Storage underneath the trailer

[Karl]

I have a Little Guy 6-wide. I also have a couple EZ-up canopies that I am tired of trying to get in and out of my car every time I camp, especially when I need the 2nd row seats for kids or dogs. What I think I want to do is have some sort of storage under the trailer, just in front of the tires, where I can store those canopies. Then, I put them away when I'm breaking camp and don't have to worry about dealing with them until the next time I show up at a campground. With my bad back, the less I have to move those canopies around, the better.
There is plenty of ground clearance so bottoming out would not be an issue. I suppose there could be an issue with adding to the tongue weight but I'm not sure.
Ideally, I would like the storage area to be somewhat weatherproof/resistent so that items stored there would not be sitting in a pool of rain or melted snow.
I have searched on the internet for an underbody rack of some sort but most that I have found are for semi's, which means they are too tall. I could have someone weld something together for me but I don't know yet whether that would be cost effective. One thought is to take a large roof rack for a car and hang it on the underside of the trailer.
Any thoughts about this project?

[bobhenry]

BillyK and I were discussing this very topic last week. Trying to do
a take off on Erv's under chassis Drawers. I played with the idea
of having a light gage metal housing made. Think of a 4 5 or 6 foot
length of rectangular heating duct with ears to hang it. A full depth
3 stage drawer extention would be mounted to the sides of the
"Cabinet" and a " Drawer" would be made to slide into the cabinet.
An overlapping face on the drawer would actually cap the outer
"Tube" and would be almost water and dust proof. Safety straps
could be added to help support the cabinet much like the way a
gas tank is supported.

[Karl]

BillyK and I were discussing this very topic last week. Trying to do a take off on Erv's under chassis Drawers. I played with the idea of having a light gage metal housing made. Think of a 4 5 or 6 foot length of rectangular heating duct with ears to hang it. A full depth 3 stage drawer extention would be mounted to the sides of the "Cabinet" and a " Drawer" would be made to slide into the cabinet. An overlapping face on the drawer would actually cap the outer "Tube" and would be almost water and dust proof. Safety straps could be added to help support the cainet much like the way a gas tank is suported.

When can you make it for me????????

[bobhenry]

If you are seriously thinking about this , a good sheetmetal
shop should be able to help you out. Get your full extention
drawer slides first and take them with ya. I have no idea
what it would cost but with all the time you have on your
hands it would be a good project for you so you can enlighten
us as to the cost.

Seriously this would be a very neat and useful addition to any
tiny trailer. The big drawback to under floor storage has always
been access. Having to move this or that or root under the bed
to get to what you need this would make it real convenient.

[Nosty]

Hi Karl,

Another thought might be to just mount a couple of lengths of PVC across the underside with end caps to keep it sealed. Then you could just slide the folded canopies in, and slide them out when you need them. They'll be protected, dry and easily accessible. Just a thought.

Brian

[Karl]

Hi Karl,

Another thought might be to just mount a couple of lengths of PVC across the underside with end caps to keep it sealed. Then you could just slide the folded canopies in, and slide them out when you need them. They'll be protected, dry and easily accessible. Just a thought.

Brian

Brian,
Thanks! I'll check into that.
Karl

[dh]

Hi Karl,

Another thought might be to just mount a couple of lengths of PVC across the underside with end caps to keep it sealed. Then you could just slide the folded canopies in, and slide them out when you need them. They'll be protected, dry and easily accessible. Just a thought.

Brian

They make a cap called a clean out cap, it has a flange that solvent weld onto the pipe, then a plug that screws into it to close it.

I don't have pictures, but that is exactly how I built my fishing pole holder that goes on my roof rack next to the kayak.

[Billy K]

... you could, use the drawer method for side access and then run the PVC piping length wise, from the rear and maybe balance out the tongue weight issue. Being 6 wide; you could have one middle drawer and pipe on either side in the rear....but, I think cross ways close to and in front of the axle may work better for canopy storage....

After Brookville; Maria came away from her talks with the Ladies, saying storage is the thing. So, I've been pestering Bob with thoughts; and he keeps telling me to stop giving him more ideas...

I have got to finish some other projects; so I can get to building and stop "thinkin and plannin"

[Karl]

Thanks for all the ideas. It is obvious that I need to put a lot more thought into this than what I anticipated...which is why I appreciate all the suggestions. Thank you!

[Shadow Catcher]

I have a space behind the tongue box that will get a couple of PVC pipes of differing diameters, one for sewer hose one for awning poles.
I have been toying with the idea of an under trailer box to hold the awnings and or what ever that swings up inside the frame rails with a fairly strong bottom plate to act as a skid plate, maybe overlapping the gray water tank to protect it from rocks.
A swing mechanism can be made fairly simply. I am still playing with ideas, make it water tight, make it not water tight and protect contents with dry bags, latching mechanism...

[Karl]

I have a space behind the tongue box that will get a couple of PVC pipes of differing diameters, one for sewer hose one for awning poles.
I have been toying with the idea of an under trailer box to hold the awnings and or what ever that swings up inside the frame rails with a fairly strong bottom plate to act as a skid plate, maybe overlapping the gray water tank to protect it from rocks.
A swing mechanism can be made fairly simply. I am still playing with ideas, make it water tight, make it not water tight and protect contents with dry bags, latching mechanism...

Watertight would be great but if not, drainage of some kind will be crucial so that moisture doesn't get trapped inside and cause problesms.

[Shadow Catcher]

The water tight question is one that I have as well, for a couple of reasons.
I can fab up an aluminum box to fit and have it welded but maintaining a seal is difficult. One solution is to mount a plastic deck hatch, which does not have to be as large as the box, just large enough to access contents. You could do the same thing with wood, and fiberglass it thoroughly.
e.g. http://www.beckson.com/hatches.html

Not trying to seal things up is easy, you could even build using expanded metal mesh or wood with holes then using dry bags to keep things dry. e.g. http://www.rei.com/category/4501503 to keep thing dry.
When traveling with a canoe three kids and tents our 18' canoe (upside down on the roof rack) would be stuffed with a couple of large dry bags, and contents are sealed air tight.

This is still in the, think out all of the problems I can envision stage, and I keep having visions of this 5' wide box falling off the bottom with a couple of hundred dollars worth of tarps... and being run over by some poor motorist, I would regret losing the tarps.

Quite frankly until we actually have the MM and start putting all the stuff in it, I don't even know if I will need additional storage. The tongue is the biggest one Tractor Supply has 61 in L x 27 in W x 19-3/8 in H