As I am just about to pick up a van to carry all the gear I am interested to see some of the options people have used to deck them out with racks...so post away.
Especially interested to hear if anyone has had success using plastic connectors for box alloy.
I would also be really interested in seeing what people did as I still haven't desided how to deck out my van...
Not racks... shelves.
Pros:
- weight is kept low
- no possibility of boards or masts hitting me in the head
- sleeps two on the top shelf
- booms and sails drip onto the shelves (which can be replaced...), not onto the floor
- each shelf only has a few bolts to remove it
Cons: non yet...
Yeah a good start thanks for the pic, however I need to have a single seat in there - baby on the way.
And I want to avoid board bags...just one less thing to get in the way.
Most people I spoke to that had racks, had a problem with the footstaps and the nose being "too high", resulting it a lot of waisted van height. They also found that without the board bags, the boards got marked/dinted on the racks. YMMV.
As for the third seat - is the van a three seater? I dont have kids and I mostly trust that my gear wont move, but I'd be very dubious trading the "easy access" requirements, with the "dinted kid when braking" problem.
Thanks for the pic Mathew, I'm hoping to do something similar to my beast (already took the middle row of seats out) and this has given me some good ideas.
Do the boards drip onto the carpet and then onto the floor of the van which will rust?
I'm a bit worried about that, was considering some lino or something to stop drips.
Yo! I'm decking my new van out with racks at the moment. It's the second one I've done and it's great fun trying to fit everything in in the most efficient way to maximise space utilisation and minimise time to get the gear out and on the water.
I'll try to post some pics on the weekend but the concept is as follows:
- Keep all wet stuff to one side of the van
- Catch all the water runoff with a sheet of ploycarbonate bent to funnel runoff into tubs that can be easily emptied
- Build racks out of PVC pipes with elgate tube clamps. This is lightweight and gives the flexibility to change rack configuration for more or less boards
- front racks are narrower than back racks so boards can't slide forward
- 6 Masts in pvc tubes on the floor under the racks (and the polycarbonate sheet to catch water runoff)
- 6 Sails ontop of polycarbonate sheet and also under racks
- racks for 5 boards (4 windsurf 1 surfboard) ontop of sails, masts and polycarbonate sheet
- hooks on side of racks for 3 booms
- my van is LWB so there is room infront of the racks for more pvc pipes to hang my wetsuits towel and harness on. the polycarbonate sheet extends the full length of the back so it catches water runoff from wetsuits as well.
- Have a timber table on the other side of the van which is long enough to use as a single bed
- store eski and other camping stuff under table (or can put more windsurf gear if a friend wants to come along)
- Room infront of the table for a passenger seat but in my case it will be a change room for the cold winter melbourne days.
That just about sums it up. I've almost finished the wet side of the van (racks etc) and the next job (which will hopefully be the easy job) is to make the table for the other side. The van is a midroof long wheel base T5 transporter. I'll try and take some pics when it's done.
Goodluck and have fun! Vans are the best thing for windsurfing!!!
Cheers,
Fletch
I fitted a set of low profile sports racks to my van.
While I normally keep all my gear inside, I use the racks when I am away on weekends so that I can sleep inside the van, put the boards on the roof and store my sails and other gear under the bed.
Reason I chose low profile racks was to keep van height to a minimum so that it fits in most underground / shopping centre car parks.
Because the racks are so low to the roof you have to sit the boards with the noses up, otherwise if they are upside down the noses will dig into the roof.
Hope this helps.
I have just bought a Vito, which is only 2.4 long in the back so just enough for the boards (both slightly less than 2.4) to run straight down the lenghth of the van. I do a lot of city driving so the shortes length I could get away with was one of the factors in purchasing for us...also my wife may have to drive it from time to time.
It's a 2 seater up front, but has compliance for up to 5 seats. I want to keep all the gear on one side, so the other side of the van will have a seat for bub and space for all the stuff that goes along with baby in the back.
i've posted this before, its a five seater and nothing is bolted to the flour, only 4 bolts to the gas tank frame and teck screws to the 5ml ply for the bunk, 3 boards 7 sails, booms ect theres another one in my pics if you want to have a look
ps it's an ex taxi with 970,000 k's
My version of a van,fits lots of stuff and cheep to repair when it rusts.Gave up on vans when kombi,s were the king.I do like the new Merc,s though.
I use this stuff quite a bit at work to build workbenches, custom jig fixtures, test rigs etc. It can be light, strong, corrosion resistant and very simple to assemble. Plus it looks very trick.
maytec.net.au/
or
www.boschrexroth.com/business_units/brl/en/produkte/mge_alt/index.jsp
Contact your local suppliers, give them a sketch (back of a napkin 
), specify what sections you want to use as well as the joining method. There are countless numbers of extrusion types and joining methods available. They can precut all the lengths, all you need to do is assemble and fasten to the van/trailer.
Hey aus301 I have a trailer thats frame is made of box alloy and plastic joiners seems to work well. I agree with the comments about racks wasting space with strap height etc and all my boards are in bags so I just slide them in and they don't need tying down and don't get damaged . This trailer was built before the boards got wide, my new board is 1.5 cm wider than the racks so it sits in its side along the bottom.
A lot of good ideas here.
Shout out to FletcHuz...I like the water collection polycarbonate in particular!
