Current project: fridge and storage
Lots of great solutions out there but I wanted to use the vehicle for a bit before deciding what works best for us. Really trying to minimize wasted space and not add weight if avoidable. I also need to be able to access the under-floor storage area to check on the battery system. Another factor is that for at least a year or so I'd like to have the possibility of having an inside sleeping area. We currently use an Xprite mattress on the passenger side.
My current design, using 1" 80/20, is to have a hinged enclosure for a marine refrigerator on the left side of the cargo area. I can leave the right side unoccupied and use plastic bins for storage. In the future I can build out the right side with some drawers.
The design is to accommodate a 65 liter Isotherm drawer fridge:
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I am using CAD for the conceptual design. Autocad is not the defacto standard for 3d these days, that goes to Solidworks, but it's worth using because 80/20 has an Autocad extension that makes it easy to spec the extrusions, fasteners, and panels - and generate a bill of materials with all the correct machining. In addition, using the CAD part files from many suppliers (like drawer slides) lets me check that things will fit.
In my first design I toyed with the fridge on the right side and drawers on the left (only 1 drawer shown in this design):
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But decided it would interfere with a future tailgate table and/or the door limiter. This design also has the cool double extending and locking drawers for a stove and work space. This is where I realized how much those drawer slides add to the weight. I have a nice frontrunner table that stows under the rack and is easy to setup so I will use that, and maybe it's better to cook away from the vehicle in bear country?
I had an iteration where I included the frontrunner slanted water tank that I could just make fit behind the seats:
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But after realizing the value of Dan Grec's advice (on many topics!) I'm going with an underbody water tank and will find another solution to hold extra fuel for the occasions where needed (instead of an aux fuel tank underneath)
This is the base of my current design where the fridge enclosure will be on the left side. Part of the design includes an inch or so of space underneath the fridge to allow ventilation, air flows under the fridge and up the back an will exit out a vent at the top. I also had some asymmetric designs where the right side took advantage of the extra space from the 'cutout' in the door but I'm not using that in my current version.
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Here's some pictures of my prototype base - it did prove nicely that taking the measurements carefully and transferring into CAD then ordering the parts according to the design really works and makes the fabrication easy and fun:
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I did a subwoofer delete, there's 4 trim parts involved, but you get a good amount of space back.
Tilt for storage access - imagine the seats folded down. The trick is to get some elevation on the hinges so there's room for contents on the frame to stay above the seat hinge area when pivoted. I will remove the cargo tie downs and associated carpet/plastic bits and the 80/20 rails will be fastened to the factory bolt holes right against the sheet metal floor pan.
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Closeup of current hinge design, probably more than it needs to be. This extrusion stuff is rigid and strong. I am trying to keep the design 'just enough' so in case of an accident it has a chance to crumple. I may add some unneeded joints or notches to reduce the strength. Some of those super solid steel shelves and such I see built into the back of some vehicles seem like they will just become a guillotine - I guess we are not supposed to think about that too much.
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More to follow...