DIY False Floors. An Alternative To Drawers.
A little while back I wrote up a DIY on rear door tables: Another Take On Rear Door Tables. In some of those pictures there you can see a glimpse of the false floor setup in the Patrol, and I have had a lot of emails recently asking for more pictures and how it all works. So let me show you a few pictures and tell you how I set it all up, as well as some points to consider when planning to build your own DIY false floor storage solution.
First up, why no drawers for me? Well, I prefer to use large tubs to store all of my gear. I can remove them from the car and still have all my gear packed neatly where I like it. Also, I like to cut back on weight, and commercial drawer systems can be bloody heavy! Finally, the Patrol is high enough to make it a challenge to get into the fridge if I install drawers. Yes, there are drop fridge slides; but these are almost the price of a new fridge, and weigh more than one too! So I designed the false floor with the lowest profile possible, still allowing for the space underneath to be useful. Here are all the things I keep store under my false floor.
A few things to consider when planning your own false floor might include:
- The size of your storage containers. Purchase them first and build your system around that. Don’t buy cheap crap, you’ll want to replace it with good tubs when they go, but you won’t find one to fit your setup.
- Any storage you need to access. Patrol’s have the bottle jack stored in the rear quarter, and a removable panel to access the tail lights. Consider leaving a cut out to access it, or make a removable section in your floor held down with a couple of screws.
- Any other accessories. You might plan to mount a compressor and air tank, fire extinguisher, sub-woofer or inverter. Plan a space for it and possibly even incorporate this with your design.
- The total height of your gear. I dunno about you, but if I put my fridge on the slide and it hit the roof after all that work; I could probably rage-throw a spanner from here to Japan.
- Budget. If you want your setup laser cut from titanium, that’s awesome! I would be seriously envious. If you’re super-budget like me I find that grabbing some measurements and poking around the salvage yard for an hour will do you well.
So, some specifics on my false floor:
I picked up some 20mm square tube from the salvage yard. Two of them were from old shelving of some kind, and the leg you can see in the picture was already welded on. There are 3 legs towards the front of the car, and two at the back. All I had to do was cut the legs to height and trim the lot to length before it could all be screwed onto the plywood. Most people use marine ply; that stuff costs twice as much, and I can’t see myself getting it wet.
The legs take most of the weight, but that’s not going to prevent the whole lot shifting around when your getting some serious angles. To address this issue, and to provide some stability and prevent bowing in the middle; the centre bar is bolted into the factory mounting points for the third row seats. The whole lot is covered with standard grey automotive carpet which is adhered to the plywood with a couple of cans of Kwik-Grip spray glue.
I chose to leave a cut out around the hatch where my bottle jack and a few spare tools are located. You might notice that the part in the upper left of the photo looks removable. That’s because it is. On the opposite side of the vehicle is a similar removable section to allow access to the left tail light. All up this project probably cost under $100 and has made things so much more organised in the back.
Like most DIY projects it’s a case of measure 30 times, cut once, stuff up the cut, fix it somehow and still somehow come out the other end feeling proud. Now you’ve got something that is unique and fits your needs for as much as you were willing to spend!
I would love to know if my design has inspired you to make your own false floor, and what parts you chose to do differently?
See you out there!
Alex
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