Improved drawer storage

gande · January 2019

EDITED FOR PICTURE RESIZING - Sharon

Here are some pictures of how I improved the drawer storage in our Tab 400.

peterac50 · January 2019

I’d love to do something like this. Did you do this from scratch. Or did you buy and I talk premade dividers. Love to know how you did this.

gande · January 2019

I did it myself. I'll post some more pictures and information shortly. If you have a table saw, it's pretty easy to do!

gande · February 2019

EDITED FOR PICTURE RESIZING - Sharon

This shows how the inner drawer slides out of the back of the main drawer.

View of inner drawer box made with 1/2" plywood sides...similar material to what NuCamp uses. Drawer bottom is 3/16" birch plywood rabbeted into the sides. The outside width of this inner drawer is 1" narrower than the inside width of the main drawer to allow for drawer guides.

Drawer guides are 18" full extension guides from Home Depot...about $15 a pair. They look very similar to original guides from NuCamp.

The back of the drawer has to be cut out to allow the inner drawer to slide out.

I made a little knife block to hold our steak knives. Customize to your needs.

Sharon_is_SAM · February 2019

@gande, try Crop Size or Image Size to reduce your picture size. The large phone images prevent some threads from opening. If you need some tips on resizing, let me know.

Sharon

gande · April 2019

Sharon_is_SAM what is the correct size for pictures in the forum?

Sharon_is_SAM · April 2019

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/47/what-size-should-my-posted-forum-photos-be#latest

No wider than 600 pixels for horizontal views and no taller than 800 pixels for vertical views. The link takes you to the permanent announcement - the top of the forum Discussion list.

Thanks!

Tabulating · January 2020

I really like this idea. I am getting ready to cut chunks out of our T@b and I am hoping you could post the dimensions of the additional drawer as well as how deeply you cut in to the back of the existing drawer.

I see the additional drawer rides a little tall for the original. It appears you have done this to maximize the dimensions and I would like to make use of your good work.

Also, where did you source the 3/26" plywood.

Thanks a bunch!

Bill

gande · January 2020

Our trailer is in storage for the winter right now, so I am unable to give you any actual measurements. I didn't have a dimensioned plan for the inner drawer; I just built to fit.

I am assuming you have a tab 400 like we do. If so...

The standard drawer has a built in divider about 4 " from the left side of the drawer box. I used this, and the right side of the drawer as the mounting places for the drawer guides of the new inner drawer.

As shown in my original post, I purchased a set of 18" full extension drawer guides from Home Depot. These require 1/2" space on either side of the drawer box, so the drawer box needs to be 1" narrower than the inside dimension from the built in divider on the left to the right side of the drawer.

I found a silverware tray (at Walmart, I believe) that was just the right width to fit in the new inner drawer. Originally, I was going to build in the silverware dividers, but then I thought it would be handy to be able to take the plastic tray outside to the picnic table when needed. I used the remaining space behind the silverware tray for a small steak knife block.

The drawer sides are 1/2" maple or birch veneer plywood and the bottom is 3/16" ply, both originally sourced from Rockler Woodworking (or Rockler.com if you don't have a store near you), although in the case of making this drawer the material was leftover from other projects.

I made the height of the inner drawer to accommodate the silverware tray. I did raise it up a little above the sides of the original drawer to leave as much depth as possible below without having any interference when closing the drawer into the cabinet. The cutout in the back of the original drawer was sized to accommodate the new inner drawer AND to leave the drawer catch on the back of the original drawer in its original location.

Everything was glued together with Gorilla Glue and clamped till dry--I don't think I used nails at all.

Hope this helps! Sorry I don't have any actual dimensions for you, but as you're making it, it becomes kind of obvious.

rh5555 · January 2020

I was inspired by this modification and did my own twist on it. The modification was simple:

Cut out the back of the drawer much like @gande to allow the plastic cutlery tray that came with the TAB to slide out the back
Install lengths of 1/2" x 3/4" x 1/16" angle aluminum (from home depot) so that the 1/2" dimension rests on the top of the cutlery tray and the 3/4" dimension is screwed to the sides of the drawer that the tray rests on

The angle aluminum stops the cutlery tray from tipping up as you slide it back to expose whatever you've stored beneath. Make the angle aluminum fit loosely on the cutlery tray, or it will bind.

Although nowhere near as elegant as the @gande mod, it is quick, functional and cheap.

b407driver · February 2020

Such a great mod!

Kevin_K · January 2023

This is the best idea I’ve seen for a mod that fixes an irritating issue. I now have a new elevated project before our next camping adventure. Thank you!

DM159 · February 2023

Copied your tray mod - works great. Only problem for us is the tray cracked through and made it tough to get it retracted. I have since repaired the crack with epoxy.

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