After a *lot* of bad luck on Marketplace, I overpaid for a 2nd gen Prius. I’d originally wanted a Sienna to create another van/darkroom, but a tight carpark at my apartment building and $4/gallon petrol made me lean towards something more practical for day to day use. Back in Australia I’d found myself passing up landscape shoots at the macro level (Hiace being too bad on gas to want to take many longer trips) or micro level (Yaris getting great mileage, but the 10-15 minute setup and breakdown time on either end was a deterrant to doing multiple shoots), so I ultimately wanted something I’d be willing to drive long distances, but also could be set up quickly for a one-off plate by the side of the road if I came across something interesting. 

I had this same idea back in Australia and had started constructing a more purpose-built, timber darkbox to fit in the boot of the Yaris. I spent way too much time trying to figure things out, and ultimately when I finally got it mostly together, I messed up the big sheet of blackout fabric I’d been intending to use as the shroud. In the end I wound up buying the van not long after for my last 6 month hurrah, and most of the unfinished darkbox was cannibalised for parts in that build. While it sounds like a failure (and it was), I did learn a lot about what to do/not to do, which made building this one comparatively straightforward. 

The Prius is a liftback rather than a hatchback - in addition to losing the vertical space in the back due to the downward slope of the hatch, it opens straight up rather than out and over (which is handy for clipping your blackout fabric to, and also blocks rain). There is the Prius V which is a more traditional hatchback wagon, but they were out of my price range and share the same reliability issues with the head gasket/EGR valve that the Gen 3 has. 

First step was creating the sliding platform - the rear bumper on most vehicles means you’d be bending your back uncomfortably to use something directly inside the boot. Having a mat in the cargo area was a game changer for getting the shape of the platform right, compared to trying to use a compass to scribe the curves of the Yaris boot. I picked up some sawhorses and other tools at the Tool Library (probably one of my favourite things about living in Denver), and some 2x4s, drawer slides, and misc fasteners at Lowes. My in-laws had a big piece of 3/4” scrap ply in the garage that they were happy to donate for the base. It had a bunch of dried caulk on one side, so I made that the bottom.

Next I framed up the box using 1x2s, using the internal dimensions of the boot as my guide for sizing. Most of the wooden darkboxes I’ve seen online tend to use pretty thick plywood or MDF, which is easier to join and makes for a very robust piece… but also leads to them weighing a tonne. I opted for a skin-on-frame construction to save weight, as it’s a decent walk from my apartment to my parking spot and I’m not planning on dropping or standing on it. 

This is obviously a really amateur job with the L-brackets and that, in hindsight I should have gotten a jig and tried using dowels for a cleaner look, but this part isn’t going to be visible in the finished product. Having access to a drop saw (mitre saw) did make a huge difference for getting nice even cuts on the ends. 

Always handy keeping old offcuts and scraps for things like propping up the lid while you drill holes for the piano hinge. Not pictured, but I squared up the edge of the lid with a circular saw after the picture below was taken. 

Rather than the more complex shape for the lid I tried on the failed timber one Australia, I opted for a single piece of 1/2” ply (another garage find). Another thing I changed up in this design was not using a gas strut for the lid like on my old plastic gear case one - even having used the smallest strut it put a lot of unneccessary stress on the case, which led to the latches eventually failing. These basic metal ones are sturdy, simple, and effective.

Next was the… idk, subfloor? These are nice to have so you aren’t reaching too far down into the darkbox with the tray/sink, and more importantly for holding your silver bath in place to avoid messy and expensive spills. Unfortunately my trusty old 8x10 travel tank developed a slow leak so it was left in Australia, the one in the picture I bought locally from a former wetplater. It lacks the gasket on the lid so will require decanting the silver bath at each stop, which obviously kinda contradicts the design brief of “as quick to set up as possible”. I’ve decided to put off buying another one for later, but it should be trivial to cut and install another subfloor to fit it using the old one as a template when it’s time to update. The 11x14 tray was just in there as a test-fit. 

Next was the actual sink; after some searching online it turned out that food trays come in standard sizes, and a full-size one is 12x20, which fit the dimensions I had earmarked for the sink pretty well. I picked one up locally at a restaurant supply store for about half what Amazon was asking. They had a few different variations, including black with little ridges on the bottom, as well as metal, and ones of varying depth. I spent like 40 minutes trying to figure out how to rig an adapter for the drain thing I found at Home Depot before giving up in disgust at what it was all going to cost. On a whim I tried Lowes on the way home and there was a cheap, turnkey solution. 

This hinged platform is for economising space, I had something similar in my van. It drops down to cover most of the sink area to form a workspace when you’re pouring the plate or loading the holder, leaving the hole in the corner so you can still dispose of liquid waste (usually alcohol from cleaning the developer vessel) when needed.

Got to in-laws a bit early one night so had time to cut the lightbar to size (1/2” aluminium U-channel normally used as trim on the edge of plywood), and bolt/screw it into place using some leftover L-brackets I bent in a vise. This is a design I recycled from Australia, which helps get the safelight over the work area. A step bit was used to drill the holes in the U-channel so the bolts could fit through. It’s important to centre these as there’s barely any clearance for the retaining nut inside; I had to use needle nose pliers to hold it fast while I tightened it down. 

To be continued…