also my little fridge support board and drawer is very low load and low weight. Building proper drawers I would have bought ply because of the extra loading on the material and joints. Just make sure you get a structural ply, some of the indoor stuff is as weak as a kitten because the ply joints sometimes line up across the plies.

The most durable material of this type I have used is form ply, the stuff that concreters use for formwork. I made a camping kitchen bench out of form ply about 15 years ago and it is still the same as when I made it regardless of rain and wash downs. But form ply only comes in 18mm thickness so is too heavy for this application in my view.

Michael

[jarrah7rally Member Find all posts View Profile Close jarrah7rally]

Drawers for $100 - add on a few $$$ these days

That is one of my concerns - keeping MDF dry.

In my last design (just a shelf with two support walls/sides) I had a 20 litre jerry of fuel & 20 l of water on one side, and the number of times those blasted lids leaked, causing the MDF to swell was a bit to frequent for my liking.

I will certainly be looking at Plywood dunno why I typed particle board ops:

Form plywood certainly seen it but as you mentioned its a bit heavy for my criteria.

"As Justo mentioned as long as the MDF stays dry it will be ok but good quality ply is definately better as it is stronger in all directions."

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

What's the consensus on the best fridge slide? My requirement is that it fits a Waeco CF50 and locks in the open position as well as closed.

[plucker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close plucker]

I have the waeco one that does that but it does rattle a bit.

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

What's the consensus on the best fridge slide? My requirement is that it fits a Waeco CF50 and locks in the open position as well as closed.

Most of my looking has been at what you get for the money... also, now I'm trying to keep it close to a certain size.

So... my requirements became...

Sturdy, locks closed and open and is a generic fit...
The thing that is pushing me towards the ARB fridge slide is that it's almost the perfect length (for my needs) 720mm. Not due to the fridge size but maximising the space in the back of the Prado.

To top it off... it's only $275.00 from ARB.

I haven't tried/used any slides so this is just my observations...

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

I have the waeco one that does that but it does rattle a bit.

I looked at the Waeco today, it looked good however if it rattles that would annoy me :?

[Guest Close Guest]

We also have a Waeco fridge slide with a CF50 on it. We put some high density foam at the back of the slide so the catch that holds the slide in the shut position was held in place tightly and that sorted out all rattles.
Scott

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Bought the ARB/ENGEL slide on Thursday arvo... so far no rattles but haven't been offroad yet

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

We also have a Waeco fridge slide with a CF50 on it. We put some high density foam at the back of the slide so the catch that holds the slide in the shut position was held in place tightly and that sorted out all rattles.
Scott

Sounds like a good solution. Do you have your CF50 in a bag? If so how does it fit in the slide? Does it lock in the open position?

[Guest Close Guest]

Yes ours is in a bag and it works fine. We use tie downs to hold the fridge in place but I am not sure if the metal attachments that Waeco sell would work with the bag. Ours is now in the second car and has been there in some particularly rough 4wdriving and has never moved.
The slide locks in both the in and out positions. I will take a photo later on today.
Scott

[Guest Close Guest]

I have put below a couple of photo's of how our setup works. I couldn't get to the back of the fridge easily to show you where the foam is however if you have a look at a slide it will become obvious.




This one is with the fridge locked in the out position.

Scott

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Perfect 8) thanks for the pics, decision made to buy the Waeco slide