ultimate cargo setup
- Thread starter varova87
- Start date
Build a sliding drawer system.
1) Forget using wood. Too heavy. That is you'd need at least 10mm Marine Ply to be strong enough.
2) 1.5 to 1.6mm galvanised mild steel box bent will give the best strength/weight ratio.
3) Incorporate a sliding top for your fridge (if you have one) or for anything else that is heavy. You can bolt on strapping/holddown points onto it (the top is made from 10mm chipboard)
4) 12 inch sub is gonna make the drawer system too high, go 10 inch and you can accomodate one on the rear of the drawer system (ie the side that faces the front wind screen)
5) Why don't you toss the rear door panel and fabricate one from Aluminium and mount the sub there. (I've done that and it works great)
6) Checkout http://www.pangaea-expeditions.com/africanoutback/
you can copy their design.
I'm from South Africa and we have a shit load of those guys making those drawer systems. They are way over priced. You can comfortaby make a drawer system for less than half the retail price !!! I know as I'm busy doing the drawings for my one.
Good luck.
Post some pics when it is done.
1) Forget using wood. Too heavy. That is you'd need at least 10mm Marine Ply to be strong enough.
2) 1.5 to 1.6mm galvanised mild steel box bent will give the best strength/weight ratio.
3) Incorporate a sliding top for your fridge (if you have one) or for anything else that is heavy. You can bolt on strapping/holddown points onto it (the top is made from 10mm chipboard)
4) 12 inch sub is gonna make the drawer system too high, go 10 inch and you can accomodate one on the rear of the drawer system (ie the side that faces the front wind screen)
5) Why don't you toss the rear door panel and fabricate one from Aluminium and mount the sub there. (I've done that and it works great)
6) Checkout http://www.pangaea-expeditions.com/africanoutback/
you can copy their design.
I'm from South Africa and we have a shit load of those guys making those drawer systems. They are way over priced. You can comfortaby make a drawer system for less than half the retail price !!! I know as I'm busy doing the drawings for my one.
Good luck.
Post some pics when it is done.
DiscoveryXD said:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030714101807/www.northbyrover.com/preparation.htm
Gotta love the fact that everything is cached someplace!
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sharp21
Guest
If you want to have a 12" sub incorporated, I would suggest building a bandpass box right behind the seat, then build the cargo drawer onto that using thinner material, or metal as was suggested earlier. This will give good bass response without needing a huge box. Plus it will be protected.
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Swa j-Ten
Guest
wow; this is some cool stuff here. anybody have photos of cargo set-ups that are saltwater scuba-diving friendly as well?
Check these guys out. http://www.weatherguard.com/truck_tool_boxes/view_products.php?subcat_id=18 Less expensive commercial design. Top notch product. I have their Highside boxes on my duramax. Best accessory i've purchased.
mchomes said:
i've got one of these. the 308. picked it up very cheap off craigslist - <$100. it is definitely cool and tough as hell. but the damn thing weighs a ton. you can not easily put it in or take it out yourself. definitely think it is a little overkill.
Quentin said:
Pics of that please?
O, and since your a Afrikaner, how do you spell the word that sounds like "footsack" vootsak or what ever.
I am going to make one of these boxes for my DII, but I am going to have the inside of the drawers Rhinolined. This way if liquids spill inside them, I dont have to worry about anything. Easy cleanup. Also will keep things from sliding around a lot.
Awhile back I embarked on an effort to make my rear cargo space more functional. This thread, amoung many others and a ton of time obsessing resulted in something that I'm fairly happy with. I wanted a balance of function with some form and used some of the dimensions of specific things to keep it all relatively simple; to that end here's what I ended up doing in what I'd call my Disco's rear cargo 1.0:
-The rear door I posted awhile back as I got it done. Alum diamond plate painted tan with the Krylon 'Camo' color you can get from Advance/Walmart/etc. It's flat tan, somewhat durable, and matches the interior well. I put a fire extinguisher, aluminum fold down tray (off ebay from "Pit Posse") and a basket that holds a first aid kit & a bag of rachet straps. I think in retrospect I'd probably mess this up by trying to hang more stuff on there...since it's held on with a boat load of self-tapping screws the cost/benifit ratio of doing a 2.0 is to high right now.
-The rear cargo space itself was designed principally around the idea that I wanted something of a relative height so that with the seats folded there would be a straight surface that someone could lay on, larger cargo could be placed on, etc. That height restriction, a width determined by the desire to have a powertank on one side and H20 can on the other, and length dictated by the desire to be able to fold the seats cleanly as well as shut the door (with all the crap hanging on it) came together with what's there.
The powertank is on the driver's side along with cased items like the air rachet/impact wrench and the tire repair kit; forward along the wheel arch I built a small box with a lid to hold items like chem lights, batteries, etc-when I go to revamp this at some point this is going away as it hasn't stood up well all things considered.
On the passenger side I used a mil surplus water/fuel can holder to retain the H20 5 gallon jug, there's little space behind it before the side panel that I put a ground sheet in for flat vertical stowage. Forward along the wheel well there are wheel chocks and then on top of that (awaiting a better strapping system) is a secondary first aid kit.
Under the shelf I went with a series of gatemouth bags-the black outer one's hold tools, one of the inner tan holds recovery gear, the other has a jet boil and other survival/cooking gear. On the forward side underneath there is a bag with spares, the aforementioned safe, and then the bottle jack is also strapped in. On the driver's side/40% seat side I have a series of fluids (oil, brake, power steering) since I rarely fold that side forward for anything (it effectively prevents the folding by using the space).
All told I'm pretty happy-improvements could be made and I think version 2.0 will have a more refined shelf, perhaps slightly wider and slightly higher-along with potentially a different material. I should have put tie downs on the shelf too-those can be retro-fitted fairly easily though...
Still, for simple and effective while preventing tools and stuff from flying all over the place; all while still giving a shelf big enough for a trip to the grocery store or place bags and such for longer voyages, this is working out well.
Thanks to all for the help-intentional or otherwise! Sorry for the novel, I've wanted to post on this for awhile but hadn't sat down till this afternoon amidst the rain in NoVA and a few Yeunglings.
Cheers-
Ray
-The rear door I posted awhile back as I got it done. Alum diamond plate painted tan with the Krylon 'Camo' color you can get from Advance/Walmart/etc. It's flat tan, somewhat durable, and matches the interior well. I put a fire extinguisher, aluminum fold down tray (off ebay from "Pit Posse") and a basket that holds a first aid kit & a bag of rachet straps. I think in retrospect I'd probably mess this up by trying to hang more stuff on there...since it's held on with a boat load of self-tapping screws the cost/benifit ratio of doing a 2.0 is to high right now.
-The rear cargo space itself was designed principally around the idea that I wanted something of a relative height so that with the seats folded there would be a straight surface that someone could lay on, larger cargo could be placed on, etc. That height restriction, a width determined by the desire to have a powertank on one side and H20 can on the other, and length dictated by the desire to be able to fold the seats cleanly as well as shut the door (with all the crap hanging on it) came together with what's there.
-The flooring I decided on is just sealed plywood with bedliner that's been painted with the same tan. I cut out the portion that would be needed to get to the fuel pump (knock on wood/shake the voodoo stick about that) and made it long enough to tuck around the seat bases forward & then bolted it down in the back.
-The shelf is plywood as well, sealed and then covered with marine grade tan carpet.
-The shelf is held up with steel angle with reinforcing angles placed on the sides and on the forward end.
-Under the shelf, forward on the passenger side, is a small safe bolted to the floor to hold valuables on longer trips. The safe has a keypad and a key override. It's not fort knox, but it's inconspicuous and it's better than nothing. The safe was also chosen b/c it's height was the same as the interior dimensions so it acts as a further support to weight on the shelf.
The sides were made out of diamond plate as well, trimmed to fit each side (the passenger side sticks out more b/c of the fuel filling pipe-sorry for the incorrect terminology). The sills for the windows are the same, with wood underneath for support. Tie downs were bolted through the wood and the metal of the body on the sill. I also choose to install 12v outlets just behind each seat belt for coolers, kids dvd players, etc.-The shelf is plywood as well, sealed and then covered with marine grade tan carpet.
-The shelf is held up with steel angle with reinforcing angles placed on the sides and on the forward end.
-Under the shelf, forward on the passenger side, is a small safe bolted to the floor to hold valuables on longer trips. The safe has a keypad and a key override. It's not fort knox, but it's inconspicuous and it's better than nothing. The safe was also chosen b/c it's height was the same as the interior dimensions so it acts as a further support to weight on the shelf.
The powertank is on the driver's side along with cased items like the air rachet/impact wrench and the tire repair kit; forward along the wheel arch I built a small box with a lid to hold items like chem lights, batteries, etc-when I go to revamp this at some point this is going away as it hasn't stood up well all things considered.
On the passenger side I used a mil surplus water/fuel can holder to retain the H20 5 gallon jug, there's little space behind it before the side panel that I put a ground sheet in for flat vertical stowage. Forward along the wheel well there are wheel chocks and then on top of that (awaiting a better strapping system) is a secondary first aid kit.
Under the shelf I went with a series of gatemouth bags-the black outer one's hold tools, one of the inner tan holds recovery gear, the other has a jet boil and other survival/cooking gear. On the forward side underneath there is a bag with spares, the aforementioned safe, and then the bottle jack is also strapped in. On the driver's side/40% seat side I have a series of fluids (oil, brake, power steering) since I rarely fold that side forward for anything (it effectively prevents the folding by using the space).
All told I'm pretty happy-improvements could be made and I think version 2.0 will have a more refined shelf, perhaps slightly wider and slightly higher-along with potentially a different material. I should have put tie downs on the shelf too-those can be retro-fitted fairly easily though...
Still, for simple and effective while preventing tools and stuff from flying all over the place; all while still giving a shelf big enough for a trip to the grocery store or place bags and such for longer voyages, this is working out well.
Thanks to all for the help-intentional or otherwise! Sorry for the novel, I've wanted to post on this for awhile but hadn't sat down till this afternoon amidst the rain in NoVA and a few Yeunglings.
Cheers-
Ray
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Mongo said:
That's a nice little flip down counter. What is it constructed of, and how much can it hold on the top? Enough for a Coleman stove?
1920sf, I like the setup. After this thread I ended up building a box and carpeting it to match the interior, but ditched it a few months later due to the weight of the box. Drawers and such ended up adding weight I didnt want to be carrying. A layered "shelf" type thing like that will serve my needs better. Good write-up!
In case any of you guys out there want to get a fancy African Outback Drawer system for cheaper than the normal price, check out www.sleeoffroad.com and scan to the bottom of the homepage. They have them on sale for Disco's for $900...
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Buddy said:
http://discoweb.org/forums/showthread.php?t=24599&highlight=cargo+armor
It might have been this
I ripped off the Rupp version and added a 6.5" Kicker sub woofer which sounds fantastic. Ran out of carpet, but I kind of like the slick surface after it was painted. I have some aluminum angle I'm going to trim it out with. Need to paint that first.
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D Chapman
Guest
You need some of these. http://haitan.en.alibaba.com/product/50263404/51511750/Push_Button_Lock.html
That's badass. Now if I could get rid of the useless folding seats on my SE7, I might have the availability for that.
D Chapman said:
That's a little much for me. Sinuhe used the bullet catch. I'm thinking the "brass ball catch" mounted discretely under the drawer. With a door table on the back the drawer really has no place to go.
http://www.rockler.com/CategoryView.cfm?Cat_ID=176