BlackWidow
Well-Known Member
Well it has been a long time in coming but at long last I have finished the latest boot boxes for my truck. The metal (12mm box steel) from metal 4 u, which I have to say gave me a fantastic service even down to the delivery driver who carried the order around the block as he couldn't get his artic lorry to my house....bless him. The hardware came from 'In Brass' of Birmingham and the runner came from London.
My criteria was basically to build something that covered the wheel arches to make a solid floor right the way across.
I built it to be removable so that I can revert back to an 8 seater when needed. To this end it is made up of 5 sections of which the base section can stay in and the rear seats will fit on top.
Here is the empty boot. And some of the sections waiting to go in.
Here is the right hand wheel arch cover section, this side has all the electrics in it including a fuse box that is accessible from the drivers side rear passenger door. I have used the mounting points for the rear seats as anchor points for the whole system by interlocking the five sections together. The two threaded bar sections will be explained later.
The left hand wheel arch section.
So that I can use the dead space I have put in access hatches to allow the use of these spaces.
This is the base section that can be left in when the rear seats go in however the wheel arch sections have to come out. The larger drawers have catches on the to stop them from popping open when I accelerate away.
Next to go in are the top sections, the runners in these are rated at 160kg per drawer which means when fully extended I could sit in them without doing any damage. The draw runners are bolted on rather than riveted like the lower ones. The section it self is joined by nut and bolt to the front and bolt and rivnut to the rear. I do not like using rivnuts as a rule but as this is mainly shear forces involved I was happy to use them.
As part of the locking it all together I routed out the tops (made from 18mm ply) so that it sat inside the frame work of the sections. There are also screws placed to tie the sections together under discreet flaps in the carpet.
With the tops put on it is time to put the finishing trim on.
Time for the threaded bar......the red and black wire may give it away.....this is for the aux battery, before anyone says that it is not in a sealed box...I know I have some one fabricating a sealed box that meats EU regs for me that will fit in the space using the same anchor points. This battery powers the fridge (when it is fitted) the extra lights and power sockets. I have done a lot of research on charging this battery and have come to the conclusion that all these fancy split chargers are not needed and have opted for a simple on/off charging relay which I monitor from two volt meters on the dash (one for Alternator volts and one for aux battery volts). Oh buy the way the dash pod is home made as well, if anyone is interested i will post a mod for making them.
And finally some pics of the completed boxes, the gap between the seats and the boxes is for a later project. In the gap I hope to put a compressor and a fresh water tank with a tap on the rear door. As some of you have already found there is a lot of empty space behind the rear pannels in the boot that are more than sufficient for housing the pumps and pipe work.
My criteria was basically to build something that covered the wheel arches to make a solid floor right the way across.
I built it to be removable so that I can revert back to an 8 seater when needed. To this end it is made up of 5 sections of which the base section can stay in and the rear seats will fit on top.
Here is the empty boot. And some of the sections waiting to go in.
Here is the right hand wheel arch cover section, this side has all the electrics in it including a fuse box that is accessible from the drivers side rear passenger door. I have used the mounting points for the rear seats as anchor points for the whole system by interlocking the five sections together. The two threaded bar sections will be explained later.
The left hand wheel arch section.
So that I can use the dead space I have put in access hatches to allow the use of these spaces.
This is the base section that can be left in when the rear seats go in however the wheel arch sections have to come out. The larger drawers have catches on the to stop them from popping open when I accelerate away.
Next to go in are the top sections, the runners in these are rated at 160kg per drawer which means when fully extended I could sit in them without doing any damage. The draw runners are bolted on rather than riveted like the lower ones. The section it self is joined by nut and bolt to the front and bolt and rivnut to the rear. I do not like using rivnuts as a rule but as this is mainly shear forces involved I was happy to use them.
As part of the locking it all together I routed out the tops (made from 18mm ply) so that it sat inside the frame work of the sections. There are also screws placed to tie the sections together under discreet flaps in the carpet.
With the tops put on it is time to put the finishing trim on.
Time for the threaded bar......the red and black wire may give it away.....this is for the aux battery, before anyone says that it is not in a sealed box...I know I have some one fabricating a sealed box that meats EU regs for me that will fit in the space using the same anchor points. This battery powers the fridge (when it is fitted) the extra lights and power sockets. I have done a lot of research on charging this battery and have come to the conclusion that all these fancy split chargers are not needed and have opted for a simple on/off charging relay which I monitor from two volt meters on the dash (one for Alternator volts and one for aux battery volts). Oh buy the way the dash pod is home made as well, if anyone is interested i will post a mod for making them.
And finally some pics of the completed boxes, the gap between the seats and the boxes is for a later project. In the gap I hope to put a compressor and a fresh water tank with a tap on the rear door. As some of you have already found there is a lot of empty space behind the rear pannels in the boot that are more than sufficient for housing the pumps and pipe work.