Pro's & Con's on Rear Storage Draws
Submitted: Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 21:34
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Phil P
Hi all,
I'm looking for ideas/suggestions on a better way to set up my Patrol for Touring. The type of trips we do are basically 1 or 2 nights of camping per location then onto the next destination. There are 4 of us (wife & 2 kids).
I'm currently running a false floor with my Tent underneath it and storage containers on top next to the fridge. On the roof is the sleeping bags & self inflating mattresses in a Thule Roof Box. I'm considering ditching the
Southern Cross Tent for an Oz tent, that will go on the roof. That free's up a heap of space in the car. The problem I have is unloading all the storage boxes & carrying them to the tent each night. Or when you stop for lunch somewhere & you have to untie all the containers to get something out.
Any comments on the Pro's & Con's on the Rear Storage Draw systems ? They are so expensive ($1150 - $2,000). Are they really worth it, in terms of making your life easier ?
Thanks in advance
Phil P
Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 21:46
Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 21:46
What
southern cross tent do you have? IM interested if its a Trekker model. You need a Oztent..
Anyway GQ or GU...?? I have a
home made rear storage for a GQ (could fit GU) Im offloading cheap, comes with sidepods too... Im in
Melbourne.
Rear storage prices are insane, make your own, theres a billion sites on the net with ideas, Dave
Hay'sis one of the more common copied styles, and only a few 100.... Not THOUSANDS! LOL
AnswerID:
33391
Follow Up By: Phil P - Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 06:24
Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 06:24
Hi Truckster,
My tent is the one with the extended back (3m x 4m), but I havn't quite made up my mind on the Oz Tent yet.
Phil P
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 13:21
Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 13:21
Phil.
If its the same as this one [ View Image], and the fifth one down on this pagetell me where you are! Oztent will
rock for you :)
Ultimate Trekker
Higher Door ~ Larger/Deeper Windows
Size: 13' x10' (4m x 3m)
Bag Size: 900mm x 900mm x 0.15m
Weight: 28kg
Frame Height: 7'6" (2.26m)
Sleeps 4-6 people
FollowupID:
23996
Reply By: Zita - Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 21:58
Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 21:58
Phil,
You will be sorry if you ditch the
Southern Cross tent. They may be a bit heavy but they are excellent in bad weather. It will take you as long to set up the Oz tent by the time you get it off the roof and they are not as big. You will be surprised how much of a nuisance it is not being able to stand up properly either. If you are half handy you can build yourself a chuckwagon style rear storage system.
Mine cost me about $500 and three days work. It has a fridge slide, six storage boxes, a partition for 3 jerry cans of water, a slide out table and room for the tent and bedding on top. The chairs fit down the side. If you manage your boxes right you only have to remove one or two boxes at night.It takes my wife and I about 5 minutes to set up
camp and 10 mins to pack up.My vehicle is a troopy with a back
seat so you would have almomst as much room.
Happy trails Doug.
AnswerID:
33396
Reply By: Member - Al Symers (SA) - Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:03
Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:03
G'day Phil, I have
home made storage systems made for the last couple of vehicles. When I had a tent, the drawers had a section at the base to store the tent, ground sheet (Sarlon) and a 6metre square vinyl awning. The drawers contained all the food and cooking gear withe the table and chairs on top. You could keep your clothes in stuff bags stored in the Roof Box.
The frame work was 19mm rhs and clad with 3mm ply. Drawers were 12mm ply on laminate slides. To allow the fridge good circulation, I welded 40mm mesh on the side and back and to stop things falling into the hole made by the fridge when you pull it out.Nil Taurus Excretus
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Member - Jack - Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:06
Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:06
Lots of good designs for the "Do It YOurself" brigade ... and the following link to Capral Aluminium will show one way to build one. The aluminium bits have pieces that fit together so that you can build a light frame which you then cover with ply. Pretty strong ... easy ..
Capral Aluminium Link
Also let me know if you decide on an Oztent .. I am about to put my
Ranger (2.4m x 2.4m) on the market. Little use ... good nick ... comes with fly, side panel.
JackAustralia - If you don't love it, leave!!!
AnswerID:
33400
Follow Up By: Andy - Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 11:17
Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 11:17
Hey Jack,
are the plans for the drawer system actually on the Capral site and where?
cheers
andrew
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Jack - Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 12:23
Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 12:23
Sorry Andrew - my post may have been misleading.
There are no plans, but before I got my drawer system I had looked at this product (Capral) and thought it was a good, cheap, simple means of building up something from scratch. I was lucky enough to score a set of the cheap Red Desert drawers and so I did not take this project any further.
If you do a search on this site (try using Capral as the search item to start with) you will find a thread where someone had built up some drawers/storage using this stuff. There was also a link to his site showing his "handywork".
Cheers
Jack Australia - If you don't love it, leave!!!
FollowupID:
23989
Follow Up By: Member - Jack - Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 12:51
Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 12:51
Found the link ...
Storage System Link
Cheers
Jack
Australia - If you don't love it, leave!!!
FollowupID:
23994
Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 13:19
Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 13:19
Its the link in the first response!
Dave Hays stoage system.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Martyn (WA) - Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:45
Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:45
Phil P,
I had an alarm fitted to my car activated when somebody opens a door or something like that. I'd just come back from a trip and had a lot of my recovery gear and toolbox in the car, some lowlife slid the rear window of my GQ open and lifted the lot including my EPIRB, boy was Ibleep.... They / it used surgical gloves so as not to leave any prints, smart ass. I had about $1500 worth of stuff taken, insurance not interested neither where the
police. This was my justification for a good set of roller draws and I don't regret it at all.
Mine don't rattle, they're lockable, look smart, has a fridge slide for easy access to the Engle, strong as
well. I didn't really have the inclination to build my own either. My 2 cents worth, my opinions as usual. Your choice.Keep the shiny side up
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:51
Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:51
The Bacon werent interested *SHOCK*...
The insurance company werent interested *SHOCK*...
FollowupID:
23973
Reply By: Lyds - Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:54
Friday, Oct 10, 2003 at 22:54
I had a steel frame made up (similar to Zitas) for my Pajero - mainly because I needed access the 3rd
seat bay. It was still light enough for 2 people to lift in and out as needed.
I will probably look at doing the same with my Patrol. But as there is no 3rd
seat bay, I am considering drawers as
well. So this is a a timely topic.
Cheers,
Stuart
- To err is human, to moo bovine -
AnswerID:
33405
Reply By: Phil P - Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 06:32
Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 06:32
So has anyone decided on if it's easier to unload a number of storage containers and carry them to your tent site (I have 3 45Litre boxes that are quite heavy and 2 sports bags of clothes & shoes) or leave most of your goodies in draws and keep walking back to the car each time you want something.
Positive's & negatives I have found with removable Storage containers
Cheap
When you are not travelling, the car is empty
You break your back each time you remove them or put them back in the car
You need to bend down and search for things
When you leave the
campsite for a day trip, you usually need to put the containers away & then bring them back out again (more lifting)
Good use of space in the car, the draw systems I have seen have a lot of space wasted for the sliding mechanism
Phil P
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Mark - Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 08:55
Saturday, Oct 11, 2003 at 08:55
Phil,
A mate & I built the Dave Hay/Capral style storage systems for a recent 8000km outback trip. It was
well worth the time & money (about $600 with 2 sets of rollers) spent & we could not go back to the loose tubs method now. He also bought an Oztent & Ozpod to carry on the roof & was very happy with it, it was just as quick to put up & take down as our rooftop tent. He got a double Ozpod which allowed a double thick self inflating mattress to be rolled up alongside the Oztent (although a little tight). The Capral aluminium is very light & strong & we had no problems at all even though we travelled on the worse corrugated roads we had ever come across.
Cheers
AnswerID:
33411