4wd Rear Drawer Systems & Fridge Slides

It’s easy to pack all your expedition kit into your 4wd. There’s plenty of space in that big read compartment, isn’t there? You can load up pretty much everything you need and it’s all easily accessed through the tailgate. Oh hang on, you’ve stopped for a brew, you put the stove in first and there are three tents on top of it? Well that’s not very convenient. Need your snatch straps? What, they’re stashed under the floor and all that gear’s on top of them? Hmm. There has to be a better solution.

There is. What you need is a rear drawer system. By mounting a couple of big drawers in the rear of your vehicle, with a strong deck on top of them, you create handy compartments that keep essential stuff easily available even when the back is stuffed with bulky gear. It’s also a useful safety feature. Accidents happen, and if your vehicle overturns or gets in a collision heavy gear can fly around inside and become a serious hazard for your passengers. Stowing it securely in drawers eliminates that risk.

It’s possible to build rear drawers yourself, but there are also plenty of commercial systems available. You’ll almost certainly be able to find something to suit your vehicle and there’s a good choice of layouts too. The standard setup is two large side by side drawers but you can also get systems with four drawers in a double layer layout, or two drawers stacked on one side and a space for a compact fridge on the other. Whatever layout you fancy look for a good sturdy one that lets you load more gear on top. Bulky items like sleeping bags, tents or mozzie nets probably aren’t what you want to be storing in your drawers. However they’re perfect for heavy stuff that you don’t want to have on top of your load but might need quick access to. Recovery gear is an obvious one; when you need jacks, straps or repair kit you don’t want to be digging through a mass of camping gear to find it, so just being able to pull out a drawer is ideal. The same goes for everything you need at a short stop, like stoves, brew-making kit or even folding chairs.

We’ve always found that fitting stuff in a 4wd is easy; it’s getting at it that’s the challenge sometimes. There are other advantages too though. As well as keeping things organised and easy to get at, drawers also add protection to your stuff. They’re pretty much dustproof, and guarantee that pests won’t get at your food if you stash it in there. Next time you’re loading up have a think about how you could do it better. A good drawer system could be the thing for you.