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Hi guys,
Spent the weekend getting the 150 sorted for our trip in less than 2 weeks, thought I should build some storage for to keep the missus happy - OK I like to be organised on a touring holiday too
I have DIY'd storage in previous 4wd's - one steel frame with steel drawers on roller runners, and one a simple set of timber shelves with plastic boxes. The steel frame/drawers was cumbersome and heavy, took a lot of time to make and were a pita if you were camped somewhere that didn't allow the vehicle into the campsite. The timber shelves lacked the sturdiness to carry what I wanted and were also heavy and difficult to get in and out... So I set about my new storage solution with the following aims
Light weight - the lighter the vehicle the safer the vehicle, plus it reduces wear and tear on everything
functional
easy to get in and out of the car
Easy to build
sturdy
no moving parts to be affected by dust and dirt
removable drawers
economical (that ruled out all the commercial offerings)
As I have a number of Ki-Tab boxes which I have previously used for camping I decided these would be the storage "drawers" I would use as they are cheap (free), removable when the vehicle is not accessible and with their straight up and down sides they don't waste space that many other plastic boxes do with tapered sides.
I also wanted somewhere for a smallish esky.
I started with a frame using plastic cubelock joiners and 25mm aluminium box section, and use 40x40x3mm aluminium angle for the boxes to slide on. The frame is 5mm wider than the ki-tab boxes and has two sections, one with space for 2 mid-sized ki-tab boxes (220mm high) and one small (120mm high) box, with the other side having space for 2 small (120mm) boxes and open space underneath with a ply shelf on the bottom for an esky.
I originally planned to take 2 of those single burner stoves and put them in one of the small boxes, however I changed my mind and am now taking a 3 burner gas stove. I ended up sitting a shelf on the aluminium angle on one side to sit the stove on as it was too long to fit in a box.
To keep everything in place I decided to put a hinged sheet of ply on the front that can be used as a shelf for prepping food when on the road.
When I came to trying to tie the unit down in the car, I decided I didn't like using the factory tie down points as they were in teh wrong spot and seems like if the seats moved the whole setup would.
After reading a couple of threads about removing the 3rd row seats I figured in for a penny, in for a pount so out they came. I made a false floor to shape, and to make sure I clear the wiring I put a row of 12mm ply "legs" on the front and rear edges of the floor and some larger (I think 34mm) legs above where the seats bolt to the floor. I drilled through these legs across the middle and used 4 high tensile bolts to bolt the false floor into place using the existing seat bolt in points.
Having a ply floor let me easily bolt the storage unit to the timber floor without putting any holes in the vehicle so the whole thing is now bolted down and secure.
I wrapped most of it in carpet to make it look a bit prettier, added a towel rail so we can hang a tea towel on when we are using it and also when we are on the road, and some elastic clip things to hold it closed when on the road. I will paint the top of the fold down table with some grey hammertone I have left over from another project for asthetics as well, and may even screw a cutting board on there to keep the missus happy...
CubeLock joiners - Bunnings $38
25mm Aluminium box section - Metal Land $32 for 2 x 6.5m lengths
40x40x3mm aluminium angle - Metal Land approx $30 for 1 x 6.5m length
1 sheet of 6mm ply - $5 (this was a damaged sheet)
12mm ply - free as I had a sheet at home already
2m Marine carpet - Bunnings $65
Synthetic grass glue - Bunnings $20
Hinges - free as I had these at home
Screws, bolts etc I already had
Towel Rail - free bought for kitchen and never used
Elastic retaining clips - BCF 4 for $14
Total Cost - just over $200 (boxes would add $100, stuff I already had maybe another $50)
Time - about 8 hours not including multiple trips to buy what I needed
Monkey Skill level - 2 banana's
Weight empty is about 25kg - weight removed with the 3rd row seats about 40kg so I now have a new rear floor with more cargo space, a storage unit AND the car is lighter!!!
Pics are attached but this is my first post with pics so I don't know if they will work
Spent the weekend getting the 150 sorted for our trip in less than 2 weeks, thought I should build some storage for to keep the missus happy - OK I like to be organised on a touring holiday too
I have DIY'd storage in previous 4wd's - one steel frame with steel drawers on roller runners, and one a simple set of timber shelves with plastic boxes. The steel frame/drawers was cumbersome and heavy, took a lot of time to make and were a pita if you were camped somewhere that didn't allow the vehicle into the campsite. The timber shelves lacked the sturdiness to carry what I wanted and were also heavy and difficult to get in and out... So I set about my new storage solution with the following aims
Light weight - the lighter the vehicle the safer the vehicle, plus it reduces wear and tear on everything
functional
easy to get in and out of the car
Easy to build
sturdy
no moving parts to be affected by dust and dirt
removable drawers
economical (that ruled out all the commercial offerings)
As I have a number of Ki-Tab boxes which I have previously used for camping I decided these would be the storage "drawers" I would use as they are cheap (free), removable when the vehicle is not accessible and with their straight up and down sides they don't waste space that many other plastic boxes do with tapered sides.
I also wanted somewhere for a smallish esky.
I started with a frame using plastic cubelock joiners and 25mm aluminium box section, and use 40x40x3mm aluminium angle for the boxes to slide on. The frame is 5mm wider than the ki-tab boxes and has two sections, one with space for 2 mid-sized ki-tab boxes (220mm high) and one small (120mm high) box, with the other side having space for 2 small (120mm) boxes and open space underneath with a ply shelf on the bottom for an esky.
I originally planned to take 2 of those single burner stoves and put them in one of the small boxes, however I changed my mind and am now taking a 3 burner gas stove. I ended up sitting a shelf on the aluminium angle on one side to sit the stove on as it was too long to fit in a box.
To keep everything in place I decided to put a hinged sheet of ply on the front that can be used as a shelf for prepping food when on the road.
When I came to trying to tie the unit down in the car, I decided I didn't like using the factory tie down points as they were in teh wrong spot and seems like if the seats moved the whole setup would.
After reading a couple of threads about removing the 3rd row seats I figured in for a penny, in for a pount so out they came. I made a false floor to shape, and to make sure I clear the wiring I put a row of 12mm ply "legs" on the front and rear edges of the floor and some larger (I think 34mm) legs above where the seats bolt to the floor. I drilled through these legs across the middle and used 4 high tensile bolts to bolt the false floor into place using the existing seat bolt in points.
Having a ply floor let me easily bolt the storage unit to the timber floor without putting any holes in the vehicle so the whole thing is now bolted down and secure.
I wrapped most of it in carpet to make it look a bit prettier, added a towel rail so we can hang a tea towel on when we are using it and also when we are on the road, and some elastic clip things to hold it closed when on the road. I will paint the top of the fold down table with some grey hammertone I have left over from another project for asthetics as well, and may even screw a cutting board on there to keep the missus happy...
CubeLock joiners - Bunnings $38
25mm Aluminium box section - Metal Land $32 for 2 x 6.5m lengths
40x40x3mm aluminium angle - Metal Land approx $30 for 1 x 6.5m length
1 sheet of 6mm ply - $5 (this was a damaged sheet)
12mm ply - free as I had a sheet at home already
2m Marine carpet - Bunnings $65
Synthetic grass glue - Bunnings $20
Hinges - free as I had these at home
Screws, bolts etc I already had
Towel Rail - free bought for kitchen and never used
Elastic retaining clips - BCF 4 for $14
Total Cost - just over $200 (boxes would add $100, stuff I already had maybe another $50)
Time - about 8 hours not including multiple trips to buy what I needed
Monkey Skill level - 2 banana's
Weight empty is about 25kg - weight removed with the 3rd row seats about 40kg so I now have a new rear floor with more cargo space, a storage unit AND the car is lighter!!!
Pics are attached but this is my first post with pics so I don't know if they will work
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