by mezmo » Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:08 am
To do a low tech approach, and since you have bottom lips up
from the floor under the cargo doors, try putting a 1x or ripped
piece of 1/2to3/4in thick plywood at least half the height of the space
from the floor to the bed bottom, on edge spanning to each side of the
compartment, lined up with the compartment opening's sides.
Their point being, to locate and guide the new 'Dr. Doolittle Drawer'.
["It comes this way, then goes that way."] Then, get some cheap
unidirectional castors, and mount them on a 1/4in to 3/8in thick piece
of plywood [with short screws or small machine screws and nuts
from the underneath, or even appropriate sized pop-rivets done
from the underneath], sized to the opening area between the sides
of the cargo doors [Just make the plywood piece only just wide
enough to still be able to be inserted through the doors.]. Space
the unidirectional castors on a 4-to-6in grid, at least 3 in a row.
This piece of plywood, with the unidirectional castors mounted
in a grid pattern on it, should then be mounted on the trailer floor
between the 1x guide boards with the castor wheels pointing upwards
from the floor for the bottom of the full one piece drawer to roll upon.
[Just make sure the unidirectional castors wheels are pointed all the
same way in the direction(s) [here, back and forth] you want the drawer
to roll in. - Not trying to state the obvious, but it'd be really easy to
accidentally get them out of position when installing them on the
plywood piece.]
Then, build the full trailer-width drawer, sized to fit through the side
cargo door openings. Use 'hole" handles on each end to eliminate any
need for hardware. For a 'tight' fit, you could radius the bottom long
edges to fit the shape of the cargo door radius by tracing that onto your
drawer ends and at least one interior divider. [Allow ~1/8-1/4in clearance
on each side too.] Then cut the bottom and the sides of the drawer to
the width needed to fit the straight dimensions of the radiused drawer
ends. The long edge gap between them can be filled with a smaller and
narrower board beveled on each edge 45 degrees to fit against the larger
pieces. [There are many ways to approach this.] You could also mount a
few [3 to 4 at least on each side, I'd say] wheels from castors, or such,
on their sides on the top edges [using appropriate length screws to
position and locate them while still allowing them to roll] of the two 1x
side guide boards to act as roller guides for the sides of the big drawer.
Of course, you'd want to add a slide bolt or two, or such, to secure the
drawer in place when traveling.
Just an approach for your consideration. You'll lose some cubic inches
of storage volume due to the raised lower lips from the cargo doors, so
this approach would use that space for a way to suspend and guide the
drawer, via the inverted castors and the side guide boards which would
guide the drawer and also keep other items stored under the bed away
from the drawer so that it can move smoothly without interference.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Cheers,
Norm/mezmo
If you have a house - you have a hobby.
