Van interior fitout

My wife gave me a 2012 diesel hiace for christmas! I mean to say, I said she can call it my Christmas present everyone wins.






I started the fitout.

First was a thick layer of bitumen sound deadener. I put alfoil on top to stop stuff sticking to it.

If I ever get a new van I will spray the floor and half way up the walls with ryno tub liner. No worries about water or sand getting in anywhere then and you can tint it to match the colour of your van.

Good bit of forward planning with the esky cutout looking good.

Don't go too heavy duty when you build the racks. One sheet of 19 mm ply weighs 30 kg, about the same weight as fully rigged moth dinghy. Vehicle manufacturers go to great extents to save a few kgs. The rack in my van is made of 19 by 42 pine with the bare neccessity of 3mm ply bracing. Holds 3 boards and sails at about 6 kg. It's not pretty. Formula Nova has used poly pipe and joiners to make a lightweight racking system.

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Ian K said..
Don't go too heavy duty when you build the racks. One sheet of 19 mm ply weighs 30 kg, about the same weight as fully rigged moth dinghy. Vehicle manufacturers go to great extents to save a few kgs. The rack in my van is made of 19 by 42 pine with the bare neccessity of 3mm ply bracing. Holds 3 boards and sails at about 6 kg. It's not pretty. Formula Nova has used poly pipe and joiners to make a lightweight racking system.

Or, alternatively, go heavy with the racks and all the fit-out. It will make the van ride better on rough roads. My racks are made from double layers of 19mm ply and the floor from 19mm yellow-tongue flooring. Nice and heavy and strong.

True , but it's a moot point if you use that 100kg+ of racking to tote 3 X 6kg of high carbon slalom boards.

( You can compensate to some degree by buying a few of these ultra lightweight camping chairs to slide down the left hand side, they weigh only 890 grams each but are rated to support 145 kg
http://www.helinox.com.au/helinox-chair-one.php.)

I think fitting it out with ply and timber is a good idea. In my Mazda van I fitted it out with marine ply and heaps of it. It was designed to take 1.5 tonnes as payload I think, and the extra weight of the timber did make it ride better. With no payload they bounce a bit too much. I even took one of the helper leaf springs out to make it ride better. It was also made of timber because I made a bed platform in the back of the van.

Ian, the light-weight rack that I made out of pipe and timber was a 'travel rack' that I took to WA. It was meant to pack down into small bits and assemble into a hire van. It was good though as it let us put something like 8 boards and accompanying sails and stuff into a van without piling it all on top of itself. If I built out a van again I would build it in the same layout but I would use timber and steel.

Ian, if I start thinking about the carbon emissions, I would stop driving 2.5 hours south to go to my favorite sailing spot. Instead I would be sitting at a cafe with my Prius in full view with the fuel consumption sticker left conspicuously on the windscreen. (Please note I don't actually own a Prius, and probably never will)

My Mazda was sooooooo slowwwwwww, and I am sure it used more fuel revving its head off than a bigger capacity engine would have.

If I ever finish my windsurfing trailer I will have something that is not too bad to tow, probably reasonably aerodynamic, and comfortable too. If I ever finish it...

Also, I haven't broken a mast since I switched to Ezzy RDMs, so the fitout of the van would either be very expensive or very small.

The first rack support is made

Hi dean.

On one side I created a slot to receive the rack. See photo below.

The other side has a stainless steel bolt with a butterfly nut.

Yuppy - with that interior lighting - is this you?

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AusMoz said...

Yeah Baby!!!

Flash as a rat with a gold tooth ;)

What's the consensus wrt electronic rust prevention?

Nice job Yuppy. Look like a lot of time and effort went into it. Attention to detail has paid off

...but, once the boards are in, is there any room to shag once you've made an epic impression with the chicks on the beach with your forward loops on the water?

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BSN101 said...

Yuppy said...
The finished racks. I feel like dancing!

I'm so surprised that no one has asked.
Are you taking orders?
Can you do my van next ?
And how much (approx) spent & hours invested.
Awesome work!

I spent about $500 on the waterproofing, plywood and marine carpet.

The rubber Matt was about $300 same with the cargo barrier.

The stereo was $500

I spent about 24 man hours doing it.

I would not take the pleasure away from anyone doing it themselves.

It's my second van. The first I bought from Kirk who had a similar fitout. Yes it's a skate sailboard but I'm not game to use it.

I built a handy drying system last night. Took one hour and cost nothing. The wetsuit drains straight into a bucket. Green esky in the corner. Beer inside it. Water tank at the door for washing off my feet.