… Cab Drawer — Fostering Adventure

Truck Cab Storage Drawer & Auxiliary Heater

Using the truck in between repair jobs over the last two years, we discovered certain areas where improvements would make the truck more convenient to use. One of these areas was in the truck cab.

Despite the previous upgrades we did in the cab, the floor always seemed to collect junk that would be underfoot when we wanted to go back into the camper via the connecting tunnel. We also needed a place where we could store the electronics when the truck wasn’t being used. Somewhere secure, and out of sight.

Fortunately, we had a space in the cab that we could use to solve these needs. Under the bunk behind the seats, there was a space in the middle that was just part of the junk collecting problem. It was about two feet wide and almost two and a half feet deep. So this is what we did to take advantage of it.

One Solution For Two Problems

Much to our amazement, since everything else on the truck build seemed to work against us, the area in front of this dead space under the bunk was just the right size for a large drawer housed under the bunk to fully extend forward in between the seats. This drawer would be big enough to house all the electronic accessories used when driving, a map pouch, two binoculars, two headsets, a snack bin and the camera gear we want close at hand.

The baseboard style hot water heating core we would use to heat the truck cab at night.

But more than just a drawer for storage, the cabinet that would hold the drawer would also house a forced air heating element to heat the truck cab during the overnight period in the winter when the truck engine is off. It would help to reduce or eliminate the misery of crawling into a frigid truck cab on a winter’s morning.

This heating element would be fed by the cabin’s hydronic boiler system which would also warm the truck engine so that it too wouldn’t be starting up from a frozen state at the beginning of another cold day.

The Drawer Unit

Made from 3/4” baltic birch plywood, the drawer unit had to be made in three pieces. The drawer itself, the drawer cabinet and then the heater section located below the drawer.

The reason for the two piece cabinet was because of the limited space available for the cabinet install. Other equipment already installed on the bunk itself meant that we couldn’t lift the bunk up to get the cabinet in. It was easier to make the cabinet in two pieces than it was to remove the equipment we’d already installed.

Glue blocks holding the cabinet square.

Glueing the final cross brace in place.

This shows how the upper drawer surround screws onto the base heater section.

Test fitting the two parts into the area under the bunk.

We test install all the parts before we start painting it.

Cutting in the opening for the Southco latch.

This latch is what's called a compression latch. It pulls the drawer tight when pushed in.

Glueing the front onto the drawer.

All the parts after filling the brad holes.

The finished cabinet and drawer all ready for paint.

Painting the drawer and cabinet

Once the priming and inside paint was finished, we masked the inside, and where the drawer glides would screw on.

We wanted the drawer assembly to fit in with the rest of the “decor” of the truck cab. So it made sense to choose a finish that was similar to the bunk material and floor carpeting. We also wanted something that was extremely durable and colourfast. The perfect finish for this is spray-on truck bed coating. It gave us a textured finish with a dark charcoal grey colour. Since our project wasn’t very big, we just bought a few rattle cans of truck bed spray from the local speed shop. But before spraying it on we had to prime the wood with a primer/filler. This allowed us to sand the primer and eliminate any grain texture on the plywood surface. We also painted the inside of the drawer before the outside. It’s easier to mask the smooth white paint of the interior than it is to mask the textured outside surface of the bed liner.

The truck bed spray is a fast dry product, so we could spray it outside in the fine weather.

With a little practice, a uniform finish can be created even with a rattle can product.

We achieved the textured finish we were looking for.

Once the textured finish had fully hardened, the masking could be removed.

The finished drawer with the hardware installed.

Since the drawer and base were painted separately, care had to be taken to match the finish texture.

This shows the inside of the cabinet with the other half of the drawer slides installed.

A special wood based felt was applied to the back of the drawer front for the bump stop.

The finished drawer and cabinet assembly fully assembled.

The inside of the drawer was painted white so it was easier to see the items inside when in dim light.

Installing the heater

The cab heater and switch under the drawer.

The dedicated pump on the back wall circulates the boiler heated engine fluid around the circuit.

The heater we installed in the bottom of the drawer cabinet gets its heat from the camper boilers located at the back of the truck. The electrical power that runs the two speed fan also comes from the camper and its Mastervolt electrical system. So the heater can run all night without affecting any of the operating systems of the truck itself. So no worries of having dead start batteries when we want to get underway in the morning.

The heat is produced in the Webasto boilers and is transferred into the engine heat system via a heat exchanger that keeps the two systems separate. A dedicated pump circulates the engine coolant from the front of the truck to the back where it gets heated, and then back to the front. Just before that heated fluid enters the engine, it passes through the heat exchanger that we installed in the drawer cabinet.

The heater unit is a self contained unit with both hot water heat exchanger and electric fans for forced air.

We bought a two speed switch at the same time so we had an all in one solution.

We installed the heater hoses for in and out lines and made them ready for the in truck connections.

The heater has a clever design where the front grill also acts as the mounting mechanism.

Once in position, the heater hoses ran through the side wall of the tunnel area and into the cubby box behind the passenger seat.

The main heater hose lines from the boilers at the back of the truck entered and exited the cab through the floor.

The connection between the inside hoses and the outside hoses happen via some brass elbows inside the cubby box.

To protect the joints from damage from gear stored inside the cubby box we created a protection block that protrudes beyond the fittings.

Double sided tape holds the protection block in place.

The finished product

With the drawer assembly installation finished, it was just a matter of finishing the organization of the drawer interior.