Drawer systems for patrols

[Oetie]

I like this threat, keep them coming!!

Some brilliant designs and thought process shown here, thanks to all that are participating and showing their drawer systems!

[Tinus lotz]

Piet waars joune ? Daar is nog nie een soos ons sin nie??

[Sweetlips]

Tinus wys 'n bietie hoe lyk joune vir ons.

[mvcoller]

Myne is nie soveel 'n "rak stesel" of systeem nie, meer net ingerig om die spasie agterin so veel as moontlik te benut sonder om die laairuim te oorskrei. Agter sitplekke is nog alles ongeskonde en bruikbaar.

[Peter Connan]

Mine looks rather ugly compared to the others posted above.

It is documented here: viewtopic.php?f=53&t=2236&hilit=Drawer

[Sweetlips]

Myne is nie soveel 'n "rak stesel" of systeem nie, meer net ingerig om die spasie agterin so veel as moontlik te benut sonder om die laairuim te oorskrei. Agter sitplekke is nog alles ongeskonde en bruikbaar.

Malcolm do you mind posting some pics of your setup please.

[Oetie]

Mine looks rather ugly compared to the others posted above.

It is documented here: viewtopic.php?f=53&t=2236&hilit=Drawer

This is an interesting layout - first time I have seen the fridge facing the interior to be opened from the inside.... make sense while traveling, where a side facing fridge on a slide again make sense when stationary and accessing from the back...

The clip in steel boxes/slides is unique, but heavy?

[Peter Connan]

When conzidering materials of manufacture, weight is but one factor. Strength, cost and manufacturing costs are also important.

If I wanted to make the system from Aluminium, I would have needed to go thicker to make the hooks strong enough, which would have reduced the weight advantage quite a lot. I would also have had to pay somebody else to do the welding, as I don't have the ability. That would obviously have increased the cost quite a lot.

I could have used plywood too, but that would have been a lot less space efficient...

Swings and roundabouts... At the time space efficiency and cost were more important to me than weight.

[mvcoller]

Hi Sweetlips

Here it is: viewtopic.php?f=54&t=7425

I bolted two 50mm wide, 5mm thick metal strips, running from left to right of the back. They are bolted to the existing tie-downs in the vehicle, to which the packing system is bolted. No holes were drilled into the body for holding the system securely in place.

I have since added spice holders in the rearmost window on the fridge side (big door) and insect spray and Mylol insect repellent bottle holders on the smaller door window, obviously both on the inside.

I have a Aux battery in the engine bay, but also one (with the extra outlets and voltage meter) in the load bay, above the left rear wheel arch. It was wasted space and only just big enough to fit in a battery box, and the box is big enough to hold a 105ah battery, completely out of the way. You can see this box in the second last picture in the thread revered to above.

It is a bit of a pain to get to and an enormous pain to get a battery in or out, but being a good quality Deep Cycle unit, this should only have to happen once in about 5 or 7 years. The top shelf has a cut-out, the lid of which is held in place with 2 x 6mm countersunk machine screws. With the lid removed, the plastic box goes in by putting it on its side and then tilting it down, into the space, onto a platform suspended on the uprights of the packing system frame. This is just millimeters above the side pocket above the wheel arch. The box is hardly visible there, so you can imagine what a tight fit it is.

To get the battery in there is really really difficult (takes about 15 to 20 minutes). The battery has to be put into a plastic bag, as even though they are sealed batteries, they still have small breathers where the gasses from the charging process escapes. Then the battery must be turned to lie on its right side and lifted to head height and put onto the top shelf (with only about 25mm space to the roof lining!). Then it must slowly and carefully be moved and tilted into the plastic box (battery still inside the thick plastic bag for when you want or need to remove it!!) Now the plastic battery box's lid can be fitted and the strap (another huge task) to hold the lid down can be pulled tight around box and over the box lid.

When I get the energy and inclination, I have to remove the Aux battery on the left front fender inside the engine bay, to make sure the mountings are strong enough to take the weight of the battery. I only became aware of the inner fender cracking from the battery weight, after I had already fitted the battery there....

Malcolm.

[Sweetlips]

So after months of research i decided that this is the best design for me and my family requirements.

The wife is adamant that the jump seats must stay so to meet her halfway i designed it around 1 jump seat permanently in and the second one can be installed if needed.

The front part of the system, the drawers will be permanently fixed while the back part i want to be able to remove if the second jump seat is required(Which will be very seldom).

Now i must figure out what will be the lightest construction and is going full wood construction a good solution?

Hope you guys can make out my crude design