Rattling Storage System

Truckster, while you are in the same mind no rattle/clunk noise, what is your view of a half length roofrack? Geoff, being in the trade of mechanicall designing tends to want to make up his own. I suggested a metal mesh base and sides roof rack, with the base lined with caravan annex flooring, to stop movement and so as water can get through. He is thinking ply, mainly for rattles and less friction on the items it holds. This is all for our top end trip in Sept and we will be carrying the extra spare wheel and a toolbox for light recovery gear on top. We are open to suggestions from all the experienced. Thanks Jen

I have a ply wood floor in an ARB rack. No rattles in it.. Depends if you want things to last, I did thats why I went ply....

Mate on this list makes Alloy roofracks, but seriously strong and light..... No rattles......

Its all trial and error I think.... But annoying...

Tell hubby to look at

http://www.geocities.com/hay_dj/PatrolStorageSystem/PatrolStorageSystem.html if he wants simple and cheap.

hey Willem,
silicon seals almost anything from dust! heheheRichard

Hi Richard,
I have pumped some silicon into the door rubbers and it has worked to an extent but I have a long way to go. I suppose the best is to bite the bullet and get new door rubbers( about $75 for my old truck ) from Clark Rubber. Seem to spend most of my money on petrol though and have to put up with the dust !!! :-)Cheers, Willem
Never a dull moment

i note you have been out tourist driving again!

some people get it lucky!!!Richard

Its a hard life !!!Cheers, Willem
Never a dull moment

You've done well, getting this far with just dust and rattles, if thats what it takes to have fun in a trusty old Nissan, go for it. The MDF should be a good goer as far as rattles go, but the weight maybe a little too much as we want to limit the load, as we want to bring home an ice box of fish;-)

Yeh Peter, the plastic boxes sound a good alternative as far as practicality, especially when we will not be overloading the boxes, as there is only the 2 of us now. Have you travelled on rough road with the plastic, as we were wondering if it would wear with tinned food etc moving inside?? We are taking the back seat out of our Mav and storing under the bed through the back doors and also through openings in the bed base. Thanks for replying

Geoff
like Peter I use plastic boxes (6 off in total, 3 across 2 deep.)under a ply false floor. I also carry a couple of taller ones on top with food. Have done cape york, Gulf , gunbarrel and kimberlys and have no probs re strenght of plastic boxes. some of those under the floor hold recovery gears and others full of tinned food . In 4 years I have only busted out 1 roller from 1 case.
I do have a heavy rubber mat on top of carpet to make the boxes roll better.
I really like
1) you can see whats in each box as they are clear,and
2) the ability to remove from truck and put them out for easier access to contents at camp sites.
3) lids keep out most of the dust the truck doesnt.
regards
howard

I've got three of the 75x40x18 plastic rollouts from the reject shop $40 or so total. Good thing about them is you can also remove them totally when you are home so you don't carry "dead weight" around town (better for security too). If you place them directly on carpet they don't roll fore and aft/side to side, just hold them down with a couple of occys, and pack-em tight- no rattles squeeks or crashes. Early days for me though, I'm in the process of kitting out my vehicle...

Also cheap as chips so you don't mind trashing one occasionally.

Alex, we presume you didn't cover your pine drawers, did you have a steel frame with rollers or just have have slides ? We were wondering if the rollers caused a lot more rattling and were thinking maybe slides were the way to go. So if all else fails we will crank up the good old country music!

No , there is no frame at all, and no rollers. The botom edges of the drawer slide on the wood of the main "case" of the unit, and I lubricated the moving parts by rubbing a candle over them. This worked pretty well, and I fitted a barrel bolt to keep it shut - without the bolt the gunbarrel and the Gibb would both have had it rattling open.
Otherwise, Go the country music!!

Rick, thats what we need,versatile, light and cheap. The foam idea sounds as though it worked out well. Was your entire frame and drawers in the storage unit made of pine and ply and carpet covered???

A lot of top weight when the foam gets wet.

Glen, Would like to see the setup you have so if you could send the photos to gocruise@bigpond.com We have had some great ideas coming from this question, so it shows there are some cluey designers out there. Jen

Hi Jen,

I will take some shots over the weekend and also see if I can locate the measurements etc I used. I will send to you next weekJust Do It!

Thanks Glen, that will be fine, very much appreciated. Jen

G'day Glenn,
We have received your Email ok, although the photos will not open in the Adobe files so will try to unzip them tonight, after installing an unzipping program. (Maybe you have other ideas) Will let you know, thanks heaps, Jen

Hi Jen,

If you go to Tucows.com and download the freeware version of Winzip you will be then able to unzip the photos and view them normally.

CheersJust Do It!

Thanks Glenn, I had just downloaded a free trial of winzip for the time being, and the photos turned out well, they should really interest Geoff when he gets home tonight. I can imagine him, as it is he has already thought of putting in a slideout table for two,plus many other detailed areas of comfort, and I can see he will get more ideas off your set up. Our unit takes up the full area from the back of the front seats, so as we can have our bed on top. Fridge under the head of the bed on one side and recovery gear on the other side. May be able to send you photos when finished if you like. Only 10 weeks to go before we head for the Cape. So not long now to have it finished. We have a disc at our office for winzip so he will bring it home and install it. Thanks Jen

G'day Glenn, We will take photos from the initial stages just incase it turns out bonza and we can help others holiday in comfort also. One great thing about this forum it is filled with the majority of sharing helpful people of the same mind, which brings a good feeling of trust in this world of selfishness. Many thanks. Geoff and Jen

I totally agree. Definately the friendliest forum I have used, that was of the reasons I became a member.

CheersJust Do It!