jscherb

There should be plenty of space between the folded up table and the vent grid in the fridge to allow enough airflow, but if it turns out that there isn't I can put vents in the table that will allow air flow when it's folded up but be small enough so that things on the table don't fall through when it's in use as a table.

QPDO

SOooooo I need to read before I type. Please disregard haha

jscherb

Got together last night with my friend Donny, who's always a torrent of ideas. We spent some time on the slide/kitchen design and his camping/foor prep experience was very helpful. I did this concept sketch this morning, it's a variation of one of the earlier designs with some refinements and includes input from Donny and some new ideas of my own.

I've rotated the fridge 180 degrees from the last concept to allow easy access to the contents from the driver's side. The fridge would be on a swivel, and would swivel to be in line with the slide for stowage. The table folds up against the fridge so when the fridge is stowed the table slides into the Jeep with it. The drawer pulls out from under the table and would store kitchen utensils, food prep items, etc. Mounted on the tailgate, the Storegate table serves as additional counter space. The storage compartment in the Storegate can be used for non-cold food items - bread, peanut butter, etc. There are also two cupholders and a small tray molded into the top of the Storegate that would be useful.

A 2.5-gallon Rubican with a spout could be mounted alongside the fridge; this would provide easy access to water. The table would fold up alongside the Rubican and everything would stow along with the fridge. When stowed, the spigot would still be accessible when the tailgate was opened, so water would be easily dispensed even when the kitchen was stowed. When the kitchen was deployed, a small sink could also be hung under the spigot for washing up. A drain hose from the sink could go into a "gray water" container placed underneath. I haven't drawn the sink/gray water container in this concept, you can use your imagination for that .



Donny has a Tembo Tusk Skottle he swears by for cooking, so I've added one to this concept.

We measured Donny's ARB 50-quart fridge and it's the same width x depth as this Dometic 35-qt., just a few inches taller. So anything I design with this fridge will work with the ARB as well.

Donny has a cool pouch that attaches to the handle of his ARB and holds silverware, etc., so while I didn't draw that into the above concept either, one would be great on the handle of the fridge. It's empty now but you can see how it would be very handy.

jscherb

Coming up this week I've got meetings with several companies about various projects. I'll be turning over a prototype 2dr hardtop window retrofit kit for manufacturing, also meeting with the RV window company to initiate the manufacturing of the slider windows for the 2dr. A prototype 2dr retrofit kit in a factory modular hardtop side panel:



I'll also be delivering templates/specs for the Freedom panel pop-up skylight to the RV window company. These photos are of the prototype; the production hardware will be slightly different but overall the production version will look pretty much the same.



Also meeting with MORryde about the Overland Rack to kick off the production engineering process on that project; checking their pre-production JK HD door hinges to match the tailgate hinges, and meeting with a hardware company about the manufacturing of the MultiPod LED brackets as well. Lots going on this week.

Four Low

Products to look forward to ! Can't wait , the Dog House JK needs these !

2qik2see

I'm ready for those JK sliding Windows! Been checking their site every other day. Thanks for the update! Those pop-ups look really cool as well. May look at those for use in the winter time when I use my panels again. Awesome ideas jscherb!

jscherb

A while back I posted about an idea I had for door hinges to match the HD Tailgate Hinges I designed. I fabricated a prototype and showed the prototype to the company that makes the tailgate hinges. They liked the idea and signed up for it right away. My prototype:



I met with them today and they pulled a preproduction sample off the welding line for me to check out (it was still warm when they handed it to me). This sample hasn't been tumbled yet to prep it for powder coat, it's literally just come from welding.

I'm very impressed with it. It's all stainless steel, and they followed my prototype very closely. It's 1/8" larger all around than the factory hinges so it will hide the typical corrosion that happens under the hinges. This first run is only a small number for their own internal testing; as soon as they do some fit testing they'll do a larger preproduction run for testing by me and others.



They say they can hit the price target I challenged them to hit.

jscherb

Thanks! I'm meeting with the companies involved in those projects tomorrow and will report whatever I can from the meetings.

2qik2see

AWESOME..Looks like I'll be buying several of your ideas! Looking forward for your update..

karls10jk

The door hinges look good! Keep up the awesome designs!!