Thread: HX 1 Tonner Tray

talowwood, merbau, kwila.
anything hard & wheather resistant.
what colour do you want?

Not real sure yet as I havnt decided on the body color.Although Im swaying towards a Brilliant Red metallic so Im assuming a reddish color wood.
(sorry about my lack of knowledge but geez there is a lot of types of timber...:confused

Ive checked out Tallowwood and Merbau but I think it may be to dark,Jarrah is winning so far but Im keeping all avenues open as the body might not be perfect for metallics and White it may go.
If thats the case then Id have to maybe go the Mountain Ash look.

teak is excellent outdoors. high silica content; b!tch to machine but great for water

Welcome in Neil
Glad to have a car enthusiast kicking around here with the rest of us loonies. Timbers I have in my shed include blackwood, ash, Tallow Wood, and Jarrah.

Just guessing but are you going for a timber "fence" come surround and the tray will be steel or whatever? Will it be all Timber? I think you might find that Ash marks up a bit too easily for what you are doing. Blackwood is great however Jarrah is harder etc. Tallow Wood is really tough and looks great and is ideal for outdoor use.

A good web site is this one http://www.australianhardwood.net/speciesindex.htm it has pictures to go with the charts so you can see what the finished timber looks like

Studley

One I didn't mention with a lot going for it is Yellow Stringybark. Same sort of league as Jarrah bit lighter and nicer looking grain to my eye anyhow.

Studley

That helps when you got a pack of it Studley

Sidey, if this ute is going to be a daily driver your going to need to keep the wood covered. As no matter what top coats you put on it constant sun will make the wood go grey in colour(espes jarrah)
Another thing to consider if its a daily driver, a hard wood trays weight is considerable... it'll decrease the load capability and increase fuel consuption.

Just lower the sucka to the weeds and give the tray a tubbed look in alloy add a nice roll cage/bar with a nice fuel cell inbetween!(how bout some airbags)

"$6000" audio... that I like's!
Where are the sub(s) going under the tray? If so, you going Bpass or are you cutting the rear wall?

I saw a piccy on the net somewhere, of a ute where the owner had made a wooden rollbar (or ladderbar, or whatever it's called behind the cab of a ute).

Cheers,
Andrew

I used to live and work in Tully, Far North Qld once upon a time, and the locals used Jarrah decking for the decks of their 'flash utes'. The common wisdom was to get PVC stormwater pipe, cap one end, fill with a wood decking oil and use it to soak the timber pieces. Leave it for a few days and then put it in another (unfilled with oil) PVC pipe (capped) to collect any 'run off". And so on till all the boards were treated. They would also use some kind of sealant. They would bolt the boards to the steel tray 'frame', leaving a 5 mm gap between the boards for swelling and water runoff. The timber went "grey/brown" but that's what happens in the sun anyway.
This is in Tully mind you where there is 2.5 metres of rain a year. This way the decking lasted, and the gaps accommodated swelling due to the high humidity and rain. I helped one of the blokes I worked for to do his Hilux the same way, and he would carry 44 gallon drums and ton fert bags on the tray (light steering with the tone fert bags but ). From memory the bolt holes were a smidgin (1mm) oversize.
These were working vehicles that were scrubbed up for the B&B's or trips up to Cairns to chase backpacking ladies . Damn, now I am just boring, in cold melb. with a mortgage. I too need a ute!!!

Hey all thanks for the welcomes and replies,very mucho appreciated
I found the species guide a few weeks back and its been a great help to get the ball rolling.
Over the next 2-3 weeks Im going to head around to various timber places and get some samples to have a looksy at and decide what will look the goods.
It will be a dialy driver but will be kept in the garage at home and when its awork Ive got access to a carport to keep it under so I should be able to slow down the ageing process a bit.
I like the idea of the PVC staining method,mmm food fa thought!!!
Hypothetically if I was to get the timber and start doing that would it be better for it to be done early and let it sit then repeat the process a week or 2 before it gets laid or am I just wasting my time on the 2nd application?

Harry have you been peeking at my list of things ta do...?
Ive got 2 truck airbags(used on the cabin suspension systems) and will be fitting them on the rear for that little bit of extra capacity...lol. Bags are rated at 4ton each...and they are the light duty truck version aswell!
Bags will be filled by an onboard compressor and a seperate air/purge tank.
Oh I may make the tray tilt yet...just working out whats best way to mount the ram/s and its an air lift type pump to be fed by the compressor aswell.

me adds Yellow Stringy to the list...

Theres a place in Pakenham that has approx 150x25x5500 WA Karri for $12.00 a length, rough sawn but nice when flattened out, planed up and polished.
Hard as nails too.