Tie Down Rail / Water Solution
Tie Down Rail / Water Solution
Tie Down Rail.
Loose gear in your vehicle quickly becomes a weapon out to hurt you when things go bad. An accident, a quick turn or stop, a roll over, etc. Unintended, and unexpected actions can make your tool box and tent poles lethal. You should always have a means of securing your gear. So for my 4Runner I installed slotted rail along both side of the IGT shelf. It has infinite adjustment for the spring release rings installed. Just right for the rear deck.
Water Solution
Integrating a proper water solution in your vehicle is always a trick. Water is heavy and takes up a great deal of space. I have always found it to be a bit of a pain in the neck too, always having to lug it in and out of the vehicle. And it takes up valuable space on your table in camp as well. A necessity of overlanding, and so we labor for a solution. Much like the eternal search for the best camp chair. That is for another day.
So with these thoughts in mind, I set about creating a solution for the 4Runner. What I came up with was a fabricated bracket that mounts over my tie down rail, and holds a 4 gallon flat pak water container vertically. It allows me to leave the water in the truck, and access it from a custom spout. And it has the added feature of being a storage barrier, keeping gear from falling behind my fridge when I pull it out. I drew up my design and with the help of the local metal supply and Carlo at AT, I created the container storage bracket. It is fastened to the tie down rail with 4 adjustable studs with tightening rings.
The flat pak water container is something I have had for a while. I sourced it some time ago from Expedition One. The container came with a traditional pour spout and a small plastic cap. This wouldn't work, so with a little Ace Hardware adventure I was able to "invent" a spout solution. The container is secured to the bracket with a couple hard mounted bolts, fender washers and wing nuts.
The end result turned out great! It fills an area previously unused as the space was needed as a buffer from gear against or falling behind the fridge. Removal for filling is easy, and access is very nice. When loaded with water, it does tend to wabble a bit. Though with gear stowed tightly against it, it doesn't move much at all. We will see how it holds up over time, or until I find the next great solution.
Cheers,