Saturday, March 14, 2009

Cargo Area Fits the Dogs!

A while back (a year or so now), I built a cargo setup for the Land Cruiser. I made a drawer to slide my ARB fridge in and out. I also sized it to hold a water tank and associated pumping equipment for showers and drinking water. I also put in two other sections, one to add drawers later to store stuff (probably my camping gear/clothing) and an area to create a kitchen box to store all the kitchen cooking gear as well as food. The drawers, kitchen box, and water setup have yet to be built.

This is the cargo setup showing the fridge, but before I finished carpeting the top. I have since carpeted the top and added wings to make it one solid surface all the way to the edge of the vehicle. The water tank area is in front of the fridge and adjoining drawer area. This is accessed from the front, by lowering the seat. The sleeping bag (brown bag) is in the kitchen box pullout area. This area is the full length of the cargo area.

When I designed this setup we had one dog, who was still a young puppy. I sized it such that it was just the height of the fridge, which happened to leave just enough room for a dog cage above. Unfortunately, Arthur grew larger than expected. We also acquired another dog, so some other solution would be needed. Since the Land Cruiser is now down here, and spring is around the corner, I started to think about what to do to fit two dogs in there. I want to be able to fit them in without using the middle row of seats. I’m hoping that we will often go camping with others, so those seats may be occupied. Without too much trouble I convinced Arthur and Mishka to climb up on top of the cargo unit.

There was more room for them than I expected. Arthur could actually walk around without being hunched over. I know he looks awfully sullen and uncomfortable, but he’s actually got plenty of room, and he should be laying down most of the time we are moving. I was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to walk around except hunched over, but he just barely fits. He hunches slightly but I think that’s because he doesn’t like rubbing on the headliner. So my current cargo arrangement will work, as long as all, or most of the gear can be stored below. When camping, there isn’t much needed, clothing wise, so I think if I made drawers and then provided a drawer to any guests that should be enough room for most stuff. When not camping, the kitchen box can come out and there should be plenty of room, as long as people pack in duffles.

So, two things are needed to make this workable, one is a grate or bar system so that the dogs don’t come out of the cargo area (either by choice, or in a sudden braking situation). I need to find a very short set of bars for this though. The other is some sort of screen or bar across the window. I would like to be able to leave them open for the dogs without Mishka deciding she can jump out. I’ve had both dogs decide to jump out or into a vehicle through an open window when it sits in the garage. I don’t want that to happen when we are moving.

Eventually I need to also build the kitchen box, or possible buy and modify a pre-made version. Haven’t found one at the right price point and right shape though. I can rearrange the partitions of the cargo area relatively easily if I do find one slightly the wrong size. The other thing I want to do is find some bags to store my tool bag, recovery gear, spare parts, straps and other stuff in the two side compartments. Right now, I have wings that tilt open to allow access to those, but stuff that is put in there is just loose. I want to put it into bags, so if I need recovery gear for example, I can slide out the whole recovery bag and be able to access stuff readily rather than digging around for what I need in that whole area.

Another of my ongoing projects…

• Posted by jfs at 16:12:08 in Land Cruiser
• 6 comments