130 - The old tray vs tub

**Danjeffery** · 15th March 2018, 07:16 AM

I went from a tub to putting a tray on. IMO a much better option. Not worried about damaging the tray off road like a tub. Work wise the tray is much more user friendly. I had a secure lockable canopy on the tub. But restricted me putting bigger things in.
Now have a Triple M steel tray with a torneau cover, the tray bolts together so they say allows enough flex to not crack mounts. An under tray draw is just about the best thing I’ve added. (Just don’t only rely on the T handle lock to hold it closed off road). And a jack off tool setup.

35” tyres will scrub the guard on a tub.

**caylieanddavid** · 15th March 2018, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Danjeffery

I went from a tub to putting a tray on. IMO a much better option. Not worried about damaging the tray off road like a tub. Work wise the tray is much more user friendly. I had a secure lockable canopy on the tub. But restricted me putting bigger things in.
Now have a Triple M steel tray with a torneau cover, the tray bolts together so they say allows enough flex to not crack mounts. An under tray draw is just about the best thing I’ve added. (Just don’t only rely on the T handle lock to hold it closed off road). And a jack off tool setup.

35” tyres will scrub the guard on a tub.

Dan,

Sounds like a good set up. Do you remember which make of draw you used as I want to add one under my tray.

David J

**Danjeffery** · 15th March 2018, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by caylieanddavid

Dan,

Sounds like a good set up. Do you remember which make of draw you used as I want to add one under my tray.

David J

Draw is made by AMA. But they’re all pretty similar. Made out of Aluminium. But they can hold a heap so keep that in mind. I reckon mine added about 130kg.

**sdt463** · 15th March 2018, 12:54 PM

Like every one else I prefer the look of the tub but find the tray a lot more convenient. apart from the side access below my tray I carry the spare wheel, a 125 liter second tank and 60 liters of water.
Dave

**Esmac** · 15th March 2018, 12:55 PM

I bloody love my tub.

I fit 2 drawers in mine with my fridge, tent, annex, 60L water, second battery, tool box, shovel, highlift jack and an entire slide out kitchen below the height of the sides. Then I have my canopy on top with mattress. no way I would be able to use the kitchen or fridge if it was mounted to a tray.

I also have 35's and a few inches of lift which wouldnt help.

Really depends on what you are using it for like others have said. When the canopy and drawers arent in etc I just lift heavy stiff into the back at the tailgate end and light stuff over the sides.

Stu.

**BlackD90** · 15th March 2018, 07:00 PM

what did you do with your tub mate??

is it for sale?

Originally Posted by Danjeffery

I went from a tub to putting a tray on. IMO a much better option. Not worried about damaging the tray off road like a tub. Work wise the tray is much more user friendly. I had a secure lockable canopy on the tub. But restricted me putting bigger things in.
Now have a Triple M steel tray with a torneau cover, the tray bolts together so they say allows enough flex to not crack mounts. An under tray draw is just about the best thing I’ve added. (Just don’t only rely on the T handle lock to hold it closed off road). And a jack off tool setup.

35” tyres will scrub the guard on a tub.

**Danjeffery** · 15th March 2018, 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by BlackD90

what did you do with your tub mate??

is it for sale?

Sold it a few years back.

**BlackD90** · 16th March 2018, 04:47 PM

sweet mate, cheers

Originally Posted by Danjeffery

Sold it a few years back.

**ntguy** · 16th March 2018, 09:28 PM

Would be good if we can some pictures of draws etc.

I have seen the commercial made draws have a zipped up canvas or heavy duty cover. you just unzip it to get into tray

**Fubar** · 21st March 2018, 07:18 PM

Sounds pretty similar to mine.
My drawer is 990 wide (internal) 200 high, and 1220 long. Mine is shorter because I have the 200l fuel tank behind it.
Using the Teflon slides means you can make that drawer as big (long) as you want without any issues.
I have a lid on my drawer so its 99.9% dust proof. The lid is in one piece so it's a bit awkward (heavy) to access. I'd do that differently and make that 2 pieces.
The up side of my strong lid is that I can use it for anything, table, chair, step to get on roof (but 2 pieces would be just as strong).
I also decided to extend my tray chassis 400 mm past the end of the Defender steel work.
I caded it up to ensure I wasn't intruding on departure angle, and I just don't put anything heavy in that area. The reason I did that was so I could sleep in the back if I had to.
No problems with that idea in the bush, but that extra couple of hundred mm is a pain around the suburbs parking etc, and again I'd do that differently and keep the chassis shorter and make the tray longer if I wanted. A good way to ensure nothing heavy goes in that area.

I'm also an admirer of the tub. No doubt it is a thing of beauty. I was eyeing off Nick's tray and thinking about pulling my heavy duty back off and replacing with a tub just for general use. If I did I'd no doubt have to spend a couple of grand getting a roof rack, and making a lockable space, some where to put the spare, so I'm not sure what I'll do.
Let me know if you want any more photos. The photos weren't really relevant to your fuel tank post so I didn't give you much detail.
Cheers
Mark

Thanks Mark,

I get it now with the tank...I was talking to having it under the seats in the back row.

What you have is exactly what I'm after. I too have a longer tray (2000mm) which makes for a fantastic nights sleep when the weather turns to crap or you pull in to camp late at night. I have laboured over shortening it to make it more user frieandly on tights tracks or built up areas. I am kicking stones around right now with a shorter hard shell full time canopy design that allows me to sleep in it cross wise.

I'm interested in the teflon slide arrangement that you have....did you source the slides or craft them up yourself. Seems like a good simple solution....I did a similar thing using plastic strips on 12mm marine ply drawers in my slide on camper, with a light spray of silicone you would be hard pressed to believe they are not on rollers.

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