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Storage and Sleeping Platform

35K views 45 replies 25 participants last post by  BigTexTundra 
#1 ·
I've been working on a storage and sleeping platform after realising just what a PITA it is to climb inside the truck bed and get stuff. Having infant kids makes it worse with all the paraphernalia they require.

I started planning this mentally before I got the truck and now after owning it for about six months its done. The vehicle was in the body shop for weeks too, but thats another story.

Here are some pics, I will write up more if there's interest. For now, I am elated and proud to be done, just one or two more electric things that I am waiting to be shipped to my door.

Big thanks to this forum as I've mentioned in my other threads thanking for the shared expertise and advice in setting up those electrics and odds and ends.








 
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#6 ·
Need a build list and directions. I want this too.
 
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#8 ·
Perhaps. Never know when you might need a poop bucket on a road trip
 
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#12 ·
That look great. Second on the build list
 
#13 ·
I wonder how the added weight would affect gas mileage. Otherwise it is a clean and practical mod.
 
#14 ·
Positive comments appreciated. It was a lot of work and the reason is that I didn't just slap it together with plywood, which would have been heavy and affected gas mileage in a bad way. In fact, that was part of the design plan.

I'll post up some facts and figures soon, the structure is proving incredibly useful. Cheers
 
#15 ·
Looks really good!!! Much better than the aftermarket stuff!!
You might want to consider an Amp Bed Step to go with that, although I understand that those are now a real PITA to install on the '14s.
 
#17 ·
I've made a sister post on Expedition Portal which is where I gained the majority of my inspiration in how to make my storage solution. I'll copy some of that post here.

The most relevant part is the question part: who wants what and seeing as this would be a self made unit, how many folk would really want to take the time to build one of these? Although this was my first project like this, it really did take me the entire Canadian summer really.


Post:

"I absolutely don't mind sharing build list and what not, I wonder what you mean by that though. Sizes, materials used, hours taken, sources bought from?

To be clear, this was the first project like this for me. I had to self teach a number of tools that I also had to acquire for the project like a router, drill press, etc. Learned a lot through doing it for sure...

Slide link

ps: here is my neighbour lying on the slider to show the design strength. He weighs around 170 pounds, and it was absolutely no effort to slide him into and out of the truck bed. It also shows a portion of how the slider works.

"
 
#18 ·
So is it your intention to use the slider as a sleeping platform?
Will you be making it into a bed with foam or using an inflatable mattress on top of the platform?

eitherway that's really cool for 1-2 adults to sleep on, dont have to worry about putting up & taking down a tent everytime you go camping.

only downside i see is that if you have gear that goes on top, you have to take it out to sleep inside.
 
#19 ·
Yep...that is frickin sweet! Passing along this info to a buddy with a tacoma that wants something similar. Thanks for sharing! :respect:
 
#22 · (Edited)
Your'e welcome gents.

Indeed, its a multi use platform, and is intended for my family total of 2 adults and 2 infants to sleep on when camping. We've always been tenters (even in -25degC weather), but now I am getting old and comforts are appealing.

You may call it a contraption and I nearly did too, but that implies a make shift doodad that will fall apart through rigorous use. This is designed to last for many years and I used a good amount of epoxy resin and 10oz fibreglass weave in various layups to make this storage platform stand up to the hard use scenario.

The materials used are:

a) MDF (specifically for the nicely shaped bits)
b) Plywood (good grade stuff, although the top slider is pretty junky stuff that I spent a lot of time finishing up
c) Oak stringers for the top slider
d) Epoxy resin and quality 10 oz fibreglass cloth
e) SouthCo latches
f) Princess Auto (Canadian Harbour Freight?) tie down points with Grade 5 bolts, dipped in Plastdip tool dipping liquid twice (and proving so far to be quite strong)
g) The skate bearings are the best money can buy
h) The bolts used for the skate bearings are Grade 10.
i) Lots of fender washers, split washers
j) 8 AWG and 10AWG wires run from the battery up front under the body in protected sheathing (we get a lot of snow and ice up here) to the rear to supply all electrical needs with a dual fuse system. First fuses are within 8" of battery and then a full secondary fuse system for each electrical drawpoint in the rear
k) Generic USB ports and 12V lighter sockets for the rear electrics bought from Ebay
l) 5050 water proof Led Lights from Ebay - 16ft worth coupled with a remote control dimmer that I can power up to over 20 ft away (tested)
m) Illuminated LED switches from Amazon, with spare for future expansion. Things like brake controllers or external lighting or even a big 4000W pure sine inverter will all be easily handled from the wiring I installed. (big enough to power a small welder)
n) I initially coated everything in roll on bedliner, but sanded it down and repainted it several times with Hammered Paint, which is just fantastic stuff.



There is enough room height on top of the sleeping platform slider for me to nearly sit upright without bending my head and I am about 6ft. My wife who is about 5'5" sits perfectly upright.

We'll use Thermarests for every one to be comfortable when camping. I am still to construct a very simple hinged platform for my feet to rest on while we sleep at camp. This will tied to the main platform using footman loops for super simple removal and stowing when not in use. Its literally two pieces of appropriate length ply painted with Hammerite paint. The length will maybe be 12" x 12"

I have also constructed platforms for more storage inside the vehicle when travelling and camping. Everything is designed to be strong, not rattle (I HATE this), and disassemble and remove in under 10 seconds. I'll post those up soon.

I can remove the entire rear storage platform in about 8 minutes by myself. Everything is strong and lightweight which was part of my design criteria.

There are 6 "portholes" - 3 on each side of the slider which lock and which hold stuff too. Electrics to table legs to tow ropes, tie downs, camping stuff, whatever I want. They are strong enough to support my 230 pounds with ease.

I also made a large table (4ft wide x 5" long) that has removable height adjustable legs which we can use while camping. The drawers can be removed to hold stuff while we sleep on the top slider if desired. We live in bear country and this system makes it easier than ever to keep stuff safe and dry while keeping the foodstuffs also safe from potential scavenging.

Yes, its a crewmax.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I've got some time today (my next baby is due tomorrow........) so I am going to post some pics and show a bit of a timeline to how it all came to be. I dont have some pics, so this is pretty much what I got. It'll give a good insight for sure.

When starting this project, I did zillions of hours of research on the web. Here, Expedition Portal, the works.

My plan was to get a Leer topper which would house all the stuff. I bought this in the USA because it was basically half price compared to here in Canada. I acquired a bunch of stuff and brought it through the border. One of them was a Bedrug.

Here I attached a lot more of the industrial strength velcro to secure the bedrug nicely. I dreaded any thoughts of it moving.. Red was included, the lighter colour was all mine. Maybe I over did it a lot :)



Here is a shot of the fibreglass material that I bought to keep things strong and light. I used maximum 1/2" thick ply, and mostly 1/4" and 3/8" stuff




I was working through the day and also had to babysit these two while wifey was at her work. It was very exhausting doing all this.



Here are one the vertical support showing some bearings and the holes I drilled using the drill press. This one was done in 3/4" plywood wrapped in e-glass and resin. I eventually couldnt use it because the plywood warped so much that it bent the fibreglass etc and looked like I was going for a curved support, not straight. It was ugly at the end and I cut these two verticals for use elsewhere. I also remade this piece out of 1/2" mdf which was super straight, but more of that later.



Here are the cross members that I was cutting for strength bracing. Also MDF, which was easy to cut, but I wouldn't use again despite being totally wrapped in e-glass. Just too weak and soft.



Here is a shot of the verticals, being redone in MDF and wrapped in 1/4" plywood each side wherever the bolts would go, plus a ribbing of e-glass. I was proud of that custom solution, it worked out brilliantly.



A pic of the old and the new, as well as the back cross brace.



A picture of that custom solution ribbing (seen on right), and covered with thin strips of plywood which would force the e-glass to have corrugations in those ribbed holes which would make it much stronger than a simple straight piece of glass. Then wrapped by those 1/4" pieces of ply each side.



A good picture showing what I describe above.




Here are the verticals with their cross bracing and rear bracing being glued up.



Run what you brung:




Epoxying the steel 1.25" box sliders onto verticals, onto the top slider.



Gluing up the oak stringers (and plywood stringers) to the top slider and making half a "torsion box"



A different view of the same



Now, epoxy resin'ed up with e-glass. The black bits were tiny bits of beautiful carbon fiber that I threw in. This was my ugliest creation ever, and I really hated the look of it. I felt quite devastated after putting so much work into it too...



Putting the framework into the truck bed to see if it fits



And now trying the top slider onto the framework



Glue up time. If you couldn't see before, here's a good view of my industrial professional garage :p

Home made of course :)





View of the framework while the slider and cupboard part are gluing up. Also a thin piece of 2x4 I cut/ripped to test on the router I had never used before, to make trim.

 
#25 ·
Didn't mean to offend with the use of the word "Contraption" i just didn't know what else to call it. Its quite impressive and the build quality looks awesome!
 
#27 ·
Ha, no offense taken! Truthfully, I was going to refer to it as the same, but then I recalled all the weekends I sacrificed and realised this was no flash in the pan thing :eek:

You might see some of the pics and see that she sure wasn't pretty while being built....

Thanks for the congrats!
 
#28 ·
And then I truly cheaped out. Bought some off cut plywood for super cheap and was running out of patience and time with the epoxying. So I decided to largely use glue and screw from this point onwards with epoxying only when critical.


The epoxy used was industrial grade stuff, thixotropic to be exact. I also used a mid non sag version, which made work quite difficult.

Here are the drawers gluing up, with epoxied runners on the side, and the middle joined together (I know!) with a piece of appropriate thickness and width plywood and epoxied glassed in. Phew. I spent probably as much researching ways to fix my cheap ways and still do a good job, as I did doing the work. Learned a lesson there. Or two.



These pieces were the most important probably. They tether the framework (and therefore everything else) to the truck tiedown points. They also allow quick removal of everything and no extra holes in the bedrug which was important to me.



Cleaning her up, testing for fit.



Success! Fitting of drawers and slider worked beautifully.



Or so I thought. I had measured the drawers wrong, and now had a major design error. I swore quite a bit, became fairly depressed and had to consume a shot or three of fireball whiskey. I also packed it in for the day. (read: Sunday...)



I came back to the project with a solution which would add a lot of time to the build. But it was still the most time effective way of fixing the mistake.

Remember I said I was new to all this? Here's a bruise on my stomach that I took when the table saw spat out a large piece of wood as I was ripping something. Ouchies. It affected my internal organs too, and now 5 months later still shows a large internal bruise. Weird. Safety lessson learned.



I had never made trim in my life before, so here was my effort. Pretty happy with it. Drawers.



Here I was grinding the steel, and I did it wrong. The grinder disc disintegrated and I took these pieces into my hand while not wearing gloves. Steel and cutting disc. I share these pics as safety warnings, not sympathy seekers. I could care less!




Here's what I was grinding. Regular fender washers in half so that I could use them on the top bearings near the top slider.




Epoxying some eglass onto the back supports which bolted into the side supports which bolted into the truck tie down points. Using the wife's hot water bottle and electric blanket which would in turn hurry up the cure rate on the epoxied glass. She was cool with this, I married a winner.



Trim in and dividers too. Notice how the bottom was bowing. Another thing to fix. I would use a lot of epoxy, glue, heat, weight and zillions of brad nails to make her right.




Fixing the miscalculated drawer section. Cut, glue, epoxy thick sections of glued together ply to take up the difference in drawer width. Doh. Effective.

 
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