Community Forums

jamesvinton · 10-23-2014, 11:01 AM

Hi All,

Has anyone added slideout drawers to the under-bed storage space ?

Jim Vinton
Holday Rambler Ambassador 36pft

SKP Kirk · 10-23-2014, 05:08 PM

I didn't do it under the bed, but did under the benches of our dinette.

04 keystone · 10-23-2014, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SKP Kirk

I didn't do it under the bed, but did under the benches of our dinette.

Great can you fill us in on what materials you used and where you found them, where they from the dealer as an upgrade or an engeneering feat of your own ( I hope, I like those )
Also anything you'd do differently now that you have em?

ronspradley · 10-24-2014, 07:37 PM

I did not build under bed because there is a motor there. I built extra drawers from scratch in my garage shop. I have a table saw and other woodworking tools. If you do not have tools you might look at Woodcraft or Rockler, they sell wooden drawer sides and bottoms. Pre-cut so you might be able to get the size you would need from them. And buy drawer slides from the same sources. You can cut wood with maybe an inexpensive circular saw or even a hand saw. Look around, there are a lot of resources available.

ronspradley

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56safari · 10-24-2014, 08:58 PM

Keystone,

I built a couple of slide out drawers under the bed on our Rexhall. I'm headed to the rv tomorrow and will take a couple of pics, but hopefully the following will help you decide if you want to tackle the project.

The bed support on my Rexhall is really a frame made from 1x2's with a panel veneer glued to both sides. If your's is the same, it means the drawer opening has to be 1 1/2 inches up from the bottom and the same 1 1/2 inches down from the top. I marked the opening and used a sabre saw to cut the opening, Then cut 1x2 vertical braces for each side of the opening and glued and clamped them into place.

Since the DW was worried about dust, I made boxes to house the drawers using 1/2 plywood for the bottoms and sides and 1/4 plywood for the tops. Assembled the bottoms and sides using glue and nails then mounted them to the bed support and screwed them into the floor. Screwed the tops on after the drawers were mounted.

The drawers are made from 1/2 inch oak plywood (matched our interior wood) and the bottoms from 1/4 inch oak plywood, Used a table saw ( a router would work too) to dado a slot on the sides 1/2 inch up from the bottom of sides to mount the bottoms, Then glued 1/2 x 3/4 screen stop to provide support and prevent sagging. Look at the bottom of a drawer from a desk or dresser and you'll see what i mean. I bordered the front side of the drawer with 1x3 oak to provide the look a stiles without all the effort. Not quite as fancy as the other drawers and doors, but gives the same general appearance.

Used drawer slides that are self locking so the drawers stay in place when were on the road. Doesn't take much to overcome the lock, but it does a good job of keeping the drawers closed.

Finished everything with spray on clear poly urethane and they match the rest of the interior.

All the materials are available at Home Depot or Lowe's.

I used a table saw, sabre saw(jig saw), and several clamps, including long pipe clamps to keep the drawers square while glued dried. Also used a finish nailer because I have one, but a hammer works too! A circular saw and router will work as well as the table saw, but it will take you longer and there is more opportunity to make a mistake.

I'll post pictures some time tomorrow afternoon assuming I can figure out how!

56safari · 10-25-2014, 12:25 PM

Promised pictures

jamesvinton · 10-26-2014, 05:13 AM

Looks Great!! Thanks

04 keystone · 10-26-2014, 06:17 PM

Thanks, looks great

IC2 · 10-26-2014, 07:48 PM

Building drawers under the bed - that's one of my projects for this winter along with lowering the bed platform itself (we are using a much thicker mattress then what came in our new Montana)

What I did on the last 5er was to make the drawer 'box' by using fairly wide 1/2 thick poplar made up by using biscuits and gluing a couple pieces together. I then cut dados and used luan plywood for the bottoms then made up 3/4" thick oak fronts. Any of the big box stores have very nice slides though a full extension version may be your best bet if you have the room.