Drawer/Storage for an Electric Cooler/Battery Questions

[sweet5ltr]

Those Gregory Alpaca boxes are the best! I love the whole system. They can be strapped to the roof if needed as well. Easily moved around camp. And I agree about the fully built-in drawer systems. They look really cool but you sacrifice so much usability of the SUV. And the weight is a big hit for the actual gains you get. And then the fridge is so high, you need a stool to get stuff out of it. Just not for me. My fridge box can be unbolted in about five minutes or less. I like EODs recommendation for extruded aluminum but I’m a wood worker. Not a metal fabricator guy. If I meet a metal fabricator guy who can build me a new box for a reasonable price, then I’d love to do that.

That's an awesome setup. I just recommend the passenger side for the fridge because you can lay the larger rear seat section down and have a ton of usable width on the right hand side.

I have considered a raised platform but only for the right rear cargo area to be level with the folded rear seat, and under the platform, I'd install one single slide out for a table surface. That would add minimal weight and be usable. I'd just secure it with the tie-down points. I need to build something as we plan on traversing the White Rim Trail this year, which is around 100-miles with some overnight permits. I'm already adding a shower / bathroom awning, so that's another 30-lbs, spare fuel will be another 30-lbs. Water, certainly another 30-40 lbs. All starts to add up. While it's fun to camp on the trail, if you bring your wife they usually need a lot more amenities to be comfortable. About 7-8 hours of driving in 4-low on a technical track I'm usually about ready to call it a day too, so, can't blame them.

 

[evillinux]

Those Gregory Alpaca boxes are the best! I love the whole system. They can be strapped to the roof if needed as well. Easily moved around camp. And I agree about the fully built-in drawer systems. They look really cool but you sacrifice so much usability of the SUV. And the weight is a big hit for the actual gains you get. And then the fridge is so high, you need a stool to get stuff out of it. Just not for me. My fridge box can be unbolted in about five minutes or less. I like EODs recommendation for extruded aluminum but I’m a wood worker. Not a metal fabricator guy. If I meet a metal fabricator guy who can build me a new box for a reasonable price, then I’d love to do that.

That is funny you mentioned the Gregory Alpaca boxes because I just bought one from REI the other weekend during the anniversary sale. That is actually what I was planning to throw my extra misc camping gear or misc road safety/off-road stuff in. I love the lid system that is what made it my favorite. I'm debating whether I want a second one at this point. I also really like my plano green bins, they've served and survived me for my previous camp setup stuff, those are typically what I throw in the back of the Tacoma for camping/off road and have survived a couple years of rough chucking and stacking lol.

 

[evillinux]

Could someone with the Colfax drawer measure this for me? From the top of the drawer to the top of the hatch.

I don't have my Colfax yet (sitting in assembly and shipping state). But I did find a video that the back LC is right about 36 inches. There are 2 colfax versions that they offer, the full height or the shorty the difference is 7.6inch (full) vs. 5.5 (shorty).

So basically on those calculation you'd be looking at:
Full size - 28.4inch from the colfax base to LC roof.
Short - 30.5inch from the colfax base to the LC roof.

Once my system does come I'd be happy to truly measure and see if the calculations above are true or not; hope this helps in the mean time!

 

[jrmudder]

I don't have my Colfax yet (sitting in assembly and shipping state). But I did find a video that the back LC is right about 36 inches. There are 2 colfax versions that they offer, the full height or the shorty the difference is 7.6inch (full) vs. 5.5 (shorty).

So basically on those calculation you'd be looking at:
Full size - 28.4inch from the colfax base to LC roof.
Short - 30.5inch from the colfax base to the LC roof.

Once my system does come I'd be happy to truly measure and see if the calculations above are true or not; hope this helps in the mean time!

This is perfect. I am also waiting for my Colfax system. I did the full size with the kitchen pull out. but was just trying to gauge if my arb fridge and easy slide would fit and from what you said and little bit of looking I did It should have no issues. I really appreciate the info!!!
Now we just wait for the system!

 

[evillinux]

Accidentally posted on another person's forum thread, so here is the finalized setup/install for right now.

Colfax Camper was delivered today. Took about 6 hours to put it together and get it installed in the bed of the LC. Then only to realize that I need to pull it out and take out the 2 bottom latch mounts and install the provided L brackets to hold the whole system in place. Once those were completed, probably the most difficult part because it is a tight space to fit my head and arm to reach to it everything was finished.

I highly recommend have some help you lift the whole platform into the back of the LC, it is semi-heavy once you get it all put together. The drawers are pretty easy, if you get the bamboo pull out drawer that one is going to be a good bit heavier so I do highly recommend to have one person hold the drawers while the other helps guide the sides into the slots. The drawer slides are very beefy and heavy duty!

Couple things to note:
The general assembly instructions are decent, they really could use to work and refinement as instructions will sometime saw "drill this spot for the screw" but there is no drilling needed as everything is already ready to go. The instruction pictures are generalized to the platform, they are not specific to the Land Cruiser so you do have to just double check your work while doing certain things. Luckily everything being CNC cut it is pretty easy to put together but you do got to pay attention to which direction certain things goes, etc. Additionally, all the hardware is just in bags without any specific labels/guidance to which part of the instructions, so you just got to pay attention and have some knowledge of what size screws would go to what or you'll do some damage.

The biggest issue is that the left 'wing' does not fold down flat without extra force and pushing in the plastic trim, the right side folds down nicely. I tried adjusting and moving things around but basically one side or the other has difficulty with its wing when it is folded down. I opted to just leave the left side up and I can still access the storage side spot easily without much trouble and the right side works fine to access the power plug.

The green topper is the canvas back that I had in the back of my LC on the floor I decided to put it on top of the carpet that you install because I really like the canvas back for easy cleaning and I love army green color. The storage drawers are fantastic I was able to organize the few things that I constantly keep in my LC in them and still have plenty of room for other stuff. I'm really looking forward to utilizing it for camping soon once my friend and I can set some dates and I can give it a whirl with my camping gear in the whole system.

End of the day I love it and it is exactly what I was looking for and wanting longer term for my LC and my purposes. I'll probably add the pull out slide/angle fridge slide later on since I haven't ordered the one that I have in mind. For the time being I have an idea with some of the T-Slot aluminum laying around that I might play around with making my own fridge slide/angle like system in the coming days/weeks. And to fully make the Colfax Camper MINE I add to add some stickers from my travels and I have many more to add as time goes on as that has always been something I wanted to do with this type of system.