Hey all. I was just about to start a new thread when I found this one which has quite a bit of valuable info in it and so I figured I would continue with it.
So I have recently found myself with some spare time after finishing my Uni studies last year (I run an office as well!) and so now it is time to set my Commander up properly for touring.
I have been looking at different options for the rear cargo area to be able to secure our camping fridge and other gear and make it all easily accessible for packing, unpacking whilst also being practical for general use. As you know, the Commander is a 7 seater with seats that fold into the floor when not in use. The resultant "floor" has an approx. 80mm rise above the lip of the cargo opening.
If you remove the 3rd row seats, you actually end up with approx. 150mm depth of space from the "floor" created by the folded seats to the actual floor of the cargo area. I have seen others (such as Steel Armadillo in USA) create lockable storage boxes for the void left by the seats which is great until you need to access it and you have a heap of gear/fridge in the back.
http://s279.photobucket.com/user/Hue...006-1.jpg.html
To solve this problem somewhat I was originally looking at installing a 50/50 split storage box with a fridge slide like another Commander owner on this forum (JRJ33P), but after chatting with him about it he reckons his wasn't all that practical to access, so he is going with a set of drawers instead. The main reason I liked his option is that you can utilise all of the under floor storage space available whilst retaining the original floor level that matches the 2nd row seats when they're folded, but it still doesn't help much with the ease of access for packing for camping or for the storage area under the fridge.
I have thought about going down the drawers path, but didn't really like it for a couple of reasons:
a) The drawers lift the floor level of the cargo area up too high to access the fridge easily, unless you want to spend $800 on a drop down fridge slide
b) Access to the 70mm void in the floor below the cargo lip will be either not be possible or will be compromised
c) The drawers will remain in there permanently unless you want to go through the trouble of taking them out each time you are not using them
So now I am thinking about trying to go for something like JamesLaugesen has created as shown in this thread. i.e. a 50/50 split plywood floor with anchor track and both halves of the floor able to be pulled out for easy access. One side you could secure the fridge to without the need for a designated fridge slide (meaning you could change your fridge easily) and then make a removable storage unit that can be secured to the other half of the floor that can also slide out. The main thing I like about this setup is that without the fridge and storage unit in the cargo area, it is essentially the standard floor with more practicality. By the looks of James' setup, there appears to be some storage still available underneath the sliding floor sections that you can access too, which would be great for items like tools, spare parts, recovery gear etc. Not sure that I would need to have 2 sliding sections on both sides like James has, so I may end up with more storage space under the sliding floor sections.
My only real issue with this setup is that unlike James, I still have my spare wheel located underneath the cargo area, so I would still need access to the winch hole, which is located in the centre (right underneath where he has the drawer slides). I may be able to address this by offsetting them to one side and making a 60/40 split, but not sure how practical this would be?
Has anyone got some advice to offer before I go tearing into this thing and then realise I could have done it a better way? The main thing I want to achieve is practicality for touring without compromising storage space. Cost is less of a concern as long as I can get it right the first time.
Cheers,
Hanna