Pinnacle Campers
Chateau spotter
Says "Zarges" right on the front of the box, its a fairly common brand, maybe try that?
Kitchen Kit/Chuck Box
- Thread starter jim65wagon
- Start date
Says "Zarges" right on the front of the box, its a fairly common brand, maybe try that?
maxi450x
New member
Thank you for the link! I tried searching for it but didnt have any luck!
At $800 Euro, I will have to save a whole lot of pennies before I am able to buy one!
ITTOG
Well-known member
I saw another kitchen box thread a few weeks ago and began designing my own but never finished due to a small issue I was concerned about. Then today I see this thread which has a lot of great designs and work. I thought I might crowdsource my dilemma.
Below is a series of three drawings that are too scale. The first two drawings are to the same scale and the third drawing is to 1/2 scale. Ignore the shadow in the lower right of each drawing. That is my phone. The first image is the front of the box. It indicates closed but I show what it would look like on the inside. Note that these are overall dimensions and do not include the dimensions of any wood. The areas with no information will be filled with plates, glasses/cups, silverware, spices, etc. As you can see, the design will be based on general storage/shelf, paper towels and pantry, dutch oven, skillet, and coleman stove. The storage/shelf and the coleman stove will fold to the left and right respectively (easier to understand in the third photo).
The next drawing is from the top. The long skinny section is for my cast iron griddle.
This last photo is from the front with everything open. Here you can see how the sides of the box fold outwards and not forward. In front of the main box it will fold forward. The overall height of the design is so the top of the coleman stove (on the right) will be 37" high. Everything else is based on it.
If you didn't notice I have the overall dimensions at the top of each drawing. The last drawing has the overall dimensions of it fully deployed. My concern that I was hoping to get help with is the relative dimensions to each other. I have no concerns about the overall width and height. My concern is with the depth. The depth is based on what it takes to store the components I mention. I feel it is so narrow that it will be a bit unstable front to back. I figure it needs to be about 2' wide to not be unstable. I thought about putting the coleman stove in the front and have it fold forward but then the coleman cover will be in the way of everything behind it. I haven't finished design so I can easily make it deeper. I just am not sure what I will do with the extra depth. I also thought others could provide their overall dimensions for comparison. Anyways, thanks in advance to those that reply with suggestions.
Below is a series of three drawings that are too scale. The first two drawings are to the same scale and the third drawing is to 1/2 scale. Ignore the shadow in the lower right of each drawing. That is my phone. The first image is the front of the box. It indicates closed but I show what it would look like on the inside. Note that these are overall dimensions and do not include the dimensions of any wood. The areas with no information will be filled with plates, glasses/cups, silverware, spices, etc. As you can see, the design will be based on general storage/shelf, paper towels and pantry, dutch oven, skillet, and coleman stove. The storage/shelf and the coleman stove will fold to the left and right respectively (easier to understand in the third photo).
The next drawing is from the top. The long skinny section is for my cast iron griddle.
This last photo is from the front with everything open. Here you can see how the sides of the box fold outwards and not forward. In front of the main box it will fold forward. The overall height of the design is so the top of the coleman stove (on the right) will be 37" high. Everything else is based on it.
If you didn't notice I have the overall dimensions at the top of each drawing. The last drawing has the overall dimensions of it fully deployed. My concern that I was hoping to get help with is the relative dimensions to each other. I have no concerns about the overall width and height. My concern is with the depth. The depth is based on what it takes to store the components I mention. I feel it is so narrow that it will be a bit unstable front to back. I figure it needs to be about 2' wide to not be unstable. I thought about putting the coleman stove in the front and have it fold forward but then the coleman cover will be in the way of everything behind it. I haven't finished design so I can easily make it deeper. I just am not sure what I will do with the extra depth. I also thought others could provide their overall dimensions for comparison. Anyways, thanks in advance to those that reply with suggestions.
So it’s 18” tall by 12” deep. Am I reading that correct.
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ITTOG
Well-known member
Folded up yes. The concern is when it is open and on its stands which would then make the very top of the box 55" high.
How are the legs designed. You could latch the box to the legs and spread the legs out to give it a bit more of a base.
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ITTOG
Well-known member
The plan is folding legs like on a table. But given I haven't purchased anything I could plan it anyway I want. only requirement is they can either be folded easily or removed from the box easily.
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ultraclyde
Observer
Anybody build a diy watertight or weatherproof kitchen kit? Love the idea but hauling it in the open bed of a pickup, it's hard for me to believe I can DIY it better than a plastic storage box.
jeepdreamer
Expedition Leader
I can’t wait for the gladiator to come out. These looked promising and could be a basis for storing kitchen stuff.
jim65wagon
Well-known member
Go back to the very first post. That's the box we used for years. It rode on the rack, water tight.
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The decked system? Waste of space in the truck bed. I went feom a decked system to a front runner wolfpack drawer setup and water tank. I have more in those wolf packs, ability to carry water low on the truck and pressurized, and still have about 12” at the front if the bed i can store random gear in or put my electrical.
Don’t waste your time on it.
Don’t waste your time on it.
I’m seriously considering the decked system, you’re the 1st one I’ve seen with a negative post about it. Can you share some more cons? Bed space isn’t huge for me, I’m just looking for fairly dry storage, as my ultimate goal is a habitat truck topper. A water tank, if I ever do one, would probably go under my bed when I relocate my spare.
Any insight on the decked would be appreciated.
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So first off I didn't hate the deck system, It was my second choice as frontrunner told me the storage system I wanted wouldn't fit in my truck, only to find out after buying the decked system it would. I decided to stick with the decked as I didn't want to be forking money out twice, really three times(explained below), after 6 months I got ride of the system, as it just wasn't working for me and I was getting annoyed with it. Note there are a lot of negative reviews out there on it, use to be some on the decked site, but they removed the comments, same as blue ridge overland does. so keep that in mind when reviewing the comment on stores websites. Reasons below:
-It is not dustproof, your drawers and content will be filled with dust, make sure you put everything into bags/bins
-Waterproofness, well if you drill single hole into the deck, the drawers will get water in them. Mine was under a cab, so not an issue and my items were in bins/bags
-the nut certs embedded in the plastic are horrible, you need to be really careful or you will undo them and you will be hard pressed to get your deck to stay tight. I'd remove them all and removed the oil/cutting compound they used on there machines and reinstall with loctite from the get go. Honestly they should have used helical coil inserts, better suited then a threaded in nut into plastic and gone coarse in stead of fine thread.
-I didn't use ay power tools on the install of the decked and they say not to, but be careful, you an easily undo the nut certs and then you are in for a fight with hand tools. Usually only occurs in the front of the decked b the cab where the deck attaches to the two out side supports
-bottle opener sucks, mind you I only tried it out but it tends to spill some precious nectar on the bed which flows under the drawers and is a pain to remove, I was never intending to use it to be honest, just thought I would try it out, I normally use my hands as here in Canada most bottles are twist top and if not i grab a lighter, knife, etc and pop the top.
-the design of the drawers is such that most standard tool boxes/items do not fit well nor securely, they are angles instead of square shape
-The drawer dividers are horrible and flimsy, I took them out after day one as some items shifted and popped them out.
-The narrow drawer on my tacoma was useless, no dividers were made as of yet, so it was my bulk recovery gear spot, noting stayed put. I will say the a hi lift jack stand(red plastic ones) will fit onto of the small drawer and you tape it there and it stays put. I fixed this b attaching yoga mats to the bottom of the drawer system to stop things from shifting.
-The cross boxes are nice, the larger normal drawer box is poorly made, the dividers warp and make it tough to close lid, they do not line up with the slots in the cover.
-It is not a no drill system, especially on the tacoma.
-The j hook attachment system for the tacoma was way way way too long. I guarantee it was the incorrect ones
-They shipped me t wo driver side ammo cans, it makes a difference when trying to install the castor wheels.
-the way the support beams/drawers are shaped.etc are laid out you loose a fair amount of useable space beneath the deck, which means no water tanks, pumps, electrical, etc. so all that has to sit onto of the deked system or be moved somewhere else.
the amount cans are pretty much useless, I had a few bungee straps/etc tossed in there as my fridge covered one of them as I wanted it mounted to the side as close as it could without interfering with the canopy struts.
All that being said, it is a cheap solution to get storage in your truck bed and they standardized a lot of parts btw the trucks to cut down on manufacturing. I also wouldn't strap 2000lbs down to it as my tacoma wouldn't handle it anyways. I went with the front runner wolfpack system and the water tank, it did cost me more but I gained a lot with it to be honest.
-The 6 wolfpack's hold everything and I mean everything that the decked system held and a whole lot more and they are organized into different needs (recovery, kitchen, camping, tools, etc)
-They are not dust/waterpoof, but they have yet to get any into the packs, besides some slap your mamas cajun spice that I left open and it got everywhere in that one cubby.
-I now have 13 gallons of fresh water storage underneath my floorboard, so ti is low and not up higher in the truck. with a water pump. This entire system leaves me 12 inches or so of room at the from to put my secondary batteries, fuse panels, etc into. and be covered by the floor boards.
-easy to install fridges to. Leg bolt them to the ply wood deck, and boom, you are done, secure and they do not impact the waterproofness
There are more reasons why I like the frontrunner, but those are the main ones. I originally had a custom system built but that was a complete ******** up by the designer and manufactures not talking. Was poorly built by a well known use Manufacture in Idaho, shame as they had the abilities to create some seriously nice stuff, but blew it. The designer, well I don't talk to him very much anymore if at all, reminds me of a used car salesman and the trust level is gone completely.
-It is not dustproof, your drawers and content will be filled with dust, make sure you put everything into bags/bins
-Waterproofness, well if you drill single hole into the deck, the drawers will get water in them. Mine was under a cab, so not an issue and my items were in bins/bags
-the nut certs embedded in the plastic are horrible, you need to be really careful or you will undo them and you will be hard pressed to get your deck to stay tight. I'd remove them all and removed the oil/cutting compound they used on there machines and reinstall with loctite from the get go. Honestly they should have used helical coil inserts, better suited then a threaded in nut into plastic and gone coarse in stead of fine thread.
-I didn't use ay power tools on the install of the decked and they say not to, but be careful, you an easily undo the nut certs and then you are in for a fight with hand tools. Usually only occurs in the front of the decked b the cab where the deck attaches to the two out side supports
-bottle opener sucks, mind you I only tried it out but it tends to spill some precious nectar on the bed which flows under the drawers and is a pain to remove, I was never intending to use it to be honest, just thought I would try it out, I normally use my hands as here in Canada most bottles are twist top and if not i grab a lighter, knife, etc and pop the top.
-the design of the drawers is such that most standard tool boxes/items do not fit well nor securely, they are angles instead of square shape
-The drawer dividers are horrible and flimsy, I took them out after day one as some items shifted and popped them out.
-The narrow drawer on my tacoma was useless, no dividers were made as of yet, so it was my bulk recovery gear spot, noting stayed put. I will say the a hi lift jack stand(red plastic ones) will fit onto of the small drawer and you tape it there and it stays put. I fixed this b attaching yoga mats to the bottom of the drawer system to stop things from shifting.
-The cross boxes are nice, the larger normal drawer box is poorly made, the dividers warp and make it tough to close lid, they do not line up with the slots in the cover.
-It is not a no drill system, especially on the tacoma.
-The j hook attachment system for the tacoma was way way way too long. I guarantee it was the incorrect ones
-They shipped me t wo driver side ammo cans, it makes a difference when trying to install the castor wheels.
-the way the support beams/drawers are shaped.etc are laid out you loose a fair amount of useable space beneath the deck, which means no water tanks, pumps, electrical, etc. so all that has to sit onto of the deked system or be moved somewhere else.
the amount cans are pretty much useless, I had a few bungee straps/etc tossed in there as my fridge covered one of them as I wanted it mounted to the side as close as it could without interfering with the canopy struts.
All that being said, it is a cheap solution to get storage in your truck bed and they standardized a lot of parts btw the trucks to cut down on manufacturing. I also wouldn't strap 2000lbs down to it as my tacoma wouldn't handle it anyways. I went with the front runner wolfpack system and the water tank, it did cost me more but I gained a lot with it to be honest.
-The 6 wolfpack's hold everything and I mean everything that the decked system held and a whole lot more and they are organized into different needs (recovery, kitchen, camping, tools, etc)
-They are not dust/waterpoof, but they have yet to get any into the packs, besides some slap your mamas cajun spice that I left open and it got everywhere in that one cubby.
-I now have 13 gallons of fresh water storage underneath my floorboard, so ti is low and not up higher in the truck. with a water pump. This entire system leaves me 12 inches or so of room at the from to put my secondary batteries, fuse panels, etc into. and be covered by the floor boards.
-easy to install fridges to. Leg bolt them to the ply wood deck, and boom, you are done, secure and they do not impact the waterproofness
There are more reasons why I like the frontrunner, but those are the main ones. I originally had a custom system built but that was a complete ******** up by the designer and manufactures not talking. Was poorly built by a well known use Manufacture in Idaho, shame as they had the abilities to create some seriously nice stuff, but blew it. The designer, well I don't talk to him very much anymore if at all, reminds me of a used car salesman and the trust level is gone completely.
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