After years of running a cheap alloy tray and then an old second hand steel tray I finally got around to setting up my dream setup on my 1991 Toyota Landcruiser, courtesy of Dynamic Slide On Campers in Hervey Bay. It has now been over 2 years with my new setup so this blog I will cover the basics as well as review how its going now.
In the Beginning...
My setup before this was pretty bare bones. In 2013 I got a second hand steel tray for $700, it had a lot of wear and tear and being steel, a fair bit of surface corrosion. The headboard was off so I had to weld it on, it was rough to look at. I repainted my it on a YouTube video that you can watch here. I had also been running two alloy boxes (Supercheap brand) to store everything, which I had to seal due to leaks.
Overall it was a solid tray, I wasn’t afraid to hit or scratch it, came with tray sides also. Downsides was it was incredibly heavy and every scratch or dent immediately showed signs of corrosion.So the whole setup had served me well but it was certainly time for an upgrade…
At first I really just wanted more sealed space to store things on trips away but I didn’t want to sacrifice my tray space (why own a ute if you can’t use it as a ute right?). So I started looking at just dog boxes, something I could lock and keep things dry in. I spent around a year researching different options but quickly found that there wasn’t too many places that were willing to budge from set dimensions for everything. Which now, working in a fab shop, I completely understand that, custom work is not easy. So next I played around with the idea of changing my entire tray and begun looking for custom shops.
I eventually stumbled upon Dynamic Slide On Campers. It honestly wasn’t a place I had heard or seen of before but they were well respected in the community and after seeing some of their work I was sold. The entire team were wonderful to work with and I quickly realised they had an incredible amount of experience with custom, touring builds. Perfect!
Dynamic were able to take my ideas as well as measurements over the phone and create a complete rear solution including roof top tent with solar panel, alloy tray with sides, insulated dog box, carpeted rear canopy with internal drawer, undertray toolboxes, spare tyre and jerry holder. The entire build was done without them ever needing my vehicle which was so handy! I only spent a few days there while the entire tray was fitted and wired up. You can watch that trip to pick up the setup here
One of my biggest concerns getting canopies was losing the functionality of owning a ute. I have used my tray more times than I can count over the years and Ive never really understood owning a ute but being unable to use it as a ute. So one of the key aspects to this build was retaining my ute capabilities which Dynamic nailed. Both my dogbox and rear canopy can be jacked off to utilise the full tray length. Or lifting off the rear canopy and running tray sides. You can watch the process of lifting the canopy on and off below
Installing
Removing
Specifications
For those interested in dimensions (mm) I will list them here.
- Dog Box Canopy 800 x 1800
- Rear Canopy 1100 x 1800
- Tray 2275 x 1800
- Roof Top Tent 2400 x 1700
And weights (kg) are below:
- Dog Box Canopy 110kg
- Rear Canopy w/Power System & Battery 270kg
- Tray w/Toolboxes 150kg
- Roof Top Tent w/Solar Panel 115kg
I was also able to have a complete 12V Enerdrive system installed at the same time by the guys at Dynamic. The Enerdrive ‘Adventurer’ power system is a pre-built stand alone system that can easily be removed or re positioned and includes a 2000W inverter, DC to DC charger, 40A AC Charger and a seperate 200Ah Lithium Battery which is hidden away neatly behind the drawer with a false floor for easy access.
For all updated pricing and quotes please get in contact with Dynamic Slide On Campers directly. Or pop into one of their two locations at Hervey Bay or the Gold Coast.
Hervey Bay
48A Lower Mountain Road,
Dundowran QLD 4655
Contact: 07 4124 8898
Gold Coast
Shed 3/26 Greg Chappell Drive,
Burleigh Heads QLD 4220
Contact: Sheldon 0417 957 439