DIY base plate for interior cabinetry

BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
Not a Tacoma, but this is what I built with plywood for my LC probably 15 years ago. It served me very well for years. The large holes allowed for camstraps to pass through to snug down the Pelican cases. It was secured to the floor via cargo loops mounted in the floor. Good luck!IMG_0067.JPGIMG_0068.JPGIMG_0069.JPGIMG_0089.JPG
 

jgaz

Adventurer
another interesting observation which someone with greater depth of knowledge may validate or discount: if the base plate is made from Baltic Birch plywood, it must be seamed to get a length or width greater than 60".

that may account for some of the cost. I doubt there's much warranty if the seam were to "un".

The hardwood supplier where I purchase material here in Phoenix sells 3/4” Baltic Birch in both 5x5 and 4x8 sheets.
I believe I’ve seen it listed (but never purchased it) in 5x10 sheets although I’m sure it would be a special order .
 

s.e.charles

Well-known member
if GC is providing an unseamed platform and cutting out of a 5'0" x 10'0" sheet, that certainly is contributing to the cost.

i'll wage the off-cuts have build more than one "government job".
 

Ducky's Dad

Explorer
maybe if it were coming from Mister Geppetto's workshop, but for the price marked I would want a proper 1:8 scarf joint.

I think you are a little off your game here. A scarf may be fine for crown molding or boat building, but would be absolutely wrong for this application because there is zero mechanical reinforcement of the joint. The strength of the scarf joint is completely dependent upon the surface area and the glue bond. You can actually get a lot more gluing surface with a splined joint, plus you get the mechanical reinforcement of the spline, and you have the option to run fasteners through the spline if you choose to. Geppetto, my ass.
 

s.e.charles

Well-known member
you come across angry about the entire project. with some folks it's 'clowns'. is it 'marionettes' that's causing the stress?
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
$700 is a laughable price for what it is, no matter how it is made. I built the roof deck(s) for my Suburban for under $75 for wood and 'hammered finish' paint.

The Tacoma bed is 42" between the wheel wells and only 52" between the sidewalls. A single 4'x 8' sheet of anything would suffice.

A scarf joint on 3/4" ply is a laughable idea. So much work for little gain. They do it for boat building because the margins suckers are willing to pay for it. No reason or market price freeboard to use such a tedious method for somethign simple in a vehicle where a 4'x8' sheet covers everything. Easier to just do a 3-4" wide half-lap, if you HAVE to join some thing for an 'overlanding' purpose. You can router that out very quickly. But as above, there's zero reason for ANY joint for a Tacoma bed. And especially if you are slopping bedliner on it. If some nascent OCD is driving the desire to fill in that 2" shortage on both outer edges, then just use a spline joint to extend the sheet in the necessary areas.

Likewise the crack about crackless baltic birch -style plywoods. They are preferable because they usually have no voids, unlike most construction grades. And even sanded plywoods still have interior voids. If you are doing anything that will have visible or exposed edges you are better off buying a baltic birch type ply.

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Ducky's Dad

Explorer
Rayra, very nice work. I'm fitting a SmittyBilt Defender rack to my white truck shell, and thinking about a sheet of Azek PVC for the floor because it comes in white and is already UV protected, and should keep the interior cooler. Max span between crossbars is only 6", so strength should not be too much of a problem with thin material. The other logical option is poultry flooring.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Depends on the work time. But that's what makes it a hard sell. My time is 'free' to me. I've got more time than money and enough skill and tools to build stuff for myself. For someone else, dunno. Maybe 20hrs of working time. plus the aforementioned $75+ in materials. And leave the mounting solution to the purchaser. Mine is admittedly crude, good enough for me, probably not for a paying customer.
I've done furniture for others and myself, tables, bookcases of all shapes and sizes. 4-person picnic tables that fold into benches. I do a lot of adirondack chairs and gates for friends and neighbors. Little of it can be considered a 'profit-making' venture. The market won't bear what it ought to cost. And my skill level can't support charging a premium price to make it really worthwhile. So my woodworking falls in the 'hobby' category.
link in my sig for some of my woodworking projects. Haven't updated it in a long while. I've been more busy with tile and masonry of late. I'm just finishing a 10-week stretch of turning a decrepit planter / lawn into a brick patio

brickpatio34rootmat.jpg
brickpatio133roseorder.jpg


About 6 weeks and 100 photos between those. Still have to finish a small french drain and chisel up a bit of the original brick walkway that has been uplifted by an invading tree root and re-lay that section of brick, before I can call it finished. Then it is back to 'woodworking', building a 7' outdoor kitchen counter with both charcoal and propane grills embedded in it, topped with the quartz stone slabs left over from the house kitchen complete remodel I did 5yrs ago. and some monumental posts holding a narrow shade pergola over the cook's head.

eta and I just put the MkII roof deck on my Suburban. Longer, rounder, no handholds and thus no droning moan as it goes down the highway. Speaking of which, Ducky, that poultry flooring will whistle / whoosh something fierce, at speed. Consider something like a white thick sheet of HDPE. it will weigh about 1/2 that decking material does.

subroofdeckmk2-028%20hi%20angle.jpg


https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...on-a-gmt800-suburban-z-71.156783/post-2507887


eta forgot to mention, kudos to BritKLR, that's a good looking solution, good way to secure all that heavy stuff. I'd add a cargo net (which is on my own list of mods to do. Once I get back around to sewing my upgraded awnings and get a better sturdier sewing machine.
 
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Ducky's Dad

Explorer
Speaking of which, Ducky, that poultry flooring will whistle / whoosh something fierce, at speed. Consider something like a white thick sheet of HDPE. it will weigh about 1/2 that decking material does.

I suspect that noise won't be too much of an issue because my rig is a pickup with a cab-high shell and the rack is on the shell. I looked around for HDPE and most of the local suppliers carry King StarBoard rather than the generic marine HDPE. Lots of what I need in the SF bay area, but not too much in So Cal, waiting for call backs from a couple of suppliers. Nothing wrong with King, except for the price. On the other hand, King makes an XL line (extra light) that might be worth the premium.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Speaking of which, Ducky, that poultry flooring will whistle / whoosh something fierce, at speed. Consider something like a white thick sheet of HDPE. it will weigh about 1/2 that decking material does.

I suspect that noise won't be too much of an issue because my rig is a pickup with a cab-high shell and the rack is on the shell. I looked around for HDPE and most of the local suppliers carry King StarBoard rather than the generic marine HDPE. Lots of what I need in the SF bay area, but not too much in So Cal, waiting for call backs from a couple of suppliers. Nothing wrong with King, except for the price. On the other hand, King makes an XL line (extra light) that might be worth the premium.

You'll be surprised how much noise penetrates down thru the ceiling and resonates in the back under the shell.
I think it's in my topic on building my storage / drawer platform, I show some pics of laminating all the floor and wheel well and wall steel I could get to with the peel-and-stick rubber flashing used by car stereo folk and also using regular home construction butyl rubber window flashing. Really effective sound deadening on vehicle body sheet metal. Took the high frequency noise right out of it. Almost like sitting in a soundproofed room, in the back rows.

I've still never pulled down the roof headliner to line or insulate the ceiling, but when I do I'll be using both the butyl flashing and the radiant barrier material.
I'll eventually be adding some additional ceiling and roof power wiring, adding a replacement ceiling HD TV, adding some external power sockets on the roof rack footers for removeable / moveable work / sidelights, adding a roof rack port for plugging in my rooftop solar panel, possibly adding a slim rooftop light bar near the crossbar on the roof deck, and some ceiling power for a ceiling dock for a Spark drone. That's a couple years' worth of projects that I'm going to try and wire all in one exercise, after pulling down the headliners and adding the flashing and radiant barrier.
the butyl flashing also makes an effective way of fixing wiring to the ceiling.
But in our extreme heat region I'm going ot have to do some tests to make sure the pressure sensitive adhesive will actually hold. The radiant barrier I can just tuck between headliner board and the steel roof, unsecured.

/ugh, just recalled I'm going ot have to pull the storage drawers and platform out, to take the cargo area sidewall panels out, to take the headliner out. what a mess.
 

Ducky's Dad

Explorer
Looks like I'm not using the lightweight version of StarBoard for my rack floor, because the price came back at $180/sheet in 3/8", plus tax, so about $200. And I'd have to wait for a delivery from Florida when they get their next load ready, could be weeks or months.
 

Ducky's Dad

Explorer
What size sheet do you need?

Could probably get by with 48x78, was going to cut 50x78 from a full sheet. Could go less than 78 if I don't run the floor under my MaxTrax.
 

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