Post up your drawer/storage system
- Thread starter neliconcept
- Start date
Mel.Specs
Adventurer
That's a fact! And since the tiny paycheck trumps pride everyday of the week, why not? haha! Here are a couple other thing's I've found lately.
PTO? Looks like it's in decent shape.
jeepdreamer
Expedition Leader
Hahaha.... Yeah, said dumpster is located on post in Germany. It actually in the recycle center which is just crazy with all the throw away stuff. If one is not proud (I'm not! lol) you can usually find all kinds of good, neat items to re-purpose. While strictly speaking its not allowed to take stuff... its one of those deals where common sense usually outweighs the regulations. I think the intent is to keep people from diving and then selling the stuff they find (not to mention using some things for bad intents) but since what I usually nab is non-dangerous and kinda generic... no real harm comes from a good dive.
Since people come and go so much here in Europe and the military will only ship so much of our stuff (based on weight), its normal to find all sorts of good, useful stuff just being thrown away. Some make a small attempt to sell it but if they don't and it comes time to get their stuff packed up it usually gets tossed out. Sad but sometimes there is just to much to do and not enough time. But I'm ok with that... Thursday I found a near new Fan with a hepafilter for my room. We don't have AC so I needed one and this just saved me some $$. I also scored a little IPOD holding boombox thingy I can use to hear music at work. I will usually draw the line at stuff like clothing or eating related items. Some things just are not "safe" to reuse, ya know? But all in all I have a good time finding some neat stuff. Yeah, as far as I can tell the PTO is brand new. There is zero sign of ware and no trace of ever having had fluid in it or a gasket on it.
Bretthn
Explorer
I have been through every page of this thread at least 5 times and have wanted to build a drawer system of my own, but for now this is what I put together. More details here.
It is still a work in progress; I still want to add a small hinged table to fold down and out the back. I may eventually build a drawer system but for now this has turned out far better than what I imagined. I am glad to be able to access my spare without using any tools which I would have to do if I put in a drawer system.
Thanks to all that have posted your amazing setups before me! I will continue to follow this thread and drool.:bowdown:
It is still a work in progress; I still want to add a small hinged table to fold down and out the back. I may eventually build a drawer system but for now this has turned out far better than what I imagined. I am glad to be able to access my spare without using any tools which I would have to do if I put in a drawer system.
Thanks to all that have posted your amazing setups before me! I will continue to follow this thread and drool.:bowdown:
sds
New member
Hi all,
The storage / platform for our '98 4Runner is %99.99 done so I thought I'd share some pics with the ExPo crowd. I've been posting progress on this over at Central Overland, but I thought it'd be fun to de-lurk here and share a little. There's some great stuff in this thread!
My goal was to consolidate various bags and boxes of gear into a couple of drawers, maximizing space and keeping things as light as I could. The box and drawers are 1/2" birch ply, doweled and glued, spar varnished with flat black Rustoleum on the exposed exterior faces and carpet on top, back and sides. I used UHMW tape in place of HD drawer slides so I could maximize drawer width between the two wheel wells. The cabinet bolts to the floor of the cargo area with four bolts at each corner.
The carpet edge was trimmed/sealed with black RTV silicone as a stopgap until I could find or make a suitable metal edge trim. It has held up so well, though, that I've decided to just leave it that way. Looks clean and blends well with the black finish.
The second part of the project was a platform extension in place of the rear seat. We only need three seats for the family, so the extra seat was just taking up valuable space even when folded. The seat was removed and the platform was designed and built to act as a sleeping space for one (me, when we all go camping we use a tent) with storage below for recovery gear & misc. stuff. When on the road & trail the dog, cooler, etc. ride on the platform. Same materials and finish as the drawer cabinet with the addition of aluminum brackets that utilize the four bolt locations from the deleted seat.
Plenty of room for me to sleep, and SOOO much more storage / dog space even when there's additional gear in the back. Might add some little things here and there, like some tie-down points on the platform area, etc. but for now I'm calling it done. :wings:
Oh, almost forgot: There's a few additional pics here.
The storage / platform for our '98 4Runner is %99.99 done so I thought I'd share some pics with the ExPo crowd. I've been posting progress on this over at Central Overland, but I thought it'd be fun to de-lurk here and share a little. There's some great stuff in this thread!
My goal was to consolidate various bags and boxes of gear into a couple of drawers, maximizing space and keeping things as light as I could. The box and drawers are 1/2" birch ply, doweled and glued, spar varnished with flat black Rustoleum on the exposed exterior faces and carpet on top, back and sides. I used UHMW tape in place of HD drawer slides so I could maximize drawer width between the two wheel wells. The cabinet bolts to the floor of the cargo area with four bolts at each corner.
The carpet edge was trimmed/sealed with black RTV silicone as a stopgap until I could find or make a suitable metal edge trim. It has held up so well, though, that I've decided to just leave it that way. Looks clean and blends well with the black finish.
The second part of the project was a platform extension in place of the rear seat. We only need three seats for the family, so the extra seat was just taking up valuable space even when folded. The seat was removed and the platform was designed and built to act as a sleeping space for one (me, when we all go camping we use a tent) with storage below for recovery gear & misc. stuff. When on the road & trail the dog, cooler, etc. ride on the platform. Same materials and finish as the drawer cabinet with the addition of aluminum brackets that utilize the four bolt locations from the deleted seat.
Plenty of room for me to sleep, and SOOO much more storage / dog space even when there's additional gear in the back. Might add some little things here and there, like some tie-down points on the platform area, etc. but for now I'm calling it done. :wings:
Oh, almost forgot: There's a few additional pics here.
Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
WOW!! Seriously Dave, that looks like it came from the factory that way! You should do this for a living!
fasteddy47
Adventurer
Nice...... it does almost look factory!!!
sds
New member
Thanks for the kind words!
Yes, all of the black is Rustoleum flat black. The bigger silver spray cans that they call 'professional" or 'heavy duty' or whatever. I've been really happy with it all around. I use it on my bumpers & sliders, too, so I always have some on hand.
The drawer faces might have a coat of primer under the black but I'm not positive... the entire thing had several good coats of the spar varnish first, then once that was cured well the black went on after a light scuffing with fine sandpaper.
Yep, black RTV silicone. I tried hard to find a nice low profile aluminum edge trim to use there, but didn't find anything I really liked. I decided to eventually make my own trim strip and used the RTV to seal the edge until then. It turned out really clean and has lasted well through several trips and many rides with our German Shepherd. I like the clean simple look so it will stay that way until it fails. The edge of the shelf in the side door will probably see more wear, so it will be interesting to see how well it lasts there.
Yes, all of the black is Rustoleum flat black. The bigger silver spray cans that they call 'professional" or 'heavy duty' or whatever. I've been really happy with it all around. I use it on my bumpers & sliders, too, so I always have some on hand.
The drawer faces might have a coat of primer under the black but I'm not positive... the entire thing had several good coats of the spar varnish first, then once that was cured well the black went on after a light scuffing with fine sandpaper.
Yep, black RTV silicone. I tried hard to find a nice low profile aluminum edge trim to use there, but didn't find anything I really liked. I decided to eventually make my own trim strip and used the RTV to seal the edge until then. It turned out really clean and has lasted well through several trips and many rides with our German Shepherd. I like the clean simple look so it will stay that way until it fails. The edge of the shelf in the side door will probably see more wear, so it will be interesting to see how well it lasts there.
sds
New member
Oops! I missed that one earlier.
The tape is on both the drawer and the cabinet. Basically three strips down the bottom of the drawer and matching strips on the cabinet so the drawer slides UHMW on UHMW. No wood on wood or wood on tape. The sides don't have as much, but still tape to tape contact wherever it was needed to prevent wood/wood or wood/tape. Wood on tape works fine but I wanted to prevent any wear on the wood and finish. Even as slick as the tape is, accumulated dust would quicky eat into the finish.