Cargo drawers and sleeping platform

[Carl.]

My carpentry skills are average at best and I wasn’t shooting for perfection, but I thought these pics of the drawers and sleeping platform I built over the last couple weeks might be helpful for folks looking to do something similar. I don’t have the third row or the cargo tray.

The drawers
The objective was to build something for organizing camping and climbing gear. Total cost was about $150. Used 3/4 inch and 5/8 inch ply wood, autobond carpet, 1 inch metal trim spray painted black, etc. Added latches to the drawers once I realized they’ll open on their own. Here are the pics…

The bed
The objective for the sleeping platform was that it’s easily removable and rests on top of the drawers so I can use the back seats while in route. Used ½ pipe and ½ floor flanges for the two supports, an idea I took from someone towards the bottom of this page. I have a full size piece of 4 inch thick memory foam I got from Overstock that is really comfortable on top of a couple 1 inch thick backpacking air mattress. Or if it's just me I use the scrap piece pictured below.

 

[SigSense]

Looks good, and appears functional. The price is very attractive.

 

[NWA_Dave]

Looks great! this is on my list of mods/adds. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Stifler]

pretty cool man, cheap, functional and DIY. Thumbs up

 

[wdlsmaerw]

Looks good! And you're just down the street. When I start failing I know help is close.

 

[j_shoe99]

so you actually have enough room back there to sleep??

 

[Carl.]

Looks good! And you're just down the street. When I start failing I know help is close.

Yeah, I'll buy you a beer and remind you that it's functional, looks good, but clearly we're not master carpenters.

so you actually have enough room back there to sleep??

We shall see tonight. In my 2000 land cruiser I didn't have to deal with the seat being in the way. I tried to build the drawers in the 4Runner just tall enough so the foam pad can stretch out over top of the back seat cushions when folded down. Necessary since i'm 6 foot. Also had to build the sleeping platform narrower than I would have liked so that it's early removable. Definitely not as roomy as the land cruiser. In that I could sleep me and two ladies in the back (it was tight). Had to break the news last night to one of them that she'll likely be sleeping outside the vehicle on the ground tonight.

 

[SigSense]

Had to break the news last night to one of them that she'll likely be sleeping outside the vehicle on the ground tonight.

This will not go over very well........... I know, as my GF thinks that the Holiday Inn is "camping."

 

[Carl.]

First impression with the sleeping platform is that if you're regularly car camping it's probably worth it to build the whole setup two inches taller so that the pad rests even on top of the rear set cushions when they're folded up. Although that really starts to cut into the cargo area that you're left with above the drawers. Unfortunately I wasn't able to really try out the functionality of sleeping in the back on Friday night cause the only quasi parking at the trailhead was on a 15 degree side slope. Crowded trailhead did mean a fun party at the hot springs after 8 miles of backpacking in the next morning...

 

[SigSense]

did mean a fun party at the hot springs after 8 miles of backpacking in the next morning...

Very nice, but it reminds me of this.....

 

[Carl.]

^^^ A classic. And yeah, except most of the naked "hippies" were a younger crowd of University of Colorado students. I'll stop there so as to not derail the thread too much

 

[theelectrician]

Where did you get the drawer slides and how much were they?

 

[Carl.]

Where did you get the drawer slides and how much were they?

Sorry, just saw this. I went with the more expense of the two types of drawer slides at Home Depot, i.e. the ball bearing kind. I think they are about 20 inches, cost maybe $18 per set.