Trailer Customization Phase 1: Outlander Sherpa II
- Thread starter EdwardBernal
- Start date
EdwardBernal
Adventurer
I'm keeping them and actually looking for a sheet metal to fabricate a duplicate third box out of steel for use as a rifle locker. The original 10 x 10 x 38 aluminum
boxes are nicely constructed but I'm sure a mini crowbar would make short work of the latches. Once I get the third, I'm going to stack the 3 boxes over the
tongue.
EdwardBernal
Adventurer
Thanks Matt - I'll post up the rest shortly. Actually, the whole thing is done and I "deployed" it this past weekend
at Assateague Island, MD. The kid and I camped 2 nights on the beach there at the NP. Worked great!
Monkey: sorry to hear about your plywood troubles. Like I mentioned earlier , the pre- finished maple ply was expensive but its a nice
quality wood ply. Also, I couldnt varnish or poly it as well as the factory so thats why I used it for the build. To be honest, with something
so realtivelysmall and I hoping to use it and prolly abuse it ALOT, cost of materials is not a huge consideration. I used the plywood
mentioned above, corian for the tabletop and adjustable shelf and SS hardware. MattP who posted below you on this page built what you are describing.
Search the "galley" thread in (i think) the camping forum for his post there. its a sweet little kitchen for him & the Mrs. He used an aluminum box where
I used steel. Got alot of good ideas from Matt's galley build
at Assateague Island, MD. The kid and I camped 2 nights on the beach there at the NP. Worked great!
Monkey: sorry to hear about your plywood troubles. Like I mentioned earlier , the pre- finished maple ply was expensive but its a nice
quality wood ply. Also, I couldnt varnish or poly it as well as the factory so thats why I used it for the build. To be honest, with something
so realtivelysmall and I hoping to use it and prolly abuse it ALOT, cost of materials is not a huge consideration. I used the plywood
mentioned above, corian for the tabletop and adjustable shelf and SS hardware. MattP who posted below you on this page built what you are describing.
Search the "galley" thread in (i think) the camping forum for his post there. its a sweet little kitchen for him & the Mrs. He used an aluminum box where
I used steel. Got alot of good ideas from Matt's galley build
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EdwardBernal
Adventurer
Drawer Build
OK so now that the plywood chuckbox was complete, the next task was to was to build some drawers to soak up whatever cubic inches were left the the various cubby holes.
I decided to build 5 drawers: a cutlery/utensil drawer, one for coffee, another for soap/clean-up, and 2 long skinny ones for a spice rack and a BBQ/large utensil drawers. I wanted
a thin,strong material for these drawers and came across 1/4" solid maple in 4 and 6 inch by 48" lengths called "ChoiceWood" - nice stuff and it matched the veneer on the chuckbox.
I cut, glued/clamped them up and then drilled and nailed in brad nails to assemble them. I later sanded and varnished up the outside of the drawers and sprayed the inside white.
With the exception of the cutlery drawer, all these drawers are hidden behind something else. The spice box goes behind the pots n pans, the BBQ tools go behind the stove. The coffee
box and clean up box go behind the plates and bowls respectively. The only the cubby hole NOT having drawers are the cup and paper towel dispenser cubbies and the space all the way
to the right and that's cause it jam-packed with liquid fuel containers totaling 1.5 gallons and a pair of back-up single burner stoves.
From left to right are the clean-up drawer,
coffee drawer,spice rack (top center), BBQ
tools (bottom center) and cutlery on the right.
Now all that's left is to install a hard durable surface to the inside of the drop-down door of the truck box. It would serve 2 purposes: 1. to stiffen up the door that lost strenth when I ground off the metal half pipe stiifener I removed early on in the project. I chose to use Corian solid surfacing as its almost as hard a stone but could be cut,sanded, drilled etc... like wood. Yes its heavy but thats the vig. I'm in the construction business (GC) and work with all trades so I spoke to my millworker who uses this stuff daily to see if he had a ny scrap pieces that I could mooch. Thankfully he had TONS and he was glad to donate a couple pieces to the cause. I decided to use the corian for the shelf in the space on the left separating the stove from the pots/pans to serve as an cutting board or fillet table in a pinch. I made the cut-outs for the locks on the table-top and trimmed the edges to ensure the door would close. In order to ensure that the adhesive used to lay up the corian sheet would grab both materials, I used the grinder to scarify the inside of the lid and scored up the back of the corian table top using my skil-saw on a very shallow blade setting. (lost the pics of the corian work
)
Anyway, now that the corian work done, I rattle-can spray painted the 2 truck boxes with 4 coats of Hunter Green and mounted them up on the support brackets located on either side of the fenders. I thru-bolted (1/4" SS bolts/lock nuts/lock and rubber washers) the metal boxes along the top-back of the box. Then fastened down the floor of the box to the actual fender itself - these frikken things aint going ANYWHERE. Most of the force / weight of the boxes is on these brackets and the bolts are mainly keeping them in place. You can see these brackets on the sides of the fender here:
Painting.......
I made up 3 pieces of wood blocking to allow the chuckbox to sit level inside the metal box and slid the wooden box into its new home. Finally, I re-attached the support cables for the
Sidebox door. Done! I gave all the surfaces and good cleaning and stocked it with all the equipment and supplies I designed it for. All that was left was to actually cook something with it!!
We decided on visiting Assateague Island in Maryland for our first campout with the new alterations complete (and only the second trip ever with the trailer). We had a fabulous time and the
chuckbox "performed" great! Very pleased with the final product and looking forward to the next part of the overall modifications to the trailer.
OK so now that the plywood chuckbox was complete, the next task was to was to build some drawers to soak up whatever cubic inches were left the the various cubby holes.
I decided to build 5 drawers: a cutlery/utensil drawer, one for coffee, another for soap/clean-up, and 2 long skinny ones for a spice rack and a BBQ/large utensil drawers. I wanted
a thin,strong material for these drawers and came across 1/4" solid maple in 4 and 6 inch by 48" lengths called "ChoiceWood" - nice stuff and it matched the veneer on the chuckbox.
I cut, glued/clamped them up and then drilled and nailed in brad nails to assemble them. I later sanded and varnished up the outside of the drawers and sprayed the inside white.
With the exception of the cutlery drawer, all these drawers are hidden behind something else. The spice box goes behind the pots n pans, the BBQ tools go behind the stove. The coffee
box and clean up box go behind the plates and bowls respectively. The only the cubby hole NOT having drawers are the cup and paper towel dispenser cubbies and the space all the way
to the right and that's cause it jam-packed with liquid fuel containers totaling 1.5 gallons and a pair of back-up single burner stoves.
From left to right are the clean-up drawer,
coffee drawer,spice rack (top center), BBQ
tools (bottom center) and cutlery on the right.
Now all that's left is to install a hard durable surface to the inside of the drop-down door of the truck box. It would serve 2 purposes: 1. to stiffen up the door that lost strenth when I ground off the metal half pipe stiifener I removed early on in the project. I chose to use Corian solid surfacing as its almost as hard a stone but could be cut,sanded, drilled etc... like wood. Yes its heavy but thats the vig. I'm in the construction business (GC) and work with all trades so I spoke to my millworker who uses this stuff daily to see if he had a ny scrap pieces that I could mooch. Thankfully he had TONS and he was glad to donate a couple pieces to the cause. I decided to use the corian for the shelf in the space on the left separating the stove from the pots/pans to serve as an cutting board or fillet table in a pinch. I made the cut-outs for the locks on the table-top and trimmed the edges to ensure the door would close. In order to ensure that the adhesive used to lay up the corian sheet would grab both materials, I used the grinder to scarify the inside of the lid and scored up the back of the corian table top using my skil-saw on a very shallow blade setting. (lost the pics of the corian work
) Anyway, now that the corian work done, I rattle-can spray painted the 2 truck boxes with 4 coats of Hunter Green and mounted them up on the support brackets located on either side of the fenders. I thru-bolted (1/4" SS bolts/lock nuts/lock and rubber washers) the metal boxes along the top-back of the box. Then fastened down the floor of the box to the actual fender itself - these frikken things aint going ANYWHERE. Most of the force / weight of the boxes is on these brackets and the bolts are mainly keeping them in place. You can see these brackets on the sides of the fender here:
Painting.......
I made up 3 pieces of wood blocking to allow the chuckbox to sit level inside the metal box and slid the wooden box into its new home. Finally, I re-attached the support cables for the
Sidebox door. Done! I gave all the surfaces and good cleaning and stocked it with all the equipment and supplies I designed it for. All that was left was to actually cook something with it!!
We decided on visiting Assateague Island in Maryland for our first campout with the new alterations complete (and only the second trip ever with the trailer). We had a fabulous time and the
chuckbox "performed" great! Very pleased with the final product and looking forward to the next part of the overall modifications to the trailer.
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EdwardBernal
Adventurer
EdwardBernal
Adventurer
Thanks Mark and Thom-
Mark Harley
Expedition Leader
Awesome job on the kitchen!
the Corian makes a great prep surface.
the Corian makes a great prep surface.
bigwapitijohnny
Adventurer
Uh Oh...
Ed,
You are now giving me some 'ideas'...and I thought I was done.
Come on, Man!
Regards,
BWJ
Ed,
You are now giving me some 'ideas'...and I thought I was done.
Come on, Man!
Regards,
BWJ
EdwardBernal
Adventurer
BWJ and ADVwife: Let me know if you have any questions...