Doozy4212's Better Truck Drawer Build/Guide

UPDATE: 4/25/2018

Started working on this again tonight now that the weather is nice again and my schedule is clear in the evenings and all weekend! I really plan on crushing this project the next couple of days and will get you all updates accordingly.

Today, I didn't do a ton in terms of work I suppose but it was all quite meticulous. My goal for this evening was to make all he intricate cuts for the top deck.

I put the base in my truck a few nights ago so I could measure some stuff and visualize my drawings a little better and figure out how to get them off of paper and out of my head.



Yes this picture was taken in the dead of night with no flash...thats how good my LED strips are! (Shameless plug for @mattgecko)

Getting the last 12" of the top deck in was not a PITA but it did take time. I found this a long while back posted by another member and have been saving it since for this project. This was the foundation for my cuts.



I took the measurements, applied them to my project and ended up with this after my first round of cuts.



Happy with that, I marked where I needed to remove more material in order to clear my bed stiffeners. I cut this slot long intentionally in an effort for me to have some more wiggle room to finagle the base in and out of the bed in the future but to no avail. I ultimately ended up cutting from the end of the notch straight to the back of the deck. I failed to get pictures but will get some up soon!



Once this was all done, I got everything in place and glued and screwed this last 12" section down!



Like I said I did end up having to take the end off about 1/4" to the right of the drawn line (I cut the square out in line with the hole I originally drilled.

The 12" piece of deck did not match up exact with the existing piece do to manufacturer tolerances and an ever so slight bow but nothing a little sanding can't fix. Aside from that this will all be carpeted anyways so it'll be out of sight and out of mind. (P.S. in the top right corner of the pic you can see the notch I cut to clear the stiffeners.)



Next I had to add a 3/4" square dowel to the top to bring this section of the upright even with the rest of the decking. Ultimately this is going to provide me a place to screw all of my piano hinges into for all of the cubby doors.



After all of this was done I went and did MORE sanding, filled all of the screw holes and called it a night.

Tomorrow I need to do another quick test fit to double check all of my work, one final 220 grit sanding of everything and hope to get a layer of polyurethane down as well.

 

Looking good!

 

Thank you!

 

following

 

I'm Jelly! . Wish I had your skills .
I'm going to have to pay someone .

 

We're neighbors, I don't mind helping where I can!

 

I didn't even see that. I would love checking out your work sometime! Sweet!

 

yeah i think i wanna do something like this..

 

I'm going to put A picture up later today and lots more to come this week!

 

UPDATE: 4/30/2018

I worked on the drawers for what felt like forever this weekend but it was all sanding and varnish. I ended up doing 4 coats on the entire system with the exception of the top deck. I did two coats on the top deck as some insurance underneath the waterproof carpet clue and indoor/outdoor carpet.



The Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane in gloss was really easy to apply, went on fast and smooth even with a cheap brush and dried to provide a smooth high gloss sheen. It does add a light stain to the wood but it does a great job of enhancing the grain! I also applied the carpet yesterday evening and the L-track as well! I will get a bunch of pictures tonight for your viewing pleasure tomorrow!

Thanks for watching!

 

This looks amazing! Nice job!

 

thank you sir!

 

UPDATE: 5/1/2018

Here are some better pictures of the varnish!



Once all the varnish was on and cured I got to gluing the carpet to the top deck! I used an inexpensive indoor/outdoor carpet from Home Depot with a waterproof carpet clue. As I said earlier I also did two coats of varnish on the top deck for a little extra insurance.

Once the carpet was down, I trimmed the edges and added the L-Track. This came as a 100" long piece that I cut down to two different lengths to allow for the most overall coverage and ample tie down points. I also took extra care to align the holes to allow me to strap gear straight across as well! The L-Track was attached with #10 Stainless Steel screws for the center piece and 1/4-20 x 1 1/2" Flat Head machine screws, washer and Nyloc nut on the left side edge.



I will be taking some time off of this next couple nights as tonight is my GFs birthday and we have a party to prepare for this weekend!

 

Looking great!

 

Thanks man! It’s coming along nicely

 

sub'd. I'm pretty interested to see the drawer mechanisms come together on this. I want to build a slide underneath a simple sleeping platform at some point, but I can't decide how I want it to be quite yet. There's only 50 different variations.

 

I love looking at everyone else's builds and seeing their ideas, im confident and excited for my setup to be complete. drawers/slides are still probably a week or two away. ill be out of town next week/weekend for my sisters college graduation

 

What thickness Birch ply are you using for the top?

 

3/4”!

 

Just read through the whole thing. I'm jelly of your skills! I have a drawer system but MAN is it crude. I need to update it to be lighter and nicer. I just don't have the wood working skills to do so.