Bates' budget bed box build

Have you ever seen one of those fancy vaults for the back of the sportsman's truck that turn unusable space into organization? You can spend $2,000 on such a box or you can build one if you have some basic hand tools and a little crafting savvy.

After watching some hunting buddies construct boxes and tubs in which to store their hunting and fishing supplies, I became jealous. Myriad arrangements of sliding drawers, hidden vaults, trap doors, sundry hooks and tie downs became too much for me to endure. I had to own such a contraption or my sportsman life would remain incomplete. Even better to build the doggone thing.

The design phase began innocently enough on a scrap piece of cardboard box with roughout dimensions and some constraints. Soon my plans grew bigger than the both of us. Once construction costs began to rise above the annual budget of a third world country, I began to remind myself of all the waste lumber lying about my wood room. A quick foray to the scrap pile assured me that I had almost all the requisite project lumber on hand. If I was careful, the entire build could be accomplished from leftovers. Even the odds and ends assorted boxes of deck and drywall screws would be used without purchasing anything new from the hardware store. Let the building begin.

I started by creating a basic rectangular box from 2"x 8" remnant stringers, measuring roughly 3’x 5’. The top was constructed of a half-inch piece of particle board because that's what was lying in my shop. The bottom was a matching chunk of T-111 siding that was just a shade wider, extending from behind the wheel wells to the tailgate, thus keeping the platform from shifting fore and aft. The two pieces of sheathing sandwiched the box frame from top and bottom. The sides and rear were formed from some 6-inch pine boards and an old piece of poplar was used for the drawer face.

A luan bottom held the oversized drawer together. After monkeying with the frame and drawer and getting it as close to square as I could manage, I used every configuration of screw known to mankind with which to hold it together. It was not pretty. It was, indeed, solid.

Because the truck was white, some half-empty cans of primer/flat/satin/gloss white house paints were mixed together and added to the box's exterior. While still not achieving true beauty, it was much more presentable than it first appeared. I added some little wing shelves to the sides, basically just 6x14 sidecar boxes to keep stuff from rolling around in the back. A carpet remnant was used as a drawer liner. A second piece of carpet was scrounged from a buddy's throwaway pile and added to the top of the box. It was held in place with some shorty roofing nails, spaced six inches apart around the perimeter. Total budget for the build – $0! That lasted two trips to the field and I decided to add some tie down anchor points for my dog kennel, driving the cost up to a whopping $6.69; acceptable but defeating only as a point of honor.

While the prototype was a success, each trip to the field revealed yet another design flaw resulting from my inadequate research and development program. Eventually, the top began to sag a bit and while it did not affect the function, the form was capable of better. After years of wear and tear the exterior carpet was ready for a change out, (blood, birds, dog gook, etc.,) I added an additional piece of 3/4" marine plywood to serve as a stiffener to the sagging top. Overkill to be sure! I replaced the worn out chunk of interior carpet with a piece of green outdoor porch carpeting, giving the top a real sportsman's flair.

A few ideas that I’d pass along before you attempt your build: Some folks are of the thought that there should be two, narrower drawers, rather than one single, larger drawer. I can see merit in both versions. Two drawers are easier to pull out and they do, indeed, keep the contents of the drawer in place a bit better. On the flip side of the coin, I have found that the occasional oversized object fits better into the single, larger drawer. To each his own. I have also observed a few neat "kitchen" builds for the weekend camper that are to marvel at. Ideas for food storage, water convenience, dish washing, stove accommodation, racks for skillets, spices and other clutter have been addressed thoughtfully. As with most projects, a quick trip to the internet will result in being sucked down the wormhole and hours of your life will be sacrificed to organizing your hunting/fishing/camping vehicle. Best of luck.

Dave bates writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter. he can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]

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