I made some drawers.

The culmination of way too much time on the computer and in the shop. As is customary, finished photo first:



I wanted a way to keep stuff organized in the back of the camper. With the Flippac, stuff was floating around everywhere and it was always a mess after a single night camping (wife + 1.5 year old daughter). This will hopefully help keep all the camper gear underneath and the clothes relegated to duffle bags.

I was inspired by this build, and even entertained the idea of buying it from him, now that it is for sale. I even looked at the decked system, but quickly balked at that after realizing that they are less than 45% efficient with the utilization of space. I have a friend with a full size truck and he loves them, they mid size truck iteration just wasn't doin it for me...and so I set off to design my own. I studied many builds, and thought about doing the ball bearing/tube sliders, but figured for the amount of money/time it would take to build, a set of drawer slides seems way easier/more robust. Using just wood seemed quick and dirty,
but also heavy. My good friend had great luck with a fabricated metal frame + purchased drawer + purchased slides, and this was the best route I chose to follow.

And so began the design:
I wanted the frame to slide in between the wheel wells while maximizing width and minimizing dead space. I came up with the idea of "stacking" the two center slides, and this saved a solid 2" of dead space. I was apprehensive about doing this because EVERY single drawer I've ever seen/ googled has both slides on the same plane. The engineer in me said its fine, and it turned out great. I almost went with a single giant drawer that would be have been cheaper and lighter (only 1 set of slides, and less frame), but I figured I need the center support to serve as our floor in the flippac.

Specs:
Weight
* frame: 54 pounds
* 22.875" drawer: 32.3 pounds
* 17.250" drawer: 27.5 pounds
* 2x 48" 500 pound rated slides: 52 pounds total
* Plywood Floor: 45 pounds
* Mahogany Drawer Front: 5 pounds
* Hardware: 6 pounds
*Total: 221 pounds

It came out heavier than I wanted, but there really isnt that many more places I could cut weight.

Total money spent
* Drawer Slides from Orr & Orr: $270 + $60 shipping
* Drawers made by Drawer Box Specialities: $140 + $75 shipping
* Plywood: $50
* Mahogany: $20
* Carpet: $20
* Aluminum for frame: $175
* Hardware: $45
* Total: $855

I could have saved a bunch by picking up the drawers, they were only 100 miles away, but by the time you factor in gas and time, the shipping was worth it.







Being an engineer is a blessing and a curse. I spent way to long measuring/building the Taco bed in CAD, but that ultimately led to a product that fit the first time.



The drawers are 4' 6" long on 4' slides. This left an 18" full width cubby forward of the wheel wells. I plan to put a water tank in here.



I fabbed the frame at work during lunch over a few weeks, having all the right tools sure makes it go that much quicker and easier.







To keep the center "S" light, I used .125" wall C-Channel with a .25" welded in doubler. I then drilled the holes and installed stainless steel threaded inserts with a zinc chromate primer for corrosion prevention. The threaded insert install only took about 20 minutes, but not having to worry about aluminum threads galling or cross threading is worth the time.



Test fitting the frame before it was fully welded, it fit! Thanks CAD!





One detail I really wanted to get right was the drawer fronts. A single piece of mahagony was used for the drawer fronts/ trim. You can see the grain continue all the way through There were no second chances with the cuts on this piece.




Consulting the oracle


I made the floor piece out of some 3/4" birch ply. I would have gone lighter, but this will be the floor that we stand on in the camper, and I wanted it stout. The OCD in me is sad the carpet doesn't match the bed rug.



I cut the slots in both the drawers and the hardwood fronts, then fed the 1" webbing through and secured it on the inside. I choose webbing because I like to climb, and it seemed cool, durable, and cheap.



The little side cubbies are still accessible. I am going to carpet the little plywood covers. I have my power panel in the drivers side cubby so I wanted to still be able to get to that with the tailgate up.





The finished product. I'm pretty happy with how well it turned out. It's not perfect, but it should get the job done.

 

Wow that is awesome, nice work!

 

Awesome job on that! Is that a Habitat camper?

 

Thanks guys. It is a Flippac, folds forward. The habitat folds backwards.

 

Looks great! Here's the water tank I used for the forward portion of the bed...

$94 Class A Customs | T-2100 | One (1) RV Fresh Water 21 Gallon Tank, Grey Water

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MSK5RQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Awesome, thanks for the info. That looks like it should fit well. I'm a little apprehensive about that much weight in water (170 pounds of water + 30-40 pounds of tank/ hardware!), but can also see the benefit of having it. My truck is sitting pretty good right now on the Dakar leafs. They are meant for 600 pounds of constant weight, and I'm right there (350 flippac + 220 drawers = 570 #). Once we toss in the camping gear, I'll probably be at the limit of usability before hitting the bumps regularly and without adding another leaf.

 

Woooowwww! that's a great project!!!

 

holy moly this is awesome! makes me embarassed about my system.

 

so did you use a combo of a locking slide and non-locking slide? has it held up well?

I am getting slides from ryadon that has locking mechanisms on both slides, looks like ORR and ORR distributes these. i already have a set of non lockers. i was thinking of using one side of the locking slide and pairing it with the opposite side of my non lockers so i could effectively have two locking slides? what are your thoughts? looking for that engineering advice

 

That is exactly what I did. It seemed like over kill and extra money to have locking slides on both sides. You can see the blue locking tabs on the outside slides for each drawer (not on the inside). The slides are identical locking or not. The locking one just holds it open at full extension.

 

Do you think the lock is stout enough to hold a fully loaded 65 qt cooler (~100-150 lbs) at full extension on a slight incline (that would cause it to close with gravity)? obviously its a static load and i won't be parking it on anything too steep as it need to be convenient for me too.

 

The lock has a physical tab that clicks into place when it is open/locked out. I've definitely had 100 pounds in a drawer and it worked fine.

 

thanks, I figure this is what I'll do too as it just seems to make a lot of sense. My slides should be in late this week!

 

Very impressive. I love the webbing handles with the mahogany

 

Nice looking drawers. I like how you did the offset hinges

 

These will be available for sale at the end of February. Looking to sell the drawers & potentially the bedrug together. DM me if you are interested.

 

Great work. I'm near fountain valley and interested. I.M. your number to set a meet up. Thanks

 

This is a work of art. I hope you got enough usage out of it to make the R&D time you spent to build it!

 

I know its cliche, but the journey is the destination for me. I'm just as happy building them as I am using them. I definitely got my use out of them.