Overland in bed drawer system, which would you prefer?

[steffen707]

Somewhere on the forum I calculated how much of the volume the decked setup utilizes, and it was something aweful like 55% usable, 45% blank space.

My setup for the middle of the bed, not including the little cubbies behind the wheel wells. 89.45%!!! If i could weld and made this of aluminum it would of course be even better.

I know decked has to ship their stuff and can't just send a 60x44.5" box to people efficiently. But with a little bit of skill this is going to give like 35% more usable space..... Mine will definately be heavier, but less expensive.......there's pros/cons to everything.

i'm using up 44.5"x6"x60" of the bed space to build 2 drawers with a water tank in back. Even with using 3/4" wood/plastic, i'm utilizing 89.45% of the total volume.......

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[steffen707]

OOOHHHHHHH! If you're looking to make a layout, this software is free and then you can do a snippet of it. Its called pdfiller.com. I just found a pdf of some graph paper, then it lets you do overlays of arrows, circles, text boxes. ECT. ECT.

 

[jurfie]

This is awesome! I love seeing people work things out and do custom stuff list this. Following!

If you like playing around with software, check out SketchUP; there's a free web-based version available. You can model it all in 3D, and it is pretty intuitive, even if you've never used 3D software before.

https://www.sketchup.com/plans-and-pricing/sketchup-free

 

[steffen707]

This is awesome! I love seeing people work things out and do custom stuff list this. Following!

If you like playing around with software, check out SketchUP; there's a free web-based version available. You can model it all in 3D, and it is pretty intuitive, even if you've never used 3D software before.

https://www.sketchup.com/plans-and-pricing/sketchup-free

i've used sketchup a few times. Its amazing, but i'm slow with it. as long as i can think it through in 2D, then the 3rd D is just height for my layout.

 

[WhatExit?]

You likely know this but there are extruded aluminum rail systems you can use to build custom frames which could work for you.

Keep researching especially on ExpeditionPortal and you’ll see all kinds of examples as most of this has been done before. And keep us posted - I’m looking on with interest

 

[smlobx]

Steffen I like where you’re going with this. The only concern I have at this point is that you only want to make the drawers 6” tall if I understood correctly. I would suggest raising the height so that the top of your drawer system could extend over the top of the wheel wells which would allow you to have storage bins aft of them for other stuff.

 

[steffen707]

So after buying a 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" sheets of ACX and cutting up the 3/4" and 1/4" sheets, i decided to look into aluminum. My buddy said he would plasma cut and weld up everything for like $250, and the materials would cost about $320 for everything to be aluminum........ This will be stronger, waterproof, lighter and give me more usable space inside the drawers.

so i've tweaked things and came up with this.

2 sheets of 4x10 - 0.100" aluminum can almost get all the material I need. I'll end up having these shapes.
44.5"x59" Tray (I call it a tray because the top will be able to come off with 6 bolts - more to come.
The tray will have an 17"x58" compartment for the side galley drawer - I might just put a drop in sink with a seperate camp type stove rather than the uber expensive dometic sink/stove combo (~$560 ouch!!!). My stove was like $45 and works just fine. I'm also really excited to have thought more about this, the deeper 17" galley drawers vs 13" from the wooden setup will be able to hold long kitchen utensils. Even my grill tongs could fit (only 16.3/4" long)
a 27"x42.5" compartment for the wider - all other accessories drawer.
a 27"x16" compartment for a 9 gallon water tank.

Everything will have to be massaged slightly due to the thicknesses of the aluminum sheet and whatnot. The only thing that is really set in stone is the 27" width of the right side of the box due to the water tank dimensions, everything else is custom.
The top i'm thinking of making from a 48"x60" sheet of aluminum, then having 3-4" wings on the side of it to cover the wheel well and rear of wheel well "cubbies". The cubbies will house my water pump, 1500watt inverter and some other water/electrical stuff.

These wings i was thinking of securing to the top sheet with some kind of piano hinge, so if I want to take this whole thing out, I simply flip the wings ontop of the box and the whole things slides out of the bed, instead of trying to lift it off the bed vertically. I'm thinking of going this route because i'll likely have some kind of topper/canopy over the bed. I'd have to take that off, to take the drawer system out.

Here is a sketch of the 48"x120" sheets of aluminum. With this the 30" rear support and 14.5" other rear support need to be butt welded to stretch the 44.5" rear piece of the TRAY. i'll put the longer section on the left, so nobody will ever see that weld.

 

[steffen707]

Steffen I like where you’re going with this. The only concern I have at this point is that you only want to make the drawers 6” tall if I understood correctly. I would suggest raising the height so that the top of your drawer system could extend over the top of the wheel wells which would allow you to have storage bins aft of them for other stuff.

I kinda addressed this in the post above this one, check it out.

 

[steffen707]

i needed to create this contour gauge to build my boxes. Started a seperate thread on that.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...giant-contour-gauge-how-to.25427/#post-404671

 

[steffen707]

i re-watched the decked install video/review by the ponytail man and i'm just giggling to myself about how much of a pain in the butt it is to install.
Don't get me wrong, it has a lot of positives going for it , but ease of install-uninstall is not one.

 

[Donkey Fluffer]

i re-watched the decked install video/review by the ponytail man and i'm just giggling to myself about how much of a pain in the butt it is to install.
Don't get me wrong, it has a lot of positives going for it , but ease of install-uninstall is not one.

I'll be going through this agony on Saturday. If only Leer or A.R.E. would hurry and release a good looking topper, I'd be on my way to maximizing my storage and security

 

[steffen707]

I'll be going through this agony on Saturday. If only Leer or A.R.E. would hurry and release a good looking topper, I'd be on my way to maximizing my storage and security

get a 6 pack before you start and half way through.

 

[steffen707]

Giant contour gauge helped a bunch to cut the wing floors out.

 

[theDECKEDguy]

i re-watched the decked install video/review by the ponytail man and i'm just giggling to myself about how much of a pain in the butt it is to install.
Don't get me wrong, it has a lot of positives going for it , but ease of install-uninstall is not one.

Haha, all good things come at a price

 

[theDECKEDguy]

Giant contour gauge helped a bunch to cut the wing floors out.

We aren't sure where people get these calculations from, but we do understand that our product isn't for everyone. We started this company based on improving the old homemade drawers and we love seeing folks make their own. Would love to see the finished product.

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