Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 12-28-2010, 05:56 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Posts: 200
Drawer upgrade

One of the very first things I did to our van when I got it home (this was back in 07)was to build some better drawers for it. That 16"deep plastic thing was completely inefficient. The inside of the cabinet is 23" so I made the 2 drawers 22" deep. I made the bottom one 3 1/4" tall for slightly bigger cooking utensils and the top one 2 3/8" tall, just deep enough for a silverware tray. The bottom drawer comes out with the drawer front and the top is pulled out with a little finger pull on the front of it. I put 22" full extension draw slides on these drawers, plus exchanged the ones on the big draw that SMB made, it only had 18" slides on it. These drawers have almost tripled the efficiency of this space.


I also put a drawer in the cabinet on the side door. This is obviously a small drawer but I think it is easier to dig through then how it came.

Some of you may have seen a similar set of drawers made by SMB West. They copied them from me, just ask Alan.
Attached Thumbnails
drawer mod 1.jpg   drawer mod 4.jpg   drawer in door cabinet.jpg  

jwintersteller is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2010, 11:13 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
cellularSTEVE's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: SoCal
Posts: 1,071
Re: Drawer upgrade

I love both of these ideas. This will go on my mod list!

Thanks for posting.

steve
__________________
'05 Ford V-10 4x4 SMB "50" White
'00 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 Highly Modified
'04 Jeep Grand Cherokee- wife won't let me modify it. :-(
Does anyone really read this stuff other than surfgeek?
cellularSTEVE is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2010, 09:07 AM   #3
Site Team
 
WVvan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,293
Re: Drawer upgrade

Very nicely done. Especially those dovetail joints.
One question. Why the drawer within a drawer instead of just two drawers?
__________________
Open the pod bay doors Hal.

Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
https://larry.wvnet.edu/~van/pics/lic...late-small.jpg
WWW.WVBIKE.ORG
WVvan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2010, 11:37 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Posts: 200
Re: Drawer upgrade

Quote:
Originally Posted by WVvan
Very nicely done. Especially those dovetail joints.
One question. Why the drawer within a drawer instead of just two drawers?
That's a good question, I had to think about that for a bit. I guess the main reason is, this way I could use the existing drawer front and latch. If I split them, the bottom drawer would have had nothing to latch to so I would have had to put a divider between the drawers and that would have taken up at lease 3/4".
John
jwintersteller is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2010, 11:50 AM   #5
Site Team
 
WVvan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,293
Re: Drawer upgrade

Makes perfect sense.
Dave
__________________
Open the pod bay doors Hal.

Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
https://larry.wvnet.edu/~van/pics/lic...late-small.jpg
WWW.WVBIKE.ORG
WVvan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2010, 12:03 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
joey2cool's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 378
Re: Drawer upgrade

Like your drawers. Gotta agree with you on lack of SMB drawer design efficiency. A deeper drawer with longer slide-out is a plus. I may have to get out the silicone lub to ease my sliding envy. Also like the beer bottle opener set-up - very ergo
__________________
2010 Ford E250 5.4L V8 Gas 2WD
SMB Mod RB36 w/PH Prop Stove & Furn Frig 10G Wtr Elect
Silver Bullet
joey2cool is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-01-2011, 08:23 AM   #7
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Rockford, IL
Posts: 10
Re: Drawer upgrade

This is a great concept and great implementation. I hadn't thought about using slide outs for that drawer. I used a company I found online to make a sliding base shelf for one of the storage closet bases. It originally had two stationary shelves and was difficult to organize and to retrieve stuff. Now my wife can pull out the shelf and get at all of her stuff without having to get down on her hands and knees.
mobilemaster3416 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2019, 04:33 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
Steve C's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: West Central Mountains, Idaho
Posts: 477
Garage
Great idea(s) and implementation. I have been planning on building new drawers for both the silverware and above the porta-poti locations. I am planning on Blum under-mount slides and have noticed an issue with my plan (and presumably your side mount slides as well). How did you work around all those dang "L brackets" that Sportsmobile screwed into the cabinet openings? Seems like you either 1) Didn't have the same installer I did 2) Removed the offending "L" brackets and reinforced the cabinet sides some other way or 3) Designed "custom" slide shims with dadoed out areas where the dang "L" brackets are in the way and mounted your slides to these shims. Any advice on how to tackle this?
Steve C is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2019, 04:53 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: San Clemente, CA
Posts: 1,377
You should note that the last post in this thread was in 2011, so I don't know that you will get a response from any of the original posters.
Grampswrx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-29-2019, 05:28 PM   #10
Site Team
 
BroncoHauler's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Southern New Mexico
Posts: 10,177
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grampswrx View Post
You should note that the last post in this thread was in 2011, so I don't know that you will get a response from any of the original posters.

Could be, but major props to Steve C for searching existing threads rather than immediately starting a new thread. I think revisiting good ideas has merit, even if the original posters are long gone.




Herb
__________________
SMB-less as of 02/04/2012. Our savings account is richer, but our adventures are poorer.
BroncoHauler is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:50 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.