My new drop-in combination chuck box, table, and bed

[sk66]

I had previously made a similar setup but I built the box out of 1/2" construction grade plywood. It also included a larger/cheaper cooler, a professional grade 46000btu 2 burner stove which was huge/heavy, and a 10lb propane bottle to feed it. After using it for a couple of years I decided the stove was way overkill for my needs, the box took up more room than I wanted, and it required a little bit of assembly/disassembly to get it in/out.

So I made a new box out of 3/4 B/C grade maple plywood. This is the front showing the combination latch/lock and shelf support along with the table/bed in the folded state. The box is 41" wide as that's what fits between the wheel wells; and the bed is 48" wide as that's what fits through the opening. Box is 28.5" deep and 19.5" tall (outside demensions)


The shelf support drops down under gravity and stops at 45* as the front is lowered; it notches into the corner of the step.


Instead of buying heavy duty drawer slides, which are expensive and take up a good amount of space, I made a pull out cart. I just had to mortise the hinges so they sit below the surface. This image also shows the smaller 7day cooler I went with (yetti type).

 

[sk66]

The box is held down by two ratchet straps attached to D-rings bolted to the seat mounts. My previous box wasn't secured and that was sometimes problematic offroad.


This is the cart pulled out. It has a Coleman Triton 2 burner stove attached to a 5lb propane bottle. There are 4 pots/pans + lid, 4 plates, 2 bowls, 2 tumblers, 2 insulated coffee mugs, a small cutting board, a utensil (tool) roll, and the lighter.

The center section holds my vintage Nicro vacuum coffee pot, 2 2gal water bottles, and an assortment of canned food, indian MREs, boil in bag basmati rice, coffee, spices, etc. I'm normally only out for a couple of days, 4-5 at most; but if I needed I could leave out the water bottles for a lot more storage as I also have a 5gal can for potable water that I mount outside (it's my solar shower).

 

[sk66]

This is the bed/table folded out in table mode (top was cut from a single 2'x4' section with a jig saw and straight edge guide).


It extends as a 2/3 bed and 1/3 table as shown (I'm normally alone) or full 48" x 72" bed frame (not shown). I also made them slide together with tongue/groove for more stability/strength. The tongue/groove also keeps the top aligned so the ends don't drop through when in table mode; otherwise I would have had to use a cross bar across the top. The notch in the corner allows the frame to just clear the top of the window openings when it's being unfolded (the support strap is installed wrong in the picture; it comes out under the end when attached correctly).

 

[detroadster]

So clean. So nice.

 

[Berdan]

Super cool. I love how compact it is - I'm downsizing from a Sprinter, so simple, compact design like this feels amazing.

 

[bikerjosh]

Wow, really nice job. Great efficient use of space and super clean. You should sell plans for those.

 

[ccmickelson]

That looks awesome, sk66. Really nice design and fabrication.

 

[ccmickelson]

What are you gonna do for a mattress?

 

[sk66]

What are you gonna do for a mattress?

I have a 4" self inflating foam mattress (78"x30") for when I'm alone; and a double (51" wide) for when my wife goes with me. It's really quite comfortable, and it compresses/rolls small enough to fit in the gap above the wheel well between the camp box and the wall. The bed frame is 28" wide when the 2/3 side is extended, and 48" wide when both sides are extended; so just a touch smaller than the mattresses.

Edit: it used to fit beside the box; now the tie down straps are blocking that space...

 

[Geekdriver]

I really like this. I need space for my two kids and dog to sit in the back. This is a perfect solution. I am going to have to think about this for my van.

 

[sk66]

I really like this. I need space for my two kids and dog to sit in the back. This is a perfect solution. I am going to have to think about this for my van.

I use my van for other things as well, so I didn't want a permanent camper conversion. This takes about 2 minutes to install/remove and my wife and I can lift it pretty easily (with the cart/cooler removed).

 

[ccmickelson]

I have a 4" self inflating foam mattress (78"x30") for when I'm alone; and a double (51" wide) for when my wife goes with me. It's really quite comfortable, and it compresses/rolls small enough to fit in the gap above the wheel well between the camp box and the wall. The bed frame is 28" wide when the 2/3 side is extended, and 48" wide when both sides are extended; so just a touch smaller than the mattresses.

Edit: it used to fit beside the box; now the tie down straps are blocking that space...

I've arrived at the same solution for a mattress. Got an Exped that's semi-self-inflating. Works great. My bed platform is the same dimension as yours.

 

[detroadster]

Im seriously digging this and having regrets about my slat bench I built.

Only thing that's really an obstacle is that I'd need a set of the rear captains chairs to replace my mid-row bench seat.

 

[detroadster]

@sk66 How'd you end up resolving the challenge of cutting all those fingers in the sliding slats for the bed? I saw you were considering laser cutting. Now I see you also routed them to create a T&G. A little hard to tell in the photos but I think Ic an see you routed all grooves, no tongues, then glued in strips into the grooves to act as the tongues. Yes?

 

[sk66]

@sk66 How'd you end up resolving the challenge of cutting all those fingers in the sliding slats for the bed? I saw you were considering laser cutting. Now I see you also routed them to create a T&G. A little hard to tell in the photos but I think Ic an see you routed all grooves, no tongues, then glued in strips into the grooves to act as the tongues. Yes?

I went with much larger fingers cut with a jigsaw and straight edge... I did manage to route them at 1" originally, but the plywood moved (warped) a lot when cut that thin making it basically unusable.
Yes, I routed all of them with a 1/4 x 3/8 deep groove and cut/glued hardwood tongues in. I might revisit that and extend them to be full length... I would certainly make them full length if doing it again.

 

[detroadster]

Killer. I'm totally doing this as soon as I can score some captains chairs for the back. Do the swivel captains chairs plug and play into the same locations in the floor that the more standard mid-row bench seat with folding jump seat fit into?

 

[sk66]

Killer. I'm totally doing this as soon as I can score some captains chairs for the back. Do the swivel captains chairs plug and play into the same locations in the floor that the more standard mid-row bench seat with folding jump seat fit into?

I don't know...

 

[Opus451]

Awesome. Cool loft as well. Cheers!

 

[B-Line Performance]

That is a well built setup. Congrats!

 

[Delica_Dad]

Never saw this until now, nice setup. I like the "kick stand" that holds the table. We ended up using cables but they are hard to keep adjusted just right to have the table always level.