Monday, May 15, 2006 at 19:08
Walda,
I toured for years with a drop side tray back and it proved to be a bit of a love hate relationship toward the end with the ingress of dust finally getting the better of me and eventually replaced the whole lot with a custom alloy canopy, shown in the rig
pic.
Prior to that tho, I had a drop side steel tray which did have certain advantages, not the least of which is it was indestructible when in reverse and easy to bung a Hi-Lift under when bogged to the chassis.
I had that set up pretty simply, with practicality the keyword and an emphasis on turning the back into a storage, galley, cooker, fridge arrangement.
The drop flaps on a standard tray make great benches for preparing food and each side had a light piece of weather ply liquid nailed to the inside surface so that when the side was dropped outward it became a flat surface. A good bit of rope tied up to the canopy structure held it in place - simple and easy.
For storage, I simply constucted a raised shelf acroos the back of the truck with enough elevation so that I could slide some shallow tubs underneath. This bench was as deep and measured to the depth the tubs need to go in to be flush with the face. The tubs used were approx 430 deep, 260 wide and about the same high. There were about 5 or six hiding under across the bach and one was great for storing the unwashed spuds etc which need to kept in the dark in paper.
The others had things from cutlery, cooking utensils etc to a condiment box, every day tea/coffee stuff, teatowels etc etc.
The bench of course, finished in melamine, became a food preparation area with a two burner gas stove bolted down at one end for a qhick cuppa when the mood took. Whilst travelling soft luggage could be thrown on top of this bench as all the tubs were stowed under. A bonus was that when
the tub was withdrawn it could sit out in an open position with the top back lip hooked under
the bench top - no slides, catches or any of that carry on.
For the main part of the tray between the cab and this reer prep bench I took a trip to the fishermans co-op and brought 6 large heavy duty plastic/vinyl fish boxes (not the elcheapo Bunnings/Kmart jobs) which had self latching but removable lids. These were stackable in a positive manner and nigh on indestructible being of the PVC type and not brittle plastic.
In these went main food stores, pots & pans, cans( beer LOL!) etc etc etc all divided with each to a purpose and marked on the outside of the box so that you knew what was inside.
I brought those twenty years ago and they are still serving me
well.
The rest of the tray had fridges, tool boxes, fuel, recovery boxes etc etc etc all stackable and tied down if not accessed frequently.
This was a cheap and pretty efficient way to set up the back at really minimal cost and of course dead easy to dismantle at the end of a trip but super practical when in use.
There is a lot of effort & dollars spent by oz'ers on drawer systems but I find them inefficient from a space point of view and have had to lend my plastic tubs to many a traveller wanting to wash bodies dishes etc. The added bonus is of course that if something breaks or spills it is contained in the box and simply need a wash out to start again. Its also pretty easy to cart a big bin with all your goodies to a
camp cook up than a fixed drawer in the back of the fourby.
Dust is another matter tho and I know some guys using tray backs who have had some success placing the rubber type seals on tray side closures and pressuring canopy with front air flaps. I had limited joy using a combination of that system but now that I intend to spend more time in the scrub a sealed canopy seemed the way to go. Needless to say I will stick with the system I describe above as it works, is simple and is cost effective whilst leaving the back of the tray flexible in its use of space.
Hope This Helps
Have a great trip.
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