been watching this with great interest - keen to see how it all goes for you. I've got a 2003 LWB toyota with a suspended floor in it, but strictly for work purposes. I've ended up strapping the kites and boards to the roof above the floor using webbing and plastic clips - still heaps of room between them and the floor, and still plenty of vision out the back window. Advantages of this method are easier access/removal, more space and they will dry better (and not leak any salt water directly onto the floor of the van).
Obviously you'd want to clean them a bit better than normal to stop a constant rain of sand into your bed, but all that takes is a few good bangs with your hand before putting away.
One thing i would suggest is bolting whatever frame you are going to make to the floor of the van - there are 10mm threaded holes in front and behind the wheel arches, just use a long 10mm high tensile bolt and a spring washer and it screws straight in. If you've ever been over a speed bump in an unloaded van you'll know why i suggest this- especially with an unattached frame which could bounce up then land on a bit of kite or board - it might only just land on a bit of the bag but you'd have a crap time trying to get it out.
I'll try and get some shots to show what i've done anyways.
just to really confuse the situation...
hey Smedg, after you sikaflex those holes if you're after a permanent rust free floor, you can try this... a mate of mine who is more into beach driving than he should bought a spook sierra, and to avoid rusting out his floor he bought a tin of resin and used just enough hardener to give it a 2 hour set off time, then just poured the whole tin onto his floor. left a nice thin film across the floor, and let the excess flow out the drainplugs.
voila, same floor.... no rust.
A little different to some suggestions, but I'm hoping this will best suit my needs. Please give last minute pearls of wisdom as unless I get some major fault pointed out i'm probably gunna give this a go in the next couple of days. (maybe ready for long weekend.. fingers crossed). Judge away.. I been thinking heaps about it but have close to no experience with this sort of thing... Hope I don't make a mess of it..
The 2 ply pieces will be strengthened by screwing runners to it. these runners will sit on top of two, four legged frames. The ply and runners are not joint to the frames. The frames aren't joint to each other or to the van. The four frame pieces that span the width of the two frames are bolted to the legs (not screwed) so they can be undone and everything can be taken out if necessary.
Excuse my poor drawing skills.
What do ya's think?
What do ya's think?
Rescued this topic from p. 3.. just in case anyone was interested. I ended up not making it anything like my plans after testing the strength of 17mm form ply... The bed is two sheets of 17mm form ply 1540 wide (minus curves to fit side of van) and the back sheet is 1m long. The front sheet is 104 long. (exact size of a queen mattress 1540 x 204) it is held up by one bearer across the van in the middle so both sheets of form ply can rest on it. (not glued or screwed or nothing) The bearer sits on two short legs that are curved on the bottom to sit on the wheel arches. The legs sit tight up against the wall of the van and are held in place by right angle aluminium wood screwed to the leg and self tapper screwed to the walls. (these are the only thing joint to the van) Two legs against the walls at the back and two legs inside the steps at the front. A really long bolt is dropped down thru the ply into the legs to keep things in place. of coarse in the middle the long bolts are dropped thru the ply, thru the bearer and into the legs. (8 long bolts, six legs.) The form ply sags about 4mm in the center if I put all my 80 kg on one knee in the center of the back. (It is totally unnoticable) all 12, 15, 17, 22, 25mm ply doesn't compare in goodness to form ply IMO. way saggier and nearly as heavey anyway. heavier once you support it probably. Everything sits in real neat, nothing is holding it down except the neat fit against carpeted walls, the shape around the partitions in the van walls and the bolts that are just dropped in to keep it square. I couldn't be any happier with how it turned out. Its high but still with heaps of head room, it doesn't rattle or bounce. Its supper comfy and sag free. Its real simple and only two small legs on the wheel arches are joint to the van the rest comes out easy to move a fidge or whatever. I went to my old mans house to use his tools and the design is pretty munch 90% his doing.. I was super sceptical at first as he's getting pretty old. I couldn't imagine it not jumping around and staying on legs that are sort of not really joint to anything.. I thought I would need to join more once his Idea didn't work that great but liked his idea as its so much simpler and less work and less materials than mine. And exactly what i wanted space wise. Man I'm so happy with how it turned out. Bought a mattress straight away and am about to upload images here then leave for a long weekend in Yamba. (thunder storms forecast worst luck.) What do ya's think.
This is my setup, raised floor by around 300mm( or the height of my dewalt radio), you can still kneelup in back with plenty of height. Kite box has 3 kites, 2 boards, harness, 3 bars, inpact vest, helmet and a few spares and 2 leisure batteries in it, rear has all my plumbing tools. Your dont need big props for floor span, I used 12mm ply with a batten screwed on top and bottom and a few uprights and this works fine no sagging anywhere. Carpet the top and there you go.
Just got back from 2 nights in Yamba. hot thunderstorm humid weather forecast... Turned out pretty perfect. Pippies beach was averaging between 16 to 26 knots SE for hours on end both days. No crowds. Slept in the van both nights with no rain. Had an awesome time. Think I'll be doing weekends much more regularly now.
@ Nickloop. That looks stylish! Nice job.
@ kitecrazzzy. Its my everyday car. I didn't want any sink or anything other than a ready made bed to crash on and a permanent home for all my kite gear. Mine is perfect for me. I'm stoked.
Cheers. Was thinking about a fan. But pretty keen on seeing how a whirly bird thing goes in the roof first. They are real hard to find around here though. I been to super cheap, auto one, auto barn, repco, boat shops. Found one at waco (a caravan place) but it was $50 bucks and not really perfect as i think some of them can be closed to stop heat escaping in winter for example. This one was just always open. Guess I could just stick something over it.
little bit of topic but has anone owned a mitsubishi xpress van?
this thead has got me keen to give it a crack myself and there seem to be plenty of expresses around for a couple of grand....
cheers
Graceful. Mine is a '99 2.4L petrol Express. Fair to say that they don't have the reliability reputation of a toyota or the coolness and quality of a vw IMO. I was originally looking to buy a lite ace or tarago or similar. I wanted a smaller engine so it was cheaper to run. I live near Tweed heads northern NSW and looked at so many vans. I did 3 trips up to Brissy as well as looking at everything that sounded good within about 200km of home. I looked at so many vans and got lied to sooooo many times by salesman and privates.... There were two f@rkers in particular who told me "no rust what so ever" I told them that I've been lied to lots lately and don't want to drive to north Brisbane to find nasty surprises. I told them that if it had some rust or rust work done I was interested but just wanted to know before driving up and finding it myself... After inspecting one at a dealership and finding massive painted over holes everywhere and doors ready to fall off due to rust, the salesman says 'oh i hadn't noticed that rust, its still a bargian though...' Another private guy replied (after I pointed out all the masses of rust) 'oh, that's not rust, that's just 'cause of how old it is' haha farker. Anyway I guess my point is that there are **** loads of these types of vans around but the vast majority have been trashed by tradies or freight businesses or similar. I would hold out for a private one that has been looked after as a family van (pull seats out yourself) or a private camper that may have very low kms. Expect to pay less for a mitsubishi than a toyota of similar kms for sure. And I reckon around 240 000 km is scary time. It seems to be when eveything starts to need replacing. There are plenty of expensive things to replace on these vans apart from the engine and transmission, and they are often hard to get at. If you are looking around $2000 dollars you may want something that has a long and thorough list of repairs (engine, gears, timing, starter motor, etc etc.) rather than one that is almost due for it all.. Eg. If you are really keen for air con. It pretty much must be working when you buy the van otherwise it may cost up to $2000 to replace just that...I reckon keep your eyes open for all breeds and thoroughly check out heaps and sooner or later a goody might pop up. They tend to move quickly around Christmas especially if you consider all the one that will be or have been teuro campers. (seabreeze taught me that word. ) Best of luck. Once you find one you like, I hope you fall in love as I have with mine. Its the greatest.
