Storage Boxes

Filing cabinets get a makeover

We know we have a limited amount of space inside the bus. We also know that once we begin adding a bed and a kitchen, that limited space will begin to shrink. Our solution? storage boxes under the bus!

We took a lot of inspiration from Gus the Struggle Bus and Backroad Purpose. Ana spent some time under the bus measuring spaces and figuring out where we could put storage boxes big enough to be able to store anything. There's a spot between the gas tank and the second wheel, but it would have been 10inches wide, 14 inches tall, and less than 10 inches deep. Not worth the trouble. However, behind both rear wheels there was enough space to build reasonably sized boxes.

One reason we wanted to build the boxes now instead of later in the conversion process is that we were getting pretty tired of not being able to leave our tools in the bus. If we had locking storage boxes, we would feel much better leaving the tools in the bus. Also, if the boxes are done and installed, they can be painted to match the design of the bus.

We knew we wanted to reuse a lot of material, so we were psyched when we found a couple of filing cabinets, slotted angle, and metal doors for free.

Cutting off the front of the filing cabinets

After removing the filing cabinet drawers and slide mechanisms, we cut off a few inches from the front of the cabinet. It's impressive how exciting an open box made use feel and how easy it was to make this part of the storage boxes! The angle grinder has been one of our most-used tools during this entire process.

Cutting slotted angle to reinforce the filing cabinets

Korra helping

Grinding down the edges

Elad's parents were in town and they were a lovely extra set of hands! They were so helpful, especially Bill for finding the best way to grind down the metal burs.

Cutting the doors to fit

We used the doors from another old cabinet, and so we had to cut the old doors to fit over our boxes.

Lids, handles, and locks

We used 2 hinges to attach the lids to the boxes. This part took us longer than we'd like, because it took multiple attempts and some re-drilling of the rivet holes.

We took the handles from the old filing cabinet drawers and attached them to the lids as a little throwback to what the boxes used to be. This was easier and faster than we thought it would be.

The locks are mailbox locks that Elad rekeyed to have the same key. We didn't want to have a different key for each box, so it was important to be able to rekey the locks.

FlexSeal and Paint

Elad used FlexSeal on all the internal edges of the box and anywhere we drilled a hole to close any gaps and prevent moisture, bugs, and dirt from coming into the boxes.

Then Elad painted the boxes with a rust preventative paint. After we install the boxes, we will spray paint any exposed surfaces with truck bed liner.

We also attached some of the leftover L-track that was previously in the bus to the "ceiling" of the boxes to reinforce the areas that would be bolted to the bus.

Measuring very carefully

One the boxes were done, there were no more steps left but to cut a hole in the side of our bus. This was very scary for us, but it had to happen.

Ana crawled under the bus to measure where exactly we needed to cut into the bus. We wanted to attach the boxes to the i-beams under the bus to have strong points of attachments, so we needed the box to be in just the right spot to touch two i-beams.

Elad used a carpenter's square to draw a perfect rectangle for the box to fit into the bus. Then came the reciprocating saw... AHHH!