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I reached out to ADGU a year and half ago to get a drawer system made. At the time they were looking for a Defender to develop a system for and I was also only about 30 minutes away from there shop. I went and talked to them. They measured out my vehicle and we discussed a few different option. Unfortunately the price they came back with was pretty high but I would say inline with the systems they had for other similar vehicles. What made me decided against it was they wanted to charge me additional development fee that added about 25% more to the price. I would have been ok with that if it was truly a custom system but they were at the time going to use what they developed to sell to other Defender owners. I get that they were trying to recoup their development costs but I wasn't willing to shoulder that burden. I would have expected them to just wrap that cost into the cost of doing business and hopefully by developing the system they would get a few more Defender owners to buy their product.
I ended up buying the Travall product. With shipping from the UK it was less than the ADGU system by almost half. Is it exactly what I wanted, no, but it works very well and fits into the back of the defender like it belongs there.
good to know! I did saw on Instagram that they have build a system for a defender 110 recently.
thats a shame though, I really liked how clean it looked and of course customization.
quite honestly, the pricing is better than I thought it would be. I watched their yt vids and was quite impressed with their bed platform option on the other vehicles.
As for the Travall product I had to modify it slightly because I have the rear cooling unit which sticks out into the side wing things. Yes you can get to the jack, but that is it. The other side doesn't move.
Do you have any pics of what you had to mod for the climate? Also do you have a 5 or 7 seater? I have a 7 and want something like this that I can remove relatively easily when I need to haul the kids + their friends. This looks like it would fit the bill.
Do you have any pics of what you had to mod for the climate? Also do you have a 5 or 7 seater? I have a 7 and want something like this that I can remove relatively easily when I need to haul the kids + their friends. This looks like it would fit the bill.
The Travall side wings are just carpeted wood. I took a piece of scarpe plywood and traced out the original piece and traced out the cut out I needed for the climate. Added some automotive carpet and it fit in perfectly. I do have the 7 seater but I removed the third row and put a second battery system down there. The Travall is designed to sit down in the grove of the baseplate and side trim of the 5 seater and then attach to the cargo tie downs.. The lid/floor of the 5 seater would be removed. Not sure how it will fit with the third row. I suppose it could just sit on top of it. It is not a light unit so if you are planning to remove it a lot, that seems like it might be a hassle.
Just to throw in some info, in case anyone is still looking for drawer systems
- Air Down Gear Up: spoke to them at length about options. They are willing to customize the height of the drawer /sleeper platform to your needs. The sleeper platform is similar to the one offered for 4Runner 5th gen; which slides back up onto the drawers. Sleeper is floating - ie no need for additional “legs” up top. Overall I thought their design was sleek, cnc cut materials, albeit I didn’t like the idea of sliding the sleeper on top of the drawers when stowed. The priciest among all options I explored - I was told close to 4.5k for a double drawer + sleeper. Not too sure about weight - it appears that similar setups for Land Cruisers /4runner runs around 140lb.
in their latest IG post, it appears that they made a kitchen setup for a defender made entirely without birch. So I supposed that’s another option.
- Terraquest Offroad (based in Riverside, CA): they offer “some” customization. I use air quotes because on their webpage, they sold it as fully customizable lol. Drawers and platforms are primarily framed with aluminimum extrusions, tops and drawer front are made with King Starboard HDPE.
Interior are made with bamboo/ birch pine. Side cubbies can be made with ACM panels. Overall I was drawn with the variety of materials that are offered AND being fully customizable or at least what was advertised.
I saw that they offer similar dual drawer without a platform for Lexus/toyotas at around 1.6k
Had them measure my vehicle, spoke about what I needed (2 drawers + a basic sleeper platform that is removable). They had the mockup in pdf in a week. I had some preference in the hardware that was used, provided links to those hardwares, and also wanted top hatch access to the platform.
These asks/proposals were all shut-down, which I thought was a little strange. At minimum I had hoped for them to work with me on what I wanted to customize.
Then came the quotation with the original mockup. It ran upwards of 3k, which was a tad bit more than what I was expecting, given the price point of drawers offered for other makes /models.
I passed.
- Overlander Woodworks (Norwalk,CA): another shop that offers customization. Made an appointment and within the day I drove up to have my vehicle measured out, spoke about what I wanted and received a quotation on the spot. I love the price transparency. More importantly, Irwin was very open to listening to ideas, and working with different materials like ACM panels/stainless steel top/ hex birch. I had questions around the drawers and he took the time to answer them all, which I appreciated. Requested to cut weight where possible and to use marine vinyl instead of carpeted material to wrap any plywood used, and he was fully accommodative.
Even had him build me a fridge tilt slide, and a false floor (to replace the cover above the trunk) and the total quotation was 2.3k. Estimated weight is approx 120lb. I placed my deposit on the spot
- Nomadik Overland (AZ) : I found them after I placed my deposit with Overlander. They offer removable sleeper and drawer systems made with Alu extrusion/ hex birch that are fully cancel cut. Customizable, but I’m not too sure about pricing. I would have considered speaking with them had I not already placed my deposit.
I'm interested in building a platform in the back of my 90. I know the answer is "it depends," but does someone have advice about which aluminum profile size is typically used, or would be appropriate to support someone crawling on it?
Too true! Do I say English is not my strong suit, yet it is the only language I know!
