VW mods - Bonus drawer
Sometimes you have to wonder what Volkswagen and Winnebago were thinking when they
designed the interior layout. One of the most egregious examples of wasted space
is the large volume under the rear seat. A plastic compartment only takes up about
half the volume under the seat, leaving the rest of the space hidden and inaccessible
behind a plastic barrier.
I built a drawer that holds my laptop stuff. That means a full size keyboard, widescreen
laptop, mouse, a couple legal pads for notes, and all the cables to plug everything
together.
The first thing I did was remove the plastic barrier. It easily pulls off without
any tools. Yes, now it looks a bit uglier but I don't mind.
Next, I built a drawer with outside dimensions of 20" wide by 21" deep by 3 1/8"
high. I wanted to make it as big as possible, but two metal tabs that look like
something a seat belt would clip to were lurking in the bottom rear of the space,
threatening to force me to make the drawer narrower in order to clear them. I solved
the problem by cutting a small notch in each rear corner of the drawer. When the
drawer is slid in, the notches prevent interference from the tabs, and barely reduce
the usable drawer space. You can see the notch in one of the corners in a photo.
The other corner has an identical notch.
To help the drawer easily slide in and out, I glued two thin strips of vinyl to
the metal panels on the floor. Where did I get the vinyl? Good question. You know
those vinyl fences they sell at Home Depot that look like white picket fences? Well,
I used a table saw to cut two strips out of one of the fence pieces. My brother
gave me a scrap, but I bet you could pick up one piece for a buck or two, if not
cheaper.
A wooden knob screwed to the front panel allows us to quickly grab it. And a short
length of elastic rope tied in a loop at the front base of the seat can be stretched
around the knob, keeping it from sliding forward when driving.
