I am sure drawers can be made from materials other than wood? Obviously decked and others are but I have never seen any DIY. Seems like a lot of weight advantages to either HDPE or fiberglass and foam for a single drawer
Any experience from anyone
Would like to know
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I have the same question. I want to build out my bed similar to what @julian has done, but I don’t want to deal with a huge weight gain. Many people do aluminum extrusion, but I’m not sure what panels would work best if I wanted them to double as a seating area.
We’ve got a lot of smart, experienced folks in this forum, hopefully someone will have some insight.
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I made my kitchen drawer slideout stealing the roller skate bearing idea from Pask Makes. https://youtu.be/ELP41pDKaqs?si=GQaIkXt-Hdla-GWU
The video above is very much a DIY version of decked slideout drawers but with wood. I don’t think foam/plastic is strong enough. ’
here’s an 8020 aluminum long drawer option. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnmYKkzPglw
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You can use PVC Foam board and PVC glue. That is probably the lightest and strongest option. Just expensive and a little more complicated than wood. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-srsB0F6l8
1/2in Baltic Birch plywood is very strong and will save you a ton of weight compared to 3/4in. You can also add internal voids into parts to reduce weight. I don’t think I would use 1/2" Birch or Sande plywood, as it is not as strong as Baltic Birch.
8020 extrusion builds waste space in such a small area where storage is at a premium. If you are just doing a few big drawers then it might make sense. Once you start designing in multiple compartments, the extra width starts to become a nuisance. They do make sense when you have more room in a Van or larger camper. Its also expensive.
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i had the crazy idea of using carbon fiber panels since I have access to CF sheets at my part time.
but ended up scraping the idea after calculating MY cost.
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Appreciate the links
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This is what I’ll be using for my build. Just need to figure out how much material I need and I’m hoping to find a supplier local.
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HDPE board and tnutz 1x1 aluminum and fasteners. Full drawer slide out for camp kitchen and all other camp essentials. Made a mount for our joolca shower too. Still enough bed room for our coolers and dog bed. Could have done HDPE for top but I already had some marine ply.
If I were to do something different I’d replace the wood with coosa board.
Safe travels everyone.
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The expanded PVC arrived today. I’ll start cutting and glueing in a couple weeks…still finalizing the design but the box will be 2ft x 4ft and 8" high to match the height of the wheel wells. Planes storage for the battery, compressor, recovery gear, tools, and some camping equipment.
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This guy is a vanlife wizard, he has multiple 30min+ long videos testing the process out
It seems xps foam adhered to window screens and /or 1/8 wood veneer makes insanely light and durable furniture built ins
There is aluminum composite panels that can be used too
I still need to carpet it but the current weight is 27lbs.
It’s 8" tall, 24" wide from the back of the bed, and about 40/42" wide.
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At this point, I’ll say the PVC foam board is super easy to work with and, depending on how this holds up, I’ll be using it on future projects instead of wood or aluminum. The only downsides at this point were the lack of local sources for the PVC and it makes a mess when cutting. Wood is certainly more environmentally friendly as well.
Here’s more progress in my build thread. Should be done with this project this weekend.
https://forum.gofastcampers.com/t/stickytacos-eff-cancer-build-2012-tacoma-dcsb/15990/32?u=stickytaco