DIY Seat Delete Cabinet

Hey yall so I searched around quite a bit for something like this before starting this project and found pretty much nothing so I figured I'd upload my build.
Finished shots first.

Whole thing is made of 1/2 MDO plywood with wood glue and screws. Coated with matte black spray paint and Rustoleum spray on bed liner. Mixed feelings about the bed liner, I used it because I wanted the abrasion resistance but didn't want it as "sharp" feeling as the roll on bed liner I've tried. This came out almost sand paper like.


The cab is mainly secured by the bolts that held the bottom half of the seat, the rear half is sitting on the rug covering the sheet metal.

There are L brackets installed where I am pointing in this photo which use the smaller bolts for the plastic trim.
Not pictured is the top shelf resting on a ledge in the sheet metal directly below the window. I added weather stripping here to prevent any noise.

The shelves are supported by these angles created from 1" baltic birch plywood. The square hole in this photo was eventually made larger, but it is to accommodate the seat hinge which I could not figure out how to remove. Also pictured are some LED's I scavenged from a ford transit.

I made the face plate by scribing my cut outs instead by measurements in order to achieve a perfect seam on the bottom of the cubby hole, as I was slightly off from 90* on the shelves due to shenanigans with the L brackets.

All the screws were covered in bondo woodfill before painting. I used old bondo which caused some screws to be slightly visible.

D-Rings scavenged from a Mercedes Sprinter were bolted to the top plate with 1/4-20 bolts so I can strap stuff down and not be hit in the head.

The passenger side seats need to be removed to install this cabinet and then reinstalled after to make it fit. This photo sort of shows one of the cutouts I made to install the seat bolts on the drivers side (at the bottom corner of the square cut out. They were eventually made larger because it was a PITA to get the bolts started.

There are a few more photos in this album if you are curious.
I'll be trying it out tonight and upload some more photos with stuff in it later.

 

Great craft. If you don’t mind me asking why did you have a need for this? What specific purpose does it serve to you?

 

Very nice! Would love something similar in mine, but gotta have space for the dog & kid in the back so no go for me. Is that some rubber bed mat lining the shelves?

 

Two main things prompted this cab. First I didn't like how I was using the backseat for storing gear, especially on longer trips it just turned into a mess. Secondly I needed a platform for my electrical system as the space under the platform in the bed was already occupied.

I made the mats out of a Lonseal product called "Loncoin". It's nice stuff and I get quite a bit of scrap from work

 

Awesome craftsmanship;but, dammit, now I’m going to be obsessing on making one and I have 10 thumbs!

 

Good work Op!

 

Wow I really like this, nice work!

 

I added in some of the electrical, just enough to get the lights + outlets in the cab and bed on. Next up is hooking up the Orion to charge the Aux battery off the alternator

 

Pretty cool! Nice work. I like the use of pre-existing mounting bolts, placement of the switch/outlet and lighting.

I agree that after many, many xc road trips, having a solid platform to replace the back seat is a nice option.

Got me thinking though, what about the storage underneath? Is that now wasted space for you? What about a trap door on the bottom shelf to be able to access that area?

 

I was considering making a drop in "lid" sort of thing like some of the Goose Gear stuff has (iirc) but while test fitting and assembling I found I can just reach the stuff from the other side especially easily because it's a chain and straps that spill into the passenger side compartment.

 

What are you using them for? I thought about building something like this on the passenger side to store out cloths when traveling.

 

I keep tools in it when needed on a day to day basis and for all my food and kitchen stuff when I'm traveling. Soft goods like clothes would definitely do better in it, but I wanted them accessable inside the bed. If you do make one I would suggest that you add sound deadening material to the backside and bottom of the box as well as on the metal. The kilmat on the metal and thinsulate are not quite enough to stop it from being a road subwoofer