A jerrycan became a storage box

Here's a fun project that I want to share.
A while back I came up with the idea to convert a jerrycan into a rear mounted storage box.

As I did a search on the web I found out that a lot of people are doing all sorts of cool stuff out of jerrycans. I never saw what I had in mind though.
My idea was to mount it with hinges, so it can be flipped out downwards in a 90 degree angle.
The hidden side should be cut open so I could store stuff in it. I'm thinking ropes, gloves and such.


I found six old jerrycans for sale, just a short ride from where we live.
I payed €10 for the lot. Fair enough :-)

So, are you a jerrycan or a jerrycan't?  ;-)

For a while I thought I should do this project as a step by step tutorial but I decided not to, it's to much of a distraction for me. I'm pretty sure you can figure it out anyway.

The L-shaped framework was made by cutting and welding a beam of a Thule roof rack.

It's bolted to the door using three bolts in the door hinges. I was hoping that I wouldn't need to drill any holes in the door but it I had to do one to hold the right end of the L-shape to the door.

I attached an old brass hinge with pop-rivets to the horizontal beam and the jerrycan.

The opend side is covered from water and dust by this flexible cutting board - same kind as I used for my mud flaps.

As you can see there's also a strap to keep it tight and another strap to take some tension away from the hinge when the box/can is flipped out.

I came up with a pretty cool solution to keep it tight and snug in the upright position.

I took a stainless steel rod and bent it to a Z-shape. One end goes into a hole in the beam and one goes into a slot that I cut into the neck of the jerrycan. When I close the lid it all locks in a firm grip. Pretty sweet!

And I could put a padlock on the lid to keep all my fancy gear safe.

So, what am I going to do with all those extra jerrycans?

I got some ideas...