Siding tray for storage compartment

**RSteele** · 08-06-2020, 09:15 AM

I got tired of unloading the storage compartment every time I needed something that was toward the back. I had 2 diesel pushers before this 351m and they had slide out storage trays. I couldn’t find a pre made one that was the right size so I built one. First order of business was to straighten the wall. If you ever remove the plywood in the storage compartment you will find the mess Grand Design makes of the wiring, it is everywhere running in all directions with no attempt at order. You will also find that there is no reason for the wall in there to be angled. I screwed some 1x2 pine to the floor and ceiling and cut the plywood to the appropriate size to fit, reglued with spray glue and stapled the carpet back on. I bought 450 lbs x 48” drawer slides from Amazon and welded a frame together around the them. 1” aluminum angle was used to hold the plywood box I built to the drawer slides. I used 1” lag bolts to hold the frame to the floor, be careful to not use long screws in the floor because the gray and black tanks are under the floor about 3 inches and you don’t want a hole in them. I mounted a gate latch at the front of the box to keep it from opening while driving. I bought some carpet for trunks and glued it in the box, I couldn’t find the same color grand design used but I’m still on the hunt for it. The entire tray can be removed fairly easily. I used bolts to hold the box to the slide frame, remove the 4 bolts and the box comes out. The frame is held to the floor with 6 lag bolts, remove them and the frame comes out. It would be nice if they found another spot for that water panel so the storage compartment would be a full pass through and put a sliding tray in it. The storage space on the 351 is small and I could use more for sure.

**offtohavasu** · 08-06-2020, 09:27 AM

Nice work. How far away are you form Southern California? LOL

**RSteele** · 08-06-2020, 09:44 AM

Click image for larger version.

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Ventura county for a couple more years anyway, the day after I retire I’ll be gone to a state without the craziness! Here is picture of the drawer slide I used. It will probably come out sideways like all the others, not sure why the site causes the pictures to do that.

**offtohavasu** · 08-06-2020, 09:45 AM

Craziness is an understatement. Things are even getting crazy down here in Orange County. Someone broke the Orange Curtain.

**Cannon07** · 08-07-2020, 06:46 PM

Very nice, been wanting to go the same thing.

**RoJoSo** · 08-08-2020, 04:14 PM

Hey, that looks great. Looks like it functions just as good as it looks!

**rcastorena** · 12-10-2020, 09:09 PM

Very cool! Greetings from Moorpark! What city are you in?

**RSteele** · 12-11-2020, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by rcastorena

Very cool! Greetings from Moorpark! What city are you in?

I am in Fillmore down the hill.

**rwilkins** · 12-16-2020, 09:26 PM

This is super cool. Thanks for sharing!

**xrated** · 12-17-2020, 05:36 AM

I gave some thought to trying to build one myself right after I bought our 394M in late February, 2019. I ended up find a "kit" from Stromberg-Carlson that you could buy and build your own. I ended up getting it and building my own and I'm very pleased with it. Unfortunately, it seems that Stromberg/Carlson has discontinued these kits and I found one of the last remaining ones in stock. With the Stromberg/Carlson kit, you would order whatever length that you need/want, then you supply the plywood for it and make it whatever width that you need. I bought the 5' length rails and when I was finished, mine is fit like a glove. I utilize the entire length of the storage area (I straighten out that back wall also) and the clearance on the sides of the slide give me approx. 5/16" on each side....so the available space is well utilized. Here's a pic of the finished slide tray....