GU Rear Door Table with Gas Struts

[Shonky]

Hey everyone, Shonky the backyard mechanic here!

So I decided a while back that my first 4x4 Theo, will be a touring vehicle.

One of the projects I wanted to achieve was a different type of rear door table. You always see the ones with the rope and it's a sound concept that works quite well, but like all my projects, this one will be different.

I started out with some 16mm treated plywood cut to a decent but not over cumbersome length ( a lot of the tables I see completely cover the door and I didn't want that). Next I procured myself some meshed metal to make some brackets for the struts as well as the slide of the bottom end of the strut.
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With these sheets I had to grind and cut to make custom slides for this to work. At a later date, some heavier gauge metal will be used but for now this will suffice.

Once I put some hinges on the wood, I was able to dummy install in to get the right position for the slide to work with the struts.
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Once I got the measurements and all the attachments on the wood ie. sliders with the bolt already inside and the hinges, I then got to start putting down the marine carpet. I ended up not using glue like I should have and just staples the life out of it instead.

End result being an auto opening table with strong support to hold as much as the hinges can handle. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347264697.187180.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1347264721.182183.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1347264732.961254.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1347264751.292570.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1347264765.769006.jpg
To say the least, I'm very proud of the outcome although I will be replacing the hinges with some larger ones as well as replace the sliders and bracket for the struts as it was quite flimsy metal and could do with a thicker cut. The prototype is there now and it shouldn't take long to replace now I know what to do.

BTW, all the hardware I got was from my local Bunnings (shameless plug) and all for roughly $40.