I thought about the tether. I am not sure if something like that exists. I would want something manufactured from a company for safety reasons. As far as the hole is concerned I didn't want to drill through both sheets of plywood and effectively have two holes. I will have to get the measuring tape out tomorrow and make some plans. I was kicking around the idea of offsetting the whole storage area by an inch to allow the strap to pass through while still having a fully covered surface with the seats down.

Does anyone know if such a tether exists for the LATCH system?

 

Hey All,

OK, I built one of these years ago as per the OP, but have modified it a bit over the years. Rev I was as posted. Rev II was adding pull out plastic drawers to gain access to the storage. Rev III replaced the plastic drawers with wooden ones (plastic shattered in the cold). Rev IV was the removal of the right side drawer to make space for rear battery and winch control box. Rev V: the batteries and winch control are in the storage cubby with two drawers above. To the far right is the power panel supplying 12V at 10A, 120V at 6A and the winch controller plug. Finally, Rev VI is the removal of the flip down panels that cover the rear seat. They are now removable being stored under the rear seat and in the cargo area. I was tired of having to unload the Jeep to make the sleeping platform.

Hope that helps someone. Please excuse the filth.

 

Nice!
I like the power panel idea.
I also like the idea of the removable panels over the rear seat.
My problem is the opposite of yours. Frequently I want to bring up a rear seat. It's difficult to hinge them up with stuff in the back. Just removing them would make it a lot easier.

 

So do the removable panels still rest on the front side of the frame and the top of the back seat? Will they stay in place when your rig is in motion, without something on top of them? Can you send along a picture of your setup with a couple of the panels removed?

Thanks!

 

I like the idea of the pullout drawers. I would consider changing my design if I could find drawer hardware that could open more than 24"

 

They rest on a lip on the front of the frame held in by pins that drop into a hole drilled through the panel and into the frame. My "box" is 6" high, so they will not rest on the seats and be flat. I have a cut down 2x4 that they rest on, no pins. They do not move while in motion with nothing on them.

The 2x4 fits in front of the frame and behind the seats in "stored" mode.

See pictures below.

 

You should be able to find commercial slides that will go further. They exist, as Adventure Trailers and others use them. A quick Google search brought up dozens from about $100 to $4000 a set (not a typo).

In my pictures above, the drawers are out about 1/2 way.

 

OK, here are the pictures. The first shows the storage location of the 2x3 spacer, the second is with the 1/3 seat section removed. You can see the 1/3 panel in its stored position behind the black toolbox. The 4 other panels fit under the rear seat.

Quite a bit of space under there for out of sight extra storage.

 

Excellent! Thx.

 

Love the way you engineered the back seats so when down the area is totally flat for sleeping... Well done!