09-08-2017, 08:50 AM
1
A Nice Pair of Drawers
Have started to fit a couple of drawers in the back of my car. The unit also has a sliding floor for my 240/12v fridge/freezer with tie down points for it and any heavy or fragile items.I have had it since late last week but I had to wait for my son in law to visit on the weekend to turn it over because it weighs about 100kg. When it was upside down I could not dismantle it. Unfortunately there was no indication on the carton which way was up so the delivery man had a 50:50 chance of being right unfortunately he wasn't.
These are the two drawers, one will be used for things like snatch rope, recovery hitch, wheel brace and car gear, while the other for more mundane items like pots, pans, insect repellent etc.
As I mentioned part of the top is on rollers so it can slide out for easy access to the fridge while the other side is fixed.
The drawers slide the length of the unit and can hold a surprising amount of gear. they're about 1250mm long, 450mm wide and 150mm deep. The whole unit is 1300mm by 1000mm by 200mm high.
After dismantling it, measuring the location of struts and fuel tank under the tray, I had to adjust the mounting bars. This took most of the afternoon. Tomorrow afternoon I will drill the tray for the mounting bolts. (I have a meeting to attend tomorrow morning and a funeral on Friday
)That will not be the end of the job of course because next comes the electrical wiring.
There is enough room beside the unit to fit a 120ah AGM deep cycle battery which will be charged via a DC/DC charger from the main battery - it has the facility to use solar too but I am not sure if I will bother with that. For the fridge to discharge the battery to half power will take over 60 hours (the fridge averages 0.86amps) and I can't imagine being stationary for that long or even being away from mains or generator power for that long either.
You can make or buy 'wings' for the unit so it forms a floor over the whole tray but I am not going that way, the gap behind the wheels are right for a 20L fuel and 10L water container on one side and the battery and charger on the other.
As long as I don't drill a hole in the fuel tank it will be great.
11-08-2017, 06:43 AM
3
Re: A Nice Pair of Drawers
Job done...It is basically held in by four nuts and bolts through the tray floor.
Checked that everything was free to move freely without catching.
One of the most tedious and fiddly jobs was fitting the buffers which stop the drawers coming out when they are opened. Seemed to take for ever.
Replaced the fixed cover another tedious job - it has 20 set screws holding it in including the tie down points.
The battery box fitted nicely beside the unit even when it was centred. I had expected to have to mount the unit slightly off centre but there was no need. Even better the 20 litre fuel can fits on the other side together with 20 litres of water. Works well.
The next job - adding the DC/DC charger and 120Ah deep cycle battery and wiring it all up.
11-08-2017, 12:01 PM
6
Re: A Nice Pair of Drawers
Originally Posted by Julie1962
->
That looks like an excellent idea ! My little jazz would fit in your boot I think 
13-08-2017, 01:18 AM
8
Re: A Nice Pair of Drawers
Proof of intelligent design and the existence of god.Tried fitting my table, fuel and water containers in. As you can see they fit perfectly. There is a god!
Instead of just floating about the back of the car my ropes and tie down straps now have a home.
04-09-2017, 06:03 AM
10
Re: A Nice Pair of Drawers
The auxiliary battery has now been fitted too:More details by clicking here for that thread.
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