Our New "Shed"
Ok, so it’s not really a shed. And it’s not really a garage. But when you are a full-time RV’er it’s nice to have someplace to put the stuff you would normally put in your shed or garage. Some of these things can be put in the basement storage of the fifth wheel, but this adds weight to your trailer. So, we thought it was a good idea to take advantage of the space on the rear deck and weight-carrying ability of the Big Tow-er and add a storage box or drom box.
My original thought was to purchase some sort of pre-made storage/tool box and mount them on the rear deck, behind the sleeper on the truck. After a little research, I discovered that I may be able to have a storage box fabricated to exactly what I wanted for about the same cost as buying the pre-made ones. A couple of Google searches led me to Pro Fab Associates in Manheim, PA. After looking at some pictures of their work, I decided Betsy and I needed to take a ride to Manheim to chat with them. Randy and Jesse were more than willing to give us a tour of their shop and show off some of their handy work. We were sold. We chatted with Jesse for a while, explaining to him what we envisioned for the box. After this conversation, he flipped over the pad he was holding, revealing a rough sketch of what he heard us say. Well, it was exactly what we both were thinking. Impressive!
After making an appointment with them, we dropped the truck off while we stayed at the Elizabethtown/Hershey KOA. Jesse said it would take him about a week to fabricate and install the box. As sometimes happens with custom work, and when creating a product from raw materials, it ended up taking a little longer than we were originally told, a little over two weeks. But when we saw the finished product, we both decided it had been worth the extra wait. The box looked great on the truck, like it had always been there and was ready to take on some of our stuff. The final dimensions ended up being 6 ft wide, 6 ft high and 30 inches deep. Plenty big enough to hold tools, golf clubs, 2 generators, air compressor, beach chairs, E-Z up, and any other weight we could get out of the trailer and onto the truck. A job well done. Thanks Jesse and Pro Fab!
