Land Rover ideas for Jeeps

[jscherb]

The camper ideas I posted over the weekend convert the inside of the Land Rover to a sleeping area. The Carawagon was a commercial camper conversion that does that too, but provides more headroom with a pop-up roof.

There's not so much area on a JKU/JLU roof to add a pop-up due to the Freedom panels but modifying a factory hardtop to add a pop-up could be done.

BTW notice the toy Land Rover in the foreground. Toy Land Rovers seem to be popular in the U.K. Here's another one.

 

[jscherb]

If you wanted to build a camp kitchen that was removable and not bolted to the inside of the Jeep here's another one that could provide some inspiration:

 

[jscherb]

Kitchens... Drawer-style fridges

This fridge wasn't available in the UK when they put it in the magazine but I guess they liked the idea enough to write about it anyway. Drawer-style fridges are pretty handy, I don't know why they're not more popular.

I had one here for a few weeks while I was doing a kitchen design project - when Tentrax asked me to design a kitchen for their small camp trailers there was very little space so I decided to base the design on a drawer-style fridge. While I had the fridge here I tried it out in the Jeep.

I think in many cases it's a better use of space than a top-opening fridge.

This is the final design for Tentrax, it's a weatherproof box that can mount on the tongue of most trailers and opens to a kitchen with a fridge, sink with running water and plenty of counter space for stoves and other meal prep stuff. They say they'll be releasing it before the end of the year:

Here's how it deploys out of its box:

 

[jscherb]

Whenever I see a pop-top Defender that has an over-the-windshield rack like the one in this cover photo I think about JKUs with Ursa Minor pop-tops.

The cover photo inspired me to do a concept drawing:

Seems like something like this would be popular with the Ursa Minor crowd.

Maybe I should post this in the Ursa Minor thread to see what the reaction is.

 

[jscherb]

Don't often see roof top tents mounted up front - usually they get mounted towards the rear of the vehicle. This one is mounted out over the windshield. It's also mounted on a part of the rack with no rail around the edge, lowering it probably 6 inches. Nice.

 

[Superpanga]

Kitchens... Drawer-style fridges

This fridge wasn't available in the UK when they put it in the magazine but I guess they liked the idea enough to write about it anyway. Drawer-style fridges are pretty handy, I don't know why they're not more popular.

I had one here for a few weeks while I was doing a kitchen design project - when Tentrax asked me to design a kitchen for their small camp trailers there was very little space so I decided to base the design on a drawer-style fridge. While I had the fridge here I tried it out in the Jeep.

I am building around a drawer fridge. In a 2-door JK, so managing space carefully. Having had them on boats- I think the one drawback is temperature loss vs top openers. I feel the sides of the drawer should at least go all the way up. Also- zero logic in them all being black! I'll be repainting any exposed surfaces white to reflect heat.

Aside from smaller space, I also think they aren't more ubiquitous as the works are exposed in the back and not self contained like a plug and play ARB/Engel type.

Lots of flexibility though.

Love the kitchen slide.

 

[zgfiredude]

Whenever I see a pop-top Defender that has an over-the-windshield rack like the one in this cover photo I think about JKUs with Ursa Minor pop-tops.

The cover photo inspired me to do a concept drawing:

Seems like something like this would be popular with the Ursa Minor crowd.

Maybe I should post this in the Ursa Minor thread to see what the reaction is.

Did you notice the rear quarter window, t-track mounted traction boards? Wonder where that idea came from, LOL. On that note, I saw an image where the boards were mounted in this fashion, and seemed to be "hinged" to swing down and function as a table. I thought of you. Step22Gear.com

 

[jscherb]

Drop-down or side-swing?

Some Wrangler people swap the factory side swing tailgate for a CJ drop-down gate because either a drop-down gate suits their needs better or they just like the retro CJ vibe of a drop-down tailgate. Land Rover Series and Defender buyers had a choice, because both were factory options, but Wrangler buyers get one choice - side swing.

Both drop-down and side-swing have their plusses and minuses, but what if the tailgate could go both ways? Series and Defender owners can have it both ways on the same vehicle:

Here's that company's web site: http://www.purelymetal.co.uk/set-of-double-action-land-rover-tailgate-hinges/

And a video from the company:


I did a little preliminary design work and these could be made for TJ and YJ Wranglers without too much trouble. The spare is a challenge - doing double action hinges like these for the Wrangler would be difficult if the spare were still attached to the tailgate - the spare likely wouldn't clear the bumper in drop-down mode, not to mention how stury double action hinges would have to be to support a spare. If there were a good alternate location for the spare (on the bonnet? ), I'll bet these could be popular on TJ and YJ Wranglers.

I haven't spent any design time on a JK or JL version of these, but those tailgates are slightly curved, which might be difficult to deal with in drop-down mode.

 

[jscherb]

Did you notice the rear quarter window, t-track mounted traction boards? Wonder where that idea came from, LOL. On that note, I saw an image where the boards were mounted in this fashion, and seemed to be "hinged" to swing down and function as a table. I thought of you. Step22Gear.com

View attachment 618477

I posted this on the second page of this thread...

 

[Florida Native]

Here's how it deploys out of its box:

Am I the only one that it finds it humorous that the "deployment" involves going to get some large pre-assembled pieces from off camera?

-Mike

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[jscherb]

Am I the only one that it finds it humorous that the "deployment" involves going to get some large pre-assembled pieces from off camera?

-Mike

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

The slide-out part of that kitchen takes up about 2/3 of the enclosure. The other 1/3, on the driver's side, is a storage compartment and that's where the parts she's getting from off-camera are normally stored.

I was there when they made the video (it was at Overland East last year), and they decided that rather than have her walk around the trailer a couple of times to get the extension table and the sink table out of the storage compartment, they'd have them handy off camera to prevent her from having to walk around the trailer a couple of times to get them.

 

[Florida Native]

The slide-out part of that kitchen takes up about 2/3 of the enclosure. The other 1/3, on the driver's side, is a storage compartment and that's where the parts she's getting from off-camera are normally stored.

I was there when they made the video (it was at Overland East last year), and they decided that rather than have her walk around the trailer a couple of times to get the extension table and the sink table out of the storage compartment, they'd have them handy off camera to prevent her from having to walk around the trailer a couple of times to get them.

Thanks! That would have been good information for them to include in the video (maybe with some narration?). As it is, it says to me "wow, now I have to find a place for and take up valuable storage space with these side tables and sink".

-Mike

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[jscherb]

Hanging tables.

This Land Rover has been converted to a mobile coffee shop and I'm posting it because of the hanging table - seems to just be a couple of ropes that wrap around the roof rack. The table rests against the body, and seems to be covered in cloth of some kind so it doesn't scratch the paint.

Here's a slightly smaller version, this one also hangs on a roll bar with wire rope, and the table appears to be a piece of either aluminum or stainless with a couple of bends in it. Looks like there's also a rubber mat on the table and I'll guess there's a strip of rubber on the back of the table where it contacts the body.

Either of these should be easy to make, all you need is a roof rack to hang them on.

 

[Bobzdar]

Hanging tables.

This Land Rover has been converted to a mobile coffee shop and I'm posting it because of the hanging table - seems to just be a couple of ropes that wrap around the roof rack. The table rests against the body, and seems to be covered in cloth of some kind so it doesn't scratch the paint.

Here's a slightly smaller version, this one also hangs on a roll bar with wire rope, and the table appears to be a piece of either aluminum or stainless with a couple of bends in it. Looks like there's also a rubber mat on the table and I'll guess there's a strip of rubber on the back of the table where it contacts the body.

Either of these should be easy to make, all you need is a roof rack to hang them on.

You could probably even hang them from the rain gutter, no rack or anything needed.

 

[jscherb]

A Swiveling Snorkel?