Post up your drawer/storage system
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magentawave
Adventurer
Dudes, all these drawers look awesome but it seems like most of you are going for mass, as in thick 3/4" plywood, etc., which is strong, but also very heavy. I'm building cabinets for my Sunrader rebuild project now and I'm using 1/4" plywood because I want the cabinets to be super light...but I also want them to be super strong. I considered using honeycomb core material but its way too expensive so opted for regular ol 1/4" ply instead. Anyway, the key to making my cabinets strong, and the same would go for your drawers, is that I'm epoxying all the joints together with tape made out of 6 oz E cloth. My upper cabinets are so strong and stiff that you could do pull-ups with them without tearing them down. I'm not exaggerating here. You must use epoxy resin and not polyester! This type of construction isn't new as they've been building aircraft and multihulls this way for a very long time. Just something to consider for those who haven't built yet. 
Chazz Layne
Administrator
I ran with bed liner and paint because it's a very close match to the factory interior, and wood would clash too much.
If (when) I do a van, it will be stained and sealed. It will also be thinner ply to save weight...not a big deal on the Disco as it's small and added less weight than I already removed.
If (when) I do a van, it will be stained and sealed. It will also be thinner ply to save weight...not a big deal on the Disco as it's small and added less weight than I already removed.
Heifer Boy
Adventurer
Dudes, all these drawers look awesome but it seems like most of you are going for mass, as in thick 3/4" plywood, etc., which is strong, but also very heavy. I'm building cabinets for my Sunrader rebuild project now and I'm using 1/4" plywood because I want the cabinets to be super light...but I also want them to be super strong. I considered using honeycomb core material but its way too expensive so opted for regular ol 1/4" ply instead. Anyway, the key to making my cabinets strong, and the same would go for your drawers, is that I'm epoxying all the joints together with tape made out of 6 oz E cloth. My upper cabinets are so strong and stiff that you could do pull-ups with them without tearing them down. I'm not exaggerating here. You must use epoxy resin and not polyester! This type of construction isn't new as they've been building aircraft and multihulls this way for a very long time. Just something to consider for those who haven't built yet.
I agree 100%!!! I think most build with 3/4" ply because it's easy to screw together. Others use 2x4's and 2x6' which is crazy overweight. People build bridges and houses out of timber like that!!! Thin and light with very strong joints is the way to go.
I'd be interested in seeing what you have made magentawave.
krl81
Adventurer
Dudes, all these drawers look awesome but it seems like most of you are going for mass, as in thick 3/4" plywood, etc., which is strong, but also very heavy. I'm building cabinets for my Sunrader rebuild project now and I'm using 1/4" plywood because I want the cabinets to be super light...but I also want them to be super strong. I considered using honeycomb core material but its way too expensive so opted for regular ol 1/4" ply instead. Anyway, the key to making my cabinets strong, and the same would go for your drawers, is that I'm epoxying all the joints together with tape made out of 6 oz E cloth. My upper cabinets are so strong and stiff that you could do pull-ups with them without tearing them down. I'm not exaggerating here. You must use epoxy resin and not polyester! This type of construction isn't new as they've been building aircraft and multihulls this way for a very long time. Just something to consider for those who haven't built yet.
I'm planning on using Lauan plywood sandwiched with styrofoam and wood strips on the edges and where I'm screwing stuff together. My question is, why epoxy and not polyester? I wonder because I have about 15 kilos of polyester standing in my storage. So what's the difference? (i have never been working with epoxy)
krl81
Adventurer
Ok. Interesting with the foam dissolving, or rather not dissolving. I knew that polyester does that. How much stronger bond will it be with epoxy? The things I have done, subwoofer boxes among others, have bonded quite well polyester to wood. And subwoofer boxes takes pretty much stress and have never failed on me. Maybe it depends on how you apply it? Or the amount of layers, subwoofers have gotten a lot of layers.
I'm about to begin building my drawers and would be interested to see what you've put together and any links you may have for construction. I've actually been looking at welding an aluminum frame to save weight but my carpentry skills are a lot stronger than my metal working.
Grim Reaper
Expedition Leader
My company has a huge fleet of trucks and quite a few have bed slides made with garage door type hardware.
I've built several cargo systems over the years and with a new to me cruiser I've just gone through this thread again collecting ideas for my next.
My last build was one of the first posts in this thread but the pictures were lost in one of the forum upgrades.
I'm going to do a modular set up this time with a bed slide as the foundation in my Cruiser possibly a pair of slides side by side. After living with a full width drawer for several years in my 4runner and the loss of being able to carry bulky items I'm wanting a set up that can quickly be removed. I also have a cargo trailer that I some times camp out of and a second 4x6 enclosed I plan to stretch to 4x8 to make a micro camper out of with simular functionality to a tear drop.
First part of my system will be a chuck box that can be moved between the two trailers and the cruiser or even the family mini van. The second part will be a half width storage drawer for trail gear to will be semi perment but easily removed if I need to haul cargo. With it being half width it will still function as a sleeping platform when I'm solo. With the opposite seat flipped up it will make it easier to sit up and dress and even in poor weather I'll be able to sit in the back and prep meals.
Once I get the 4runner sold I'll start the build.
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Heifer Boy
Adventurer
Why the styrofoam sandwich? I can't imagine it would be for insulation and making a composite panel for a storage system seems a bit complicated to me. I like things simple.
Epoxy does bond to wood better than polyester and it also retains a little more flexibility so less likely to crack. It also seals the timber and creates such a strong bond you don't need any screws or fixings. Boat builders call it 'cold welding' and that's a good way to think about how to use it. You can thin it to penetrate timber more or thicken it by mixing it with all sorts of fillers to create glues and fillers to stick things together with and fill and shape things. Check out the West Systems site for a bunch of tutorials.
Take a look at my build if you like to see how I used it. Mine is way overbuilt and next time I will be using lighter ply because epoxy is so strong and I'll end up with a much lighter camper. And mines already lighter than most...
krl81
Adventurer
No, not for insulation. More to the fact so the glue has a little more to adhere to than only the wood strips but maybe I'm just overbuilding it.
interesting to here about the flex and penetration. I will check out your build and West to get some understanding of it. Thank you for the answers. 
southpier
Expedition Leader
I'm not sure adhesive to foam is much of a structural bond but it's probably dependent on the type of foam and construction tolerences.
http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/qa/build-a-plywood-torsion-box.aspx - a variation of honeycomb panels used in aircraft construction. not sure of their (horizontal) load bearing properties.
http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/qa/build-a-plywood-torsion-box.aspx - a variation of honeycomb panels used in aircraft construction. not sure of their (horizontal) load bearing properties.
magentawave
Adventurer
It depends on the application of course but for these drawers I might use thin plywood with solid poplar 1x1 or maybe 1x2 stringers instead of foam. There is an ultra-light MDF out there now that might be okay for drawer fronts though. Again, regarding the application... on my Sunrader rebuild I glassed in 26 openings in the sides left behind after gutting the interior. I filled those holes with pieces of the FRP sheets (which is polyester resin with mat) left over from the former shower/bathroom and glassed them in place with polyester resin and 2 to 3 layers of 6 oz E cloth around the perimeter on both sides (interior and exterior) and smoothed with bondo on the exterior. I used polyester in this case because I knew it would be as strong as the 1/8" to 3/16" fiberglass structure I was glassing them to so no need to spend the extra bucks on epoxy. Also, polyester is easier to work with in that you can mix batches to cure when you need them to cure as opposed to epoxy which takes a lot longer to cure. However, I glued all the 1x stringers glued to the inside to be attachment points for cabinets and paneling with epoxy because I don't want cabinets falling off the wall after driving two hours down some nasty ol washboard road in Baja.
Compared to polyester, or anything else, epoxy is insanely strong! If you look at the specs for all the adhesives out there starting with polyester resin and caulk tube type adhesives like PL200, Liquid Nails, 3M5200, etc., etc. all the way to this super expensive stuff Bostik makes, you will find that polyester resin is on the low end of the scale with a breaking point of about 300 PSI with the Bostik stuff at about 700 PSI. And then there is this huge gap of nothing between all the glues/resin I just mentioned until you get to epoxy, and epoxy has a breaking point of about 3500 PSI. If you need waterproof, then hands down epoxy is the way to go because polyester has tiny pin-holes that in time will let water through.
I didn't use West because I buy my resins locally (no shipping cost!), but the West System website has a phone number with experts in epoxy you can call that will tell you exactly what to use for your application. They also have tons of great "how to" information at their site on how to use epoxy. For example: I just put a dead bolt in my Sunrader door and had to fabricate a mount for the old door latch. For ultimate strength I could set the bolts for that latch in epoxy but I want to be able to remove those bolts later if needed. Well, at the West System site there is an article with illustrations on how to set bolts/hardware into epoxy so you can remove them later. Great stuff there! EDIT: And the bolts unscrewed out of the threaded solid epoxy holes today just like they are supposed to!
Compared to polyester, or anything else, epoxy is insanely strong! If you look at the specs for all the adhesives out there starting with polyester resin and caulk tube type adhesives like PL200, Liquid Nails, 3M5200, etc., etc. all the way to this super expensive stuff Bostik makes, you will find that polyester resin is on the low end of the scale with a breaking point of about 300 PSI with the Bostik stuff at about 700 PSI. And then there is this huge gap of nothing between all the glues/resin I just mentioned until you get to epoxy, and epoxy has a breaking point of about 3500 PSI. If you need waterproof, then hands down epoxy is the way to go because polyester has tiny pin-holes that in time will let water through.
I didn't use West because I buy my resins locally (no shipping cost!), but the West System website has a phone number with experts in epoxy you can call that will tell you exactly what to use for your application. They also have tons of great "how to" information at their site on how to use epoxy. For example: I just put a dead bolt in my Sunrader door and had to fabricate a mount for the old door latch. For ultimate strength I could set the bolts for that latch in epoxy but I want to be able to remove those bolts later if needed. Well, at the West System site there is an article with illustrations on how to set bolts/hardware into epoxy so you can remove them later. Great stuff there! EDIT: And the bolts unscrewed out of the threaded solid epoxy holes today just like they are supposed to!
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washington taco
Explorer
Ok, I think I have to re-think my project a little.
Thank you all for all the info!
Too bad epoxy is more than 3 times more expensive, at least here in Sweden.
X2 looking into this for my drawer system. Its very wet here in the PNW.