I am going to be making a cross-crountry trip in August to shoot footage for a DvD I'm making for a toyota off-road forum. Anyway, instead of getting hotel rooms everywhere I go I am going to be converting my Excursion into a "mini"-RV. I wanted to get everyone's feedback on the project so far. I want to build a two stage box that half will stay in the vehicle at all times and the other half will only go in when a bed or extra divided storage space is needed. The rear section will have to be able to fit behind the 3rd row since it will be in all the time but it works out pretty well. Here is what I have so far measured out in illustrator... I have all the pieces that are labeled with the correct sizes so I think I'm about ready to start ordering everything. The dark area is going to be mattress sitting on top of the box. The "air" thing is a compressor if I decide I'm going to need air-ride. I put it in its own compartment because I have the space and there I can insulate it for sound purposes. Plus, I don't foresee me using it a whole heck of a lot so inside mounting seems to be ok for my application. Please let me know if anyone disagrees with this. I didn't include the supports that go under the 3 drawer containers but they will sit at the same level as the bed. I will also obviously remove the wheels off them as well as connect them for stability.




Just so you get an idea of what everything looks like...

3 Drawer Container- The way I have it setup now you won't be able to pull the bottom drawer out, but you will still be able to access it by removing the middle drawer. So less important stuff will have to be put in the bottom drawers, but I don't think I'll have a huge shortage of space so it shouldn't be a big problem.


Storage Bin


Fridge - Igloo Koolmate 56 Dual

 

Which is towards the front??

 

Top is towards the front, hence the extra space for the bins to slide forward.

Oh, and the entire box will be 1ft tall so when only the rear part is in it will be flush with the 3rd row when folded down...

 

I don't see a driver's seat, are you taking that out and sitting on the fridge? lol

 

haha,
the fridge will be up against the folded down rear seat. The front seats will be un-changed with maybe the addition of a RAM mount for my laptop, but that will be fund dependent.

 

where are going to sleep?

 

Quote from turboale: "The dark area is going to be mattress sitting on top of the box. The "air" thing is a compressor if I decide I'm going to need air-ride."

 

Where is the shower & porta potti :-)

 

Porta-Potti:


Shower:

 

oh boy.. why not just pull a little uhaul ? that EX wouldnt even know its there

 

Turboale,
Sounds like fun. You should have enough room to sleep in the EX.

I built a plywood box which sits behind the 3rd seat. The opening is to the rear of the Ex and the top of thje box is flush with the folded down 3rd seat. In it I have a 3 ton floor jack, a 6'x12' rolled up carpet (for Ttrailer sitting area) and a 10 gallon air tank for my air horns. My "Truck Air" 300psi 12volt compressor sits between the box and the jack storage area. I pull power from the lighter/power point right there and have a switch on the dash to control the compressor.

I like your ideas for the sleeping area. Would be nice to include some sort of P.P in there like one in a boat. But then you would need water too.

 

Looks like it's gonna be pretty cool. You have to post pics when you are all done!

 

Well, everything is pretty close quarters in there so I think having a toilet is pretty much out of the question for my needs. My only suggestion would be to maybe get something like this...



I will either be at a campsite or at someone's house at every stop so I don't really have to worry about toilets at this time. Though, the Bumper Dumper doesn't sound like that bad of an option. Especially if mated with a SUV tent that I'm actually thinking of purchasing. This one would be perfect for the Bumper Dumper...



or this one if you needed some extra space...



93,
I'll be doing a detailed writeup of the whole process. Though if you want ideas for a truck bed, I would suggest checking out this tacoma website as that is where I got most of my ideas from. These guys live out of their rigs for weeks out in the wilderness so they really know what works and what doesn't.

Click Here

Here is another really cool setup a guy is working on...

Click Here

 

Update #1:

I made some changes to the design, some slight, some a bit more involved. I was talking to my buddy that runs an audio shop and he did a no expenses spared Excursion a couple years back and I remember he mounted the subwoofer in the rear doors. After asking him about it he told me the rear doors are fiberglas and are perfect for using them as a sub enclosure. You have to dynomat the crap out of it, but aside from that it worked out great. I like the idea of mounting the sub there much better than down on the horizontal box. With the sub firing straight up I would lose quite a bit of output seeing as I'm 7857982784983ft from the sub, I want all the bump I can get Anyway, that was the big move. I now will be mounting the air tanks where the sub enclosure used to be. I already have the tanks sitting around from the project I was going to put into my 4Runner but never got around to it. Next I rearranged the electronics box to allow for more room and access to a CD changer. I already have sirius satillite radio but sometimes its just better to have your own. Its not toooo high on the priority list, but I at least want the option to add it later. I also moved the shelves up against the fridge for better support and resistance from sliding.



*Stay Tuned*
I am still working on a couple ideas, one is a wireless network/audio play setup using an airport express. This would make photo exchange with other people in the convoy a breeze and also allow me to play all the music on my laptop (and G5 if I incorporate it) through the truck's stereo. It would be more for transferring files, but the audio part is just kinda neat I also want to make some sort of "shore power" (I was raised on boats) system where I could plug in an extension cord to an outdoor socket mounted under the rear of the truck that would power 2-3 sockets inside the vehicle so when at a campground that offers AC power I could plug it in and not drain the batteries or have to run the motor when at camp.

 

how about a roof top carrier, or one of those hitch mount carriers for more capacity? or are you going to be towing something?

neat idea