Black Widow Storage System
 

Hi Everyone, we are about to outfit a Land Cruiser 100 series and have found a company in Australia called Black Widow. Their gear looks good and seems to be well constructed but there is nothing like hearing from the people who have either got some of their gear or have seen it in use. What's the verdit? Is it worth the effort shipping to the U.K?

Storage systems
 

Hi Bigpond

I also looked at the Black Widow system for my 80 series but inally settled on the African Outback system and its very very cool. Not sure how much the BW drawers cost with shipping but they look similar to the Outback drawers and from our recent shake down trip with them they have loads of space, quiet and really strong.

I know that Matt Savage can get hold of the Outback system so it would be worth trying him.

Becky

Hi Becky, thanks for the tip. We feel that the storage system is a big decision as we will be living with it on a daily basis for three years so we are trying to do as much homework as possible before spending the hard-earned cash.
Barbara

Also take a look at the outback roller draws systems manufactured by 4wd interiors in Cairns Australia. Much better quality than Black widow and the same price. In fact I think the african outback draws are the same thing but made under licence in africa.

Storage systems
 

Bigpond,

You are welcome to come and check out our storage anytime.

Saab463,

Yes the drawers are both made by the same company but as you correctly said they are marketed in S Africa in slightly different name.

Becky

Heavy
 

Both Black Widow and Outback draw systems are heavy - on the wallet and literally in the back of the car. I've longed for a similar system in the back of my 80 series but I want something much, much lighter (still strong) and much, much cheaper. Somewhere on the forum are home-made ideas and one or two have been really good. A search will track them down.

For me, the weight of both systems is the big downer.

Jeremy,

Draw systems will always be heavy, but when you consider that most 80s will have a set of heavy 3rd row seats being removed to fit the draws in the weight difference isn't that much.

Unless you are just stacking boxes in the boot and strapping them down any storage solution is going to weight something.

Julian,

How about a drawer system at the back using grp honeycomb material you once mentioned you can obtain? It is apparently very stiff and lightweight.

But then, a drawer is but a box with the lid permanently attached to the car, so why bother with the mechanics of the drawer when strapping it down takes seconds. And in the LC80 the side doors can't be opened wide enough to pull out a drawer, while a box can be manuvered at an angle.

The weight issue is not too much of a problem for us as we agree with Julian, what you take out will be replaced by the drawers so hopefully not adding too much.
For us the drawers are something we think would work best because 1)we are neat-freaks, 2)we are going to be travelling for three years and want something that will last the distance. We want to take plenty of time to plan the layout as I am sure a badly planned storage system will drive us nutty. 3)we look at the cost as an investment (if its planned well). No system is perfect and along the way we will probably discover things that we never thought about sitting here in the UK however, reseach is the key to a well prepared vehicle hence the feedback coming through is great, thanks to you all.

Hello bigpond,

I think it is a bit overenthusiastic to reason that "what you take out will be replaced by the drawers". Try translating each kg into the quantity of fuel you will have to burn to move this mass for the distance you are planning to travel, and decide if it really is not a problem for you.

IMHO, if you want your kit to last for three years, try something easily repairable and easily replaceable. Banana boxes spring to mind ...
:D

Discovered by accident ........
 

The back of our landy is partitioned by plywood covered in carpet, this keeps the noise down and allows us to sleep on it. But the best thing is, in between and under the plywood, we use plastic jerry cans ... both to hold reserve water, but also with the top cut off as an easily accessable draw.

Simple, robust, light, cheap (the jerry cans no longer held water and we were going to be thrown), replaceable and IMHO exactly what you get from a drawer system and yet pay hundreds of pounds for.

See here

Jenny and Ollie's Big Trip

C'mon Roman lighten up! We aren't going to build a tank! A couple of well-built storage drawers isn't going to make or break a LC. Maybe I was a little relaxed about the removing/replacing but for the sake of ease I thought a short description is better. We are trying to be very careful about what we take and how we are going to do it so are considering all the options, nothing is ever set in stone.

Hi Ollie, thanks for the photo, great idea! And looks like it works well.

Oh Yes
 

Yes it works really well. currently our toolkit is located there and it's so easy to access.

Pretty versatile as well. We are currently debating whether to make another drawer out of the next water container. We have a 40l tank plumbed in as well, so might just take a collapable water container with us.

But yes, works a treat

Hi bigpond,

I know, but it's tempting, isn't it?

I also know that the stuff you start with on a trip is not necessarily the same stuff that you end up with, including many parts of the car itself. Hence flexibility is a great thing, unlike many built-in expensive solutions that may one day become dead weight but will be too valuable to throw away.

On my last trip I had a setup like in the picture.
http://www.zen59375.zen.co.uk/public/temp/IMG1_0783.jpg

Cheap, flexible, repairable, light and easy to fab in a weekend. I also like Ollie's idea with the plastic water cans.

Storage ideas....
 

The drawer systems that you have in mind Big Pond, do not require the rear seats to be removed as they are built to fit behind them.....

However, our set-up was to remove rear seats and extend the top platform of the drawers to the front seats giving us plenty of room to sleep if required. The advantage of this is the storage space under the platform where the seats used to be. This means the platform only has water stored on it.

(Before anyone points it out - we will not be needing a guide so no need for additional seats)

Becky

drawers are heavy...
 

... sorry Julian but I would put money on the fact that a set of drawers, Outback or Black Widow is going to weigh considerably more than the rear seats you remove, by a long way.

I'm with Roman on this. The idea of drawers is to be able to remove stuff from the bottom of the pile without having to unload the whole back end. Personally, I use Wolf boxes (any boxes will do, marine ply and a box frame. Whats great is that I can take the whole lot out when I use the car back home in London and al it cost was the boxes, the ply and the frame - which i already had.

Kind of depends on how you want to spend the cash... but the notion that these custom drawer systems weigh a little more than the third row of seats isn't correct.

Take as little as you dare ... you can always buy clothes en route after all.

I'm experimenting with various drawer designs at the moment with the aim to make them out of thin steel or aluminium frames and then line with ply or composite - the aluminium/composite material will be lighter, but more expensive.

The adavantage of a bespoke system as opposed to most off the shelf drawers is you can be more flexible with building around other stuff you have in the car like water tanks, etc.

Boxes are a very good cheap way around it, although it helps a lot to have a frame/shelving system to store them in - there is nothing worse than having to move several items to get to the one item you want.

One thought I had was to look at extending the door catches so that you can open them up at 90 degrees so that drawers or fridges can be slit out.

Julian,

Now, that could be interesting! Keep us posted, please.

This certainly has proved to be an interesting debate and I suppose it comes down to personal choice/budget/intended use. It is so interesting to hear different points of view - I love it!

Anyway, as far as we are concerned, our vehicle isn't going to be converted back into anything else. It's going to take us around the world and will be our home for three plus years. After that we will keep it as a souvenir of our trip because I really don't think we would want to be driving it around Noosa, on Queenslands Sunshine Coast, they probably won't even let us tax it!!

We will be removing all seats except the driver and passenger seats, we'll have some sort of system in the very back (too timid it say which yet as I might get pounced on), the area where the second row of seats is now will be converted into a flat area for more storage, we don't want to take any passengers, guides or otherwise.

It's not our clothes we are concerned about, we travel light in that way, it's all the other things like fuel, water, bull bars, roof tent, roof rack, winch, spare wheels (we are using alloy's so maybe that will start another debate!) the list goes on.

If you look on some websites and see the gear people end up taking it's scarey, we hope that it won't be us but we also realise that no matter what, you will collect things and throw things along the way, it's just the way it is.

Drawers or no drawers, will it make a big difference? Well it might and might not!! Who knows but it certainly is interesting to hear what people have to say. Thanks.
P.S. I'm getting the weight of the BW system and will let you all know asap.

Its difficult to make a decision on an expensive piece of off the shelf kit without being able to try it before you buy, but meeting up with people and seeing the different systems in place is a good start- like the cruiser meeting this weekend.

No system suits everyones needs and there is always compromise! But i know that its the little details on a big trip that make the difference between a system being a pain in the arse everytime you use it or a 'glad i did that'.

for me the outback drawer has and still is a 'glad i did that' choice. On a daily basis the hairy mut sits on top of it and i can still get my stuff. I can sleep on the it. Can stack more boxes on and still get to stuff blah blah! I love em. Yes expensive but used every day it makes life just that little bit easier and thats important on a big trip. I have taken one set of 2nd row seats out for the fridge and one left in for the little fella and it folds down for sleeping or when in 'van' mode.
If i dont sell the cruiser soon then there maybe a 2nd hand Outback drawer sytem for sale... would be a shame to have to take it out tho.
Cheers
Stan

Rubbermaid Boxes and Wooden Drawer under rear Seat
 

I always stick with Rubbermaid clear poly boxes which are pretty much indestructable and u can see wats in em(don't buy cheap ones).Loads of teatowels stuffed in will dampen noise considerably.I find this arrangement together with strong straps and lashing points gives loads of space around and above the boxes for all the other 'stuff'that you just cannot find a home for no matter how hard you try.

I gave up on neatness;offroad overlanding will cure this disease pretty quickly but,no substitute for good quality packing boxes.

Another great idea I put into a Disco was to raise the rear seat about 50mm with steel spacers and put a purpose made wooden tray under there for tools etc.

Weight of Storage System
 

Well here we go, the weight is 80kgs for the two-drawer system and 90kgs for the Tourer system. Anyone know the weight of three rear seats on a Toyota LC VX?

I don't know how heavy the seats might be, but 90kg is the equivalent of four jerry cans of fuel, and it's only packaging. What about the content? Oh well, it's a high price for being neat :rolleyes3:

first post!
 

Heya all,

Obviously new here and this is my first post, so take it easy on me!! :innocent: Anyway, for those of you who don't frequent ih8mud, I have really been admiring this setup. Also, if you do a search on storage drawers, rear storage etc you will find numerous ideas there!

For my LX450 I went the African Outback route and can say for fact; it's much heavier than the replaced seats!

Sorry if I'm just pointing out the obvious! :helpsmilie:

Looking forward to some good discussion here! I'm in the process of buying a very nice Volvo TGB 11 (C303) to setup for travel from Alaska to Argentina...

Happy travels,

-JM