* Yep, it's that time again, for another "storage" project to begin. I only thought that with my sidesaddle boxes added to the trailer (to store the miscellaneous loose gear and supplies that never found a permanent home) http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=71567, and with pretty much everything else stored under cover in my truck bed http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=71791, then my storage problems (for camping) were over. Not. I still had the one leftover cooler (my newest, Yeti-clone, Igloo IMX) without a good spot to carry it. It was going to have to ride in the passenger seat of my regular-cab '04 Silverado 2500HD; I'm tired of having coolers sloshing around in the cab!
* So, I shopped-around for folding tailgate-extenders, and never found one under $100, even used, I took another page from my past and made my own from re-purposed materials. Last time, I used scrap polycarbonate from a different type of bed-cover project on my '86 S-10, that was on a removable-pin slide-mount (there are no pictures that I can find at all, of any of my old trucks!), but it was a wind-catcher when it was installed, and often tried to go sailing away. This time, I decided to use another wire shelf (I love those things), that would be rust-resistant (black epoxy-coated, not zinc-chrome like my other shelves used as storage racks, which aren't always exposed to the weather), and wider, to maximize storage area on the 61" wide tailgate. I had ear-marked the 54" x 14" shelf when I was considering two roof-top racks running lengthwise beside the fishing-gear carrier tube up there, but decided on the side-saddle racks, using 30" wide shelves I already had.
* So, I ordered one for $22 (+shipping) last week, and used Rubbermaid wire shelf wall connectors (same as I used on my interior front shelf, and on my front exterior rack), which I still had six left (two will be spares), and #10-16 x 3/4" TEK self-drilling hex screws to attach it to the tailgate. It will fold forward when I close the tailgate, and it fits nicely in the limited space under the cover panel, and behind the coolers and fuel jug stored there. I only need to get some 1.5" x 1/4" aluminum flat stock (or maybe galvanized, or I can paint some flat carbon steel...it just depends on what's at Home Depot), and make the side braces (4). Two 48" pieces will do, and I have the bolts, pins, and leftover thru-knobs to make four side-braces (2 x 21", 2 x 25"). I'll take the wife to HD for more gardening stuff (again), and sneak in my supplies while there, tomorrow.