New Storage Drawers

Hi All,

Storage drawers kind of get a bit ho-hum around here as everyone has done them. However i just thought i would throw up some pics of what I have done incase it does excite anyone!!

I wanted to have a section at the back of the tub under false floor for an air tank, water tanks and second battery.

I also wanted my 'drawers' to be removable so they can be moved around a campsite, as you would plastic tubs or whatever you choose to store your stuff in! For this reason i did not carpet the drawers, rather they are just varnished with a marine varnish to keep the water out.

I already had the boxes over the wheel arches built, so i left them in to store tools and recovery gear in.

I have just about finished them up, all bar the air plumbing (waiting for a few components to arrive)

So here is some pics!

for the piccies mate,
draws maybe draws, but yours are different and its great to get ideas from others.
Keep up the good work

Quite ingenious

Engle

Your Engle is the same as mine. Bought mine in 1981, done a million kays bouncing around in the cab of semi's that I drove, sat in my workshop plugged into 240v for about 10years as a drinks fridge, now pressed into service as a camping fridge. Has not missed a beat, except for the 12v lead giving up the ghost during a trip to 1770. Excellent fridge.

Mine was purchased around the same time by my grandfather... before i was born...

I have not replaced anything other than the power lead either (and that was because it got frayed)

Well done on the drawers, its good to see the different ideas on here.
I am halfway through the build of my drawers, the drawer runners turned up today so now i can do a little more work

That's very neat. The water bottles in there are brilliant - 50L of easily-replaced water tank. Great thinking!

hey mate - I really like the water storage idea- can you give me some more info (or snaps) on that setup? Such as how you fill the tanks, what sort of fitting did you fab to go through the lid (which allows full water use), where the pump ends - a tap or switch, or both?
Thanks!

Nice setup! Different yet useful!

timjw83 said:

hey mate - I really like the water storage idea- can you give me some more info (or snaps) on that setup? Such as how you fill the tanks, what sort of fitting did you fab to go through the lid (which allows full water use), where the pump ends - a tap or switch, or both?
Thanks!

Click to expand...

No Problems,

Its very basic really... The tank(s) are plumbed together through the screw on lids. This is something that I may re-do in the future.. but it works. Basically each lid has 3 hoses into it.. one for supply, one for fill and one as a breather.

The fill and breather are the same length, and just lay in a loop near the tanks. When I want to fill up, I lift the false floor and hang them out the canopy window, then connect a garden hose to the fill hose (has a hose fitting on the end) and run until water comes out the breather (that's why it is the same length, so it does not overflow into the car)



For supply, I have a pump under the false floor that I have wired up to a relay, triggered by a switch on my dash. This is a pressure pump, so if there is a drop in pressure (ie tap turned on) the pump activates, then it turns off when the pressure builds back up (tap turned off) The reason I put the switch in the dash, is because I want to be able to see if the pump is on or off whilst driving. The last thing I want is to have left the pump on, drive down a corrugated road and have the tap open up and pump 50L of water through the tub.




This is the pump that I purchased here


Then I have run a supply line from the pump, through one of my side pockets to a tap, which sits just behind my Jerry cans with about 1m of hose running off it. I can reach the tap very easily from the outside of the car through the side canopy door.



We have run this setup on just one short 2 night trip and it was great. We were camping at Sandy Cape (WA) and my daughter (3) got well... very sandy.. we were able to just stand her on the tail gate and give her a little hose down... she thought it was great!

Nice work, really good ideas. makes my draws look pritty ordinary

bm0 said:

No Problems

Click to expand...

I love it - thankyou. I think I'll be stealing some of those ideas...Whilst I'm here - where'd you pick up those ARB esq switches? Very nice.
Cheers

The switches are from www.customrockers.com.au

They actually are the same switch as ARB use for lockers/compressors (carling switch) this guy just makes custom switch caps for them.

The guy (Ian) is really good too.. I had a switch that broke (the cap kept falling off) about 6 weeks after I bought it. Not a drama at all for him to send me out a replacement ASAP.

And as an added bonus... they fit into those 4 switch positions perfectly (and I imagine into the other ones too)

Steal as many ideas as you like mate.. that's why I put these things onto the forum, I have certainly stolen plenty of ideas from forums in the past.

I will also be stealing the water idea. I have my drawers made up with a similar storage area, using the same containers. I have been wondering how to best finish the set up.

Thanks muchly

Thank you for your post. Interesting ideas there.

Nice setup.....
What sort of fittings did u use when u drilled through the lids? I gather on the inside of the lids there is a right angle piece that sends the internal hose to the bottom of the tank or is it just a long piece of hose that flops to the bottom?

rob

i used some plastic barb fittings, drilled holes in the cap that were a little too small then asked them nicely to get in.... then used copious amounts of silicone.. not the most elegant of solutions but it works...

Inside the tank I just have the hose quite long and weighted down with a PVC fitting so it is always on the bottom.