Organizing Your Kit: Camp Table-Package Shelf (Post #363) 7/1/2013

I carry a lot of crap important stuff in the boot of my Range Rover. At a glance, you can see the basket which has a tow rope, quart of oil, hand wipes, stocking caps, gloves. The bag in the center is full of tools. I know you don’t have to carry any tools in your 20 year old Land Rover.

The metal box is toilet paper and sunscreen. (don’t ask) A blanket and first aid kit. Another bag full with an additional tow strap and tie downs. (Note to self: consolidate that bag with the basket.) And the blue recyclable grocery bag has his and her’s rain slickers. My Zombie eradication tools, a  machete and Spetsnaz tactical shovel round out the kit.

More after the jump…

Imagine going to the grocery store to pick up the week’s groceries and the problem this layout has when placing the bags back there. So I devised a way to one cover this stuff and provide a place for groceries. Covering it provides the same function as keeping someone from seeing something they want bad enough to break a window to get it.

I wanted something I could ALSO use when we had a picnic or go to the park to serve as a table. I devised the longer legs and store them under the table with wingnuts.

The table construction is pretty simple.

• 1×3 board
• sheet plywood
• leg mounting hardware
• legs
• long bolts, washers, nuts, and wingnuts
• one inch wood screws
• wood glue

Cut your plywood to fit your boot space.
Cut 1×3 boards to go around the entire edge of your plywood.
Glue the 1×3 boards to the plywood. This step is to increase the strength. At six inch intervals, pre-drill pilot holes and screw the 1×3 boards to the plywood using the wood screws.

Here the table is assembled for use as a picnic table.

Drill the holes for the long legs. Using the bolts, nuts and washers mount the bolts to the table top. I mounted the bolts using a washer on the top of the table, a washer on the bottom of the table and a nut to hold it all in place. Using the wingnuts mount the picnic table legs to the bottom of the table. I used 28 inch legs for my picnic legs and used 8 inch legs for when it is serving as a package shelf. Experiment with your setup. You may want a taller package shelf. This is what worked for me.

Here the table is installed in the boot as a package shelf.

The table with the 1×3 glued to the outside is surprisingly strong. Here I have my springs and an air conditioning compressor on top. No problem. I have had as much as two bags of Quikrete on top. I did manage to break the table by overloading it with Quikrete and fence posts. I was able to just disassemble it and replace the 1×3 that broke.

This is an easy weekend project and if you have any talent you can finish the table to look really nice. Of course if you do, you probably won’t load bags of concrete on it.

I hope this gives you some ideas. Send me your creations, I’d love to see what you did.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.