Floor storage

[War Eagle]

Some of you have already welcomed me in the newbie thread, thanks for that. Now come the crazy questions.
I was thinking of building a floor from out of 2x12's to create a large storage area under the floor. It would be divided into atleast two sections, one accesable from the inside and another from the galley. I'm thinking that the popup tents would fit perfectly under the galley in that area behind a cabinet door or in a large pull out drawer. Maybe even a couple pull outs on the sides.

What do you think? Did I convey my idea well enough? I realize this would casue the TD to be approx 5 fett tall and may require laminating ply to get correct size, but do you think it would be worth the effort?

I have more crazy ideas like this but I will feed them to you slowly.

[Miriam C.]

Ah hah, another tank builder. May I suggest you take everything you think you need and divide it in half. I divided my great ideas by 3. Even at 5' or 6' wide that kind of support is rarely necessary.

If you are going to go 12' you realllllllllyyyyyy want to have 5' high. Won't look right at 4'.

If you spend some time in Member designs and Non-traditional designs you may find some ideas. Raised floors and dropped floors are great.

[War Eagle]

I'm not so concerned about the support factor of the 2x12's but rather the 12"'s of storage under the floor that it would provide. I tailgate at football games ALOT and I carry ALOT of stuff with me. Everything could be transported in the back of my truck or inside the TD but if I could provide permenant storage then that would be even better.

But you brought up a good point that I had been wondering about. Would it LOOK ok to have a 5' tall x 5' wide x 8' long TD?

[Miriam C.]

Permanant storage is what we seek second to gettin off the ground.
The point I was trying to make is not to use a 2" for framing. 1x or ply works fine.

I made a cardboard to-scale model of what I wanted and thought the
5x 5x8 was too stubby. I went with 10' long. My trailer is a stripped pop-up and is 6' 4" wide and 8' long. I stretched the body to 10' and made it 5' high.

It is a great space, but big compared to most teardrops.

If you think you are going to be mostly on good roads you can build under and over the frame. It adds a lot of room. Just make a plan and half way through it, throw it out cause you will see something you really like.

[Miriam C.]

War Eagle here is a picture of Nitecap's underfloor storage for his kites. If you find any post made by him you can see the entire build. He is making great speed.

The other issue is when you put your floor off the ground 12 more inches you need to jump to get in.

[War Eagle]

Gotcha', I miss understood about the 1x's. Your right, and from looking at the pic you provided that may be all I need as well. 6" under the floor is alot of space.

[Kens]

Don't forget it's very hard to get to under the bed. Sorry I built under bed stoage.

[Miriam C.]

Don't forget it's very hard to get to under the bed. Sorry I built under bed stoage.

Here's one we were tossing around a few months ago. It can be adjusted to go all the way to the back and a drop door for access.


the original person didn't want the back deck 9" higher so the access was to be from the side or front.

[exminnesotaboy]

Don't forget it's very hard to get to under the bed.

I agree, it is very hard to lift up the bed to get to anything. I am still glad I built that space though(even as small as it is on mine). It gives me that little "extra" room to put things that I may never have to use: tools, tarp, duct tape, extra bearing set...

[BrwBier]

My underfloor storage turned out pretty good, but. While only 5" deep, I am a little worried that it makes the body look taller than I wanted. I am thinking of trimming the lower couple of inches in something black to make it look lower. I made wood I beams out of 2x4s and osb to get the 5" depth for my water tanks. I have 5x5x4' storage on both sides of the water tanks, accessible from the galley and the inside just to the rear of the doors. I also have a couch by flipping up part of the floor, and storage at the head end of the bed. I am going to have the mattress in three pieces.
couch

storage

rear storage

[gyroguy]

I had considered full-length storage just like you're talking about.

When I drew it out, I saw two things. First, there's room UNDER the frame for boxes. Second, if I put the boxes under the front half of the frame only, that would help get me keep the weight centered ahead of the axle.



I built boxes around some frame members to get maximum width and length. The lids are between the first two frame members.

I have 3 folding chairs, a lantern stand, a tent, etc. in just one of these boxes. both boxes together total 3.5 cubic feet of storage space.

Only gripe is that the boxes took a long time to build and fit.

(The ancient Chevy truck rear axle has been replaced.)

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[Miriam C.]

Tongue weight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When you guys go putting boxes with heavy framing you really
need to pay close attention to your tongue weight. If you build
with all the boxes up front you are going to need to
balance that with something in the back. You also need
to know what the max tongue weight is for you vehicle.

[jdarkoregon]

Wasn't the initial socker of this thread the use of 2 X 12s ? Storage isn't any big deal, put it where you want and make as much as you want, but lighten up on the construction materials. What about some sheet metal that you could bend into the hanging box, total weight between 5 and 10 pounds.

John

[asianflava]

I'd be more concerned about bashing the boxes on the ground when going up a steep driveway. I've had a couple occasions where I've dragged the ball nut on the pavement.

[bledsoe3]

OUCH!