Show us your truck bed sleeping platform/drawer/storage systems

Stove is 12lbs by itself. To keep it stored in the up position it's easy enough to use latches, etc. I'm not sure what those hinges would support in the down position, stove plus pots and food can get heavy quick.

I thought about something similar to your drawing, but ideally I'd like the stove mounted so we don't have to store it elsewhere. I suppose I could have it mounted, and when the hinge is "closed" the stove would just be upside down. Might be a better option for the weight.

 

What a deep rabbit hole discovery - 168 pages.

All I'm really after is occasional sleep on one side of my long bed while likely having a bike on other side under my long bed Tacoma. A point that really stands out is how many cots exceed the bed length, and some premade or prefab 1/2 width might cramp MTB handlebars into my soft topper.

 

How wide are the handle bars? I’ve got a 1/2 platform under a hard top. I’d be happy to measure and see how the dimensions work w/ a bike. Easy peasy.

Best,

B

 

Here is my "shoe shelf". I spend a few months a year living in the back of the truck on hiking adventures; when I go to CO, I have 3 pairs of hiking boots, two pairs of sneakers, Chacos, flip flops.... So, shoes are the "bane of my existence". After 15 years of fighting this, I finally built a storage shelf for them, with additional space under it for other crap. Yes, it's not very sexy. It's been painted black since this pic. It's not shown here, but it bolts to the rail on the side of the bed. I built it out of the "better" pine from Home Depot. It's all screwed together and is surprisingly light and strong. Obviously, I'm not storing much weight on it, but it's surprisingly rigid when handling it. I'm definitely not much of a woodworker but was quite pleased with it- I even routed all the edges with a 1/8 radius.

It's narrow, but I sleep on a giant Thermarest which limited how wide I could make it. On RH side of the bed, near the tailgate, I have a Coleman 5-gallon water jug which dictated the shelf width so the Thermarest would fit with a few inches to spare.

I envy the impressive sleeping platforms here, but I just can't give up the vertical space- I need to be able to (almost) sit up since I'm living back here for up to two months straight. I have the factory bed mat, rubber floor mats from HF, and a thin piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting that's cut to fit.

 

Added this side piece to my bambeds… I also have 2 other pieces to fill in the full bed that sit on top of the existing legs when I rotate them which make a bigger ledge for them to rest on…

 

Had to redo the piece near the driver side brake light in this pic but here’s the full bed coverage for when I need more storage. Couldn’t afford to buy another, new half bambeds that they just came out with…

 

55.00 worth of plywood.

Sleeping for one with pieces on the bottom (two separate pieces), sleeping for two with both on top, or table/desk with one up and one down. Storage in cubbies front and back. Everything slides into grooves of bedliner and can be removed in <60 seconds.

 

Looks good. I did a similar setup with mine and love it. 3 piece middle boards though. Used turnbuckles to some L-track on the bed to hold down the side boxes, assume yours aren't tied down.

 

Started working on bed platform number 3.

The first one was double drawers but wasn't tall enough. The second one I built taller and went with a single drawer but I didn't like having my food right next to my MTB gear and with the drawer open I
couldn't sit on my tailgate. So this one is triple drawers, one for my MTB gear, one for my pantry/cooking gear, and one for my fridge/water cooler.

Hopefully this one is the final version.

 

I got a lil carried away and overbuilt mine. Happy with the functionality but she heavy. Might pull it and do some weight reduction at some point.

I went tall on the drawers and sacrificed head room because I wanted to be able to stow as much as possible. Mostly succeeded there, the only stuff that has to be transported on top is the cooler, and 20lb propane tank if I bring that for burn ban propane campfires

 

That table that hangs off the drawer is such a great idea.
I might have to steal it.

 

Do it! Made the hooks by heating half inch strap and hammering it around some scrap ply. Slip knots to level things/compensate for paracord stretch

Been meaning to source a large cutting board to replace the carpeted scrap ply for a nicer cooking surface

 

A cooking surface is the only thing I couldn't figure out how to add to my design without adding a bunch of extra weight, I am trying to keep it under 200lbs empty.

 

Made some more progress on the platform.
Got the carpet on, slides screwed on, and made a ledge to store my tire table

 

Just food for thought. I built a pull out table in the bottom of my drawer as a cooking prep surface. It’s another option and not very difficult to do.

 

I was thinking of that but my pantry drawer doesn't have any space for it to fit. And the handles I got for the drawers won't leave me any space to put one under the fridge slide drawer.

Maybe someday I will build platform version 4 and can incorporate a sliding cutting board.

 

I’m working on version 2 now that I’ve run it for several years. I like your table storage in the main compartment. I might need to steal that idea.

 

Are you using two 24 inch drawer slides?

 

32”

 

I've been trying to plan a build where it's only the one side drawer for the kitchen, and leave the other side for tote/gear storage. I've been wanting the stove built in, or at least mounted to the drawer so it's just pull out and start cooking with minimal setup, but with a 5ft bed and trying to maintain plenty of flat space but also have storage for pots/pans, utensils, food, etc. and keeping it all to one side, it's just next to impossible to accomplish it all. The more I try to plan out the perfect kitchen, the more I lean towards a setup like yours. My only thing is I plan to build this onto a cargo slide platform, so not only will the kitchen pull out, but then if you need to grab something from in the back of the bed, the bed slide will pull out, moving the kitchen with it, so it'd be ideal to have the stove on a platform that moves as well. I don't want to set it on the bed slide because then I'm having to move things around to set up the stove, which defeats the whole purpose of easy and minimally intrusive setup, so I've been trying to brainstorm this final piece of the puzzle. I'm leaning towards a table that hangs off the side of the drawer that the stove sits on, and doubles as a lid for the drawer when closed up, but I'm concerned about it all supporting the weight of the stove while cooking. I expect quite a bit of twist in it all with the stove hanging off.