I consider myself a bit of a craftsman, but when it comes to things made of wood and hardware, I'm really out of my element - I have some tools basically from home reno work and such, but really, when I typically try to build things... well, Homer Simpson's spice rack is fairly indicative! - Guys like
@fitz totally floor me!
That said, I'm planning to take a road tour this fall with a bunch of straps in my truck and I felt like I needed some extra storage that was somewhat secure in the back. I'm too cheap and/or stubborn to get a tonneau cover, or a bed cap for the ol' ford. And I didn't think I needed that much space... so I took it upon myself to design something that I'm a little bit proud of.
What I wanted was something easily removable, foldable for storage, secure and CHEAP! I had a 2/3 full plastic gas can stolen out out of my truck at wally world earlier this spring, and I needed an "out of sight, out of mind" sort of solution.
I had a couple of old doors stored in my shed, waiting for fifteen years to be made into temporary tables which I never got around to, so I sawed them up to create some big, heavier panels.
I created a hinge with an old banister rail also stored away, and some lag bolts that fit into my headache rack. I can still hang my tow rope and such from the rack too. I plan to store things inside this stowspace inside larger waterproof storage totes likely.
The vertical section you can't see here, but it's attached to the top with a couple of old door hinges which fold against the top when you lift it up.
Then, once my idea was assembled, I used my handy-dandy spray can rattler to shake up some old spraybombs hanging around. I absolutely HATE shaking up old rattlecans, new ones too! The #1 number one reason spray can nozzles plug? Not enough shaking. This solves that problem well.
A big old hose clamp on the sawzall works like a charm! A minute of this, she's shook up real good!
Why not send off the ol' redneck / prepper vibe? Maybe I'll add a secured by Smith & Wesson or some
Remington stickers or whatnot on it too.
Won't be contacted by popular mechanics on it anytime soon LOL! But it works very well, sturdy, practical and a little bit unique. Here it is in the open position, it all lays nice and flat when open, I can reach in and lift it from outside the bed, though it's pretty heavy!
Just remove one lag bolt where the top hinges and the whole thing lifts out and off.
And, closed for cruisin'. Added a piece of painted trim on the edge, sealed the cracks with half a tube of silicone I needed to use up. It was getting real stiff though.
There is a 1.5" platform on the bed inside to keep stuff up and dry, and it also stops the hinging back door from closing inwards. Best part of this? 100% completed with stuff I had laying around in my shop and storage shed. I do think I'm gonna add padlock hasp and padlock "dummy" front and centre giving the appearance it's secured so that's a little bit I will have to spend. But it will just be a dummy set up to give the appearance it's locked.
The dragon straps I showed here on Friday all sold in a day and a half! WOW! Paul, a returning warrior who bought one asked me to make him a custom black/gold/red one to accompany his brown one, - I had a few on the bench already started for later this week, making it pretty easy
It's a holiday weekend up here, so I'm being a bit lazy. Summers are too short!