How to attach your drawers to the 4 WD?

So, to attach the drawers to the truck, I could just build a set of kitchen drawers and slide the whole system in - but I reckon I can get a bit more space by not having a back on the system and attaching the vertical panels directly to the sides of the vehicle with aluminium angles.

Positioning the panels is critical for the drawers to run properly and you need a way of keeping them in position while you measure things. How about this for a nice system? - you just get a nearby 4 x 2 (oregon studs work well). You put one end on the back of the drivers seat and the other on the panel - neat!

Then you can position the aluminium angles, drill the holes, rivet them onto the walls and drill them into the vertical panels.

Down at ground level commercial operators put a plywood floor under the whole thing to make their work easier, but I can get a bit more space by attaching things directly to the floor. Just have to put a few little plywood pads in place under some of the vertical panels - like this. You wont see this in the finised product as it will be under a rubber mat that goes down the asle between the drawers and the bank of stuff on the passenger's side.

Here we're getting a few more of the vertical panels nicely attached

Attaching the runner to the draw - I wonder if it will fit the other half attached to the vertical panel.

Drawing room - creating a bank of 4 x 4 drawers

Everyone says that the more drawers the better so the driver's side of the troopy is going to be a big bank of drawers - underneath a metho stove and a sink.

First step is to do something about the rear window washer bottle. It sits in the wall where it will be completely impossible to access once the drawers are built.

So I organised a system with some nice reinforced tubing from Whitworths so you can fill the bottle from outside the van if you want to. This shows the interesting system that attaches the tubing to the washer bottle's filler cap.

Here you can see the black tubing snaking around in the wall - easy to pull the end out and fill it up.

One interesting little point is that the bottle needs a breather to let air out when you put water in - otherwise, you cant get the water into it. So there is a little nick in the black tubing at its highest point in the wall.

Second job is to add some aluminium bars to the side so there is a bit more surface for attaching the drawer supports to - you'll see what I mean shortly.

So now to get the overall planning sorted out. Just how long can the drawers be? how close the the back of the front seat should they come? How high can they be without looking silly? And what sort of benchtop do we want?

This is some of the febrile scrawling I've been doing to get the answers to those questions.

And having figured out the answers to some of the questions, these are the first two vertical panels - complete with the spiffy Hettich drawer runners attached (one the left one anyway).

The short drawer at the bottom is to leave space for the wheel-arch.

These are some cans of Techniglue. Not cheap, but marvellous epoxy stuff for gluing drawers together. Reputedly good at tearing the wood apart before it lets go. Get it from Caporns boatbuilding supplies at Brookvale.

And this is the first set of drawers with their techniglue joints curing in the Avalonian sun. Pretty good huh!

Nice new bull-bar - now for the 'kitchen'

Hoo hoo, finally got all the parts attached and remarkably, everything seems to work! Winch goes in the right direction; fog lights work and the trailer wiring checks out - at least with a test lamp.

So now it's just the cupboards, sink, stove, fridge etc to go.

First step is off to Mr Ply for some hardwood exterior ply for the draws and some marine stuff for the more structural bits. They also have some very nice 45kg runners made by Hettich.

And then to Australian Laminators for some of that spiffy high pressure laminated ply to use in the areas where you'll see it.

For the benchtop, we think the Think Solid stuff from Bunnings looks about right - it's a plastic concoction that is repairable and polishes up OK with stainless steel polish.

Just bought some aluminium cutting blades for the saws I'll be using. The people at Irwin's in Victoria reckon the little teeth are the best way to minimise chipping the laminate when you cut it.

So apologies to the long suffering neighbours, the next few days will be filled with the teutonic sound of my old AEG saw, the noisiest on the planet; but still going strong with nice tight bearings and that Deutcher perseverence (the sort that Germany is going to need if they are to overcome Uruguay for third place).