4th Jan

[Mattman]

Built a storage compartment thingy to allow me to maximise the use of space in the rear of my LN130.

I usually carry the spare tyre, a chilly bin and my spares/toolbox in the back which meant I had to fold the seats down to get everything tied down and secured.

I made it out of 12mm structural treated plywood so I can leave it outside etc and not worry about it getting wet or dirty, should double as a work bench area when doing track side repairs.

I am going to add another extinguisher and a mount for my hilift jack as well plus some handles to the side to make it easier to load in and out.

The only thing I don't like about it is that the spare is up quite high and it does block rear vision a little however it frees up the rear seat area completely now which was the main objective.

[dazza85]

Hey Matman, that looks great,
To adress the issue of height, if your chilly bin fits between the door and the wheel arch, you could push the unit hard over to one side the spare could go on its edge between the box and the side of the truck.
The only issue then is how to tie it down.
I also havea surf so am very interested to see how this works for you

[Mattman]

Thanks.

I measured everything out and spent a lot of time looking on the next to see what others had done.

I haven't seen any better solutions. I wanted to be able to get the tools and chilly out without any dramas. I could put the wheel standing up behind the container but that would still block vision and just take up some more room. There isn't room to get it beside the container as the wheel wells prevent the unit from going hard to one side.

I thought about putting the spare under the container to keep the gravity down but that makes it harder to get out when needed.

I can't figure out how to post my image link correctly....

Matt.

[wjw]

Looks good:



I'm in the middle of re-thinking my setup as I now need the third row of seats in the Prado

[dazza85]

I wondered if the wheel arches were a problem

The link looks right ... Maybee if I go like this ...

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=Matt-s-pics&id=storage_container&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php

[Mattman]

Bill, how did you get the link for the pic to display?

Cheers
Matt.

[mike]

Those tie down points in the surfs are bloody handy arnt they Looks really good. I will most likely have to do something similiar once my spare wheel comes out from underneith (only fits a 31 at the moment)

when your in your album viewing the image you want, right click on the image and choose properties. there is an address or location which is the bit you copy and paste into the Img tags not the one from the top of your browser.

Should look like this. note the difference in the address from the ones above that didnt work (just replace the {'s with ['s )
{img]http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/images/albums/Matt-s-pics/storage_container.jpg[/img}


Mike

[Mattman]

Thanks guys.

Using the third row of seats won't leave you much room Mike!

I would be interested to see what everyone else does for storage.

I have a set of diagrams/measurements done in Visio 2003 if anyone wants a copy.

Cheers
Matt.

[mike]

Thanks guys.

Using the third row of seats won't leave you much room Mike!

I would be interested to see what everyone else does for storage.

Cheers
Matt.

Its that mad pom wjw that is using the third row of seats. Must be breeding like rabbits. Soon nz will be 3.5 million kiwis and 64.5 million poms

As for storage, I've seen some pretty complicated but working ones in nissans (albundy). Hopefully one day he will buy a surf then we can just copy what he does. He manages to fit a family ,camping gear, food for 2 years and half a nissan of spares in the back

Mike

[Mattman]

Haha, sorry for confusing you guys!

Al, post some pics of your setups if you have any around.

Cheers
Matt.

[DieselBoy]

My system in the GQ shorty:

Storage on either side for clothes, tools, spares, stove/billy etc etc

Fits my food box, tool box, 20l water carrier, dog, reovery gear box and a crap load more stuff underneath it. The best part is that by folding the front seats forward, and pulling the two sliding sections out, you have plenty of room to sleep two people very very comfortably

The idea was that you could sleep in there, with out having to turf all your gear out of the vehicle to make room.

The bed set up with out mattres: (rear seats are not normally in there, but note they fit nicely under it all, so you can use it all with them in there)







I haven't got a pic of it folded away and the truck loaded up. Must get one.

[Mattman]

Nice one DB. Did you make that yourself?

Matt.

[DieselBoy]

Of course

[mike]

He only had one thing on his mind when building that..... "The shaggin waggin"

I like those side bits. The wheel arches in the surf are a pain the arse! Building something over those would be an answer to all the little bits and pieces like you mentioned DB.

Mike

[Mattman]

I wanted my setup to be removable as easily as possible, my truck gets used for a range of stuff so I needed to be able to have anyone be able to take the gear out easily.

The Hilux/Surf tiedowns would be covered if you built something over the sides - also my speakers in the rear would get blocked - gotta have sounds!

Matt.

[DieselBoy]

I have 6 x 9's mounted in the front of the box's now that i have the fold out table on the rear doors. They make good speaker cabnets when empty

The box's are held in with three screws, so take about ten mins to pull out. Thing is you never have a need to as they don't restrict the use of the rears seats or cargo area. Different story with tha surf i guess, having the wide rear seat and all.

Reckon what ya need in a surf is complete fase floor that slides in over the top of the wheel arches right up to the rear of the ront seats in one complete unit. That way when your heading out, its a ten minute job for you grab the unit outa the shed, slide it in the back and anchor it down. If your want tie down points, put them on top of the false floor. Provided the unit is anchord down properly there's no reason why the tie down points couldn't be made strong enough. Hey, maybe a smaller/lower/different shaped chilly bin and you would be able to make use of the room in the surf and be able to sleep in it.

Quiet day at work, can you tell??

Not to be a prick, but have you thought about what happens when your on a muddy, boggy track, the rear loaded with gear, and you need to change tyres???

Just thinking of the mess that the now flat muddy wet tyre will make of you, the back of the truck, and what ever gear camping is in there when you hoist it up to nearly shoulder height and slide in, then it sits there as wet mud dribles of it every where..........

Haha, that worse case scenario mind

[Mattman]

I thought about that for a bit after seeing the liner that you have in your truck.

I have quite a few tarps in the truck and will use on of those to enclose the spare when I lift it back into the truck. I am not worried about the box getting dirty but would like to keep as much mud out of the truck as possible.

My partner suggested that she sew one of the tarps up into a pocket that can be slid over the spare completely. I might try that out.

Matt.

[wjw]

Just get one of those spare tyre cover things that are on the back of trucks

[Mattman]

I thought about that, they only cover one side though.

Still, better than nothing I guess and there are plenty of cheap ones on TM.

The factory mouting point for the spare doesn't save you from the mud and dirt either!

Matt.

[dazza85]

Peter,

What holds the center panel in place ??

I agree with Mike the tiedowns are very useful and am trying to work if I can move them or make some kind of access to them in their current postion.