Large outside storage at rear of van?

[Chance]

A ran into this issue once before doing research for my son's boat trailer, but can't remember the exact distance, or the source of the information to look it up again.

Boat trailers (at least in my state) often have the lights on the trailer which can be well ahead of the back of the boat. And beyond that outboard motors sometimes stick way behind the boat increasing the distance. Total distance on most boat trailers is at least a few feet. Again, only talking about my state.

Not suggesting it's technically legal, just what I see on a regular basis. Adding lights makes sense if it avoids a law suit.

[Ford_6L_E350]

The rack I mounted my box in has reflective strips on it. I've never been questioned about it. Maybe it is large and solid enough to count as part of the vehicle, as opposed to a board hanging out the back?

Mike

[carringb]

Oregon requires lights at night if it extends 3' or blocks the tailights. I have full lights on my motorcycle rack including backup lights.

[jage]

I added lights for me, not for law- other drivers are stupid and if I could turn each rear door into a giant brake light I would. I'd rather have the rear of my van screaming bright than get slammed into because a turn signal was obscured or something. That said, my add ons are not visible in bright sun so I need to redo my work.

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by Chance

As much as I’d like to have an enclosed secure place to carry my road bikes on some road trips, it would probably be more practical to buy a couple of cheap bikes and carry them outside. I just need to figure out a way to carry two bikes (or one tandem) over/behind the smaller box we now use. That way we also have the option to leave the box set up at campgrounds when we drive off during the day.

We bought cheaper bikes for our 30-day trip this summer with the SMB: a pair of cheap(ish) but still decent bikes on Craigslist. We have fairly nice bikes (Co-Motions) and I wasn't too keen on hanging them off the back of the van for a month. Found an almost-new pair of Giant trekking-style bikes on CL for $175 total and couldn't pass it up. We were very glad we went this route, as I didn't really worry about scratches, theft, etc., much. We transported those two bikes, plus my son's 24" wheeled MTB, with no problems, even on bad washboard roads.

We use a Thule hitch-mount, swing-away, four-bike carrier and it works great. Very solid and is easy to load. It clears our rear-mount spare tire without having to use an extension drawbar, so it might work for you depending how big your box is (if it doesn't stick out beyond the spare tire, it's probably able to work). We also have a tandem bike and can transport it on the carrier pretty easily, too.

See my recent posts in the thread LenS started about front vs rear bike racks. I added some pics of the racks in use, including one with our tandem on it.

[Chance]

Thanks Brian. Sounds like you enjoy cycling a lot too. Having the option to carry bikes off a front receiver would free the back for a cargo box, or conversely a small box could be mounted at front so bikes could ride off the back hitch.

I’m coming around to thinking that inexpensive bikes I don’t have to worry about is a more practical solution for long trips that are not cycling specific. I hate finding myself in a place like Zion National Park and realizing I want to ride any bike into the canyon but can’t because I didn’t bring it along.

Anyway, I found bike/cargo combos that may work great but are a little expensive considering I don’t want to invest a lot on our present van if I’m thinking of replacing it with a larger unit. These combo units are packaged much like what I planned to build years ago when I first built the van, but due to rushing around for first long trip I ended up with a “temporary” cargo tray and plastic box. And like it often happens (at least to me) the temporary setup worked well enough that I never went back to finish the original plan.

My original plan was to buy an aluminum 18X18X60 or 18X18X72 underbody truck box and bolting it on top of two 2X2 square tubes that would slide into my van’s dual outside receivers. That way I could slide the box back two or three feet to open the van’s rear doors. The Velo Combo 101 and 400 accomplish the same but by swinging away to the side. And obviously they look a lot more finished than anything I’d build myself. Functionally they’d be very little difference – aesthetically quite a bit. Except my system could carry a lot more weight due to much sturdier attachment that would have no pivots.

Bikes would ride on top of box and slide back and forth with box as needed to allow van rear doors to open. If I mount box low I think bikes would stay out of the wind and bugs behind the van for the most part. If we decide not to replace the van within the next 12 months or so I'll probably build something over the next couple of months as soon as I get a chance.

These are pictures of the Combo units that combine bikes and cargo. Same idea in two different sizes.

Larger Model 101





Smaller Model 401

[vwteleman]

Originally Posted by Chance

My original plan was to buy an aluminum 18X18X60 or 18X18X72 underbody truck box and bolting it on top of two 2X2 square tubes that would slide into my van’s dual outside receivers. That way I could slide the box back two or three feet to open the van’s rear doors.
...
Bikes would ride on top of box and slide back and forth with box as needed to allow van rear doors to open. If I mount box low I think bikes would stay out of the wind and bugs behind the van for the most part.

Something very similar has been done by tmtm. See this thread: Trunk / Bike Rack

Cheers,
Brent

[Chance]

Originally Posted by vwteleman

Something very similar has been done by tmtm. See this thread: Trunk / Bike Rack

Cheers,
Brent

Thanks Brent. I read thread with much interest. Great pictures put everything in better perspective aesthetically. Looks good.

The concept is exactly what I’ve been thinking about with a few exceptions. First, I don’t drive off road, so ground clearance isn’t as important. In fact, at one time I thought of using a shallow box like tmtm’s mounted low at bumper height so that I could open doors by swinging them above the box. But since I want to mount bikes on top of box on occasion, that pretty much means box has to move back or swing out of way. I'd try to mount box low enough so it could slide under the spare tire if possible.

Secondly, I’ve always planned on using a semi-truck-type underbody box which opens at back versus at top. That way the bikes won’t interfere with opening the box to access stuff inside. Here is a typical picture of the type of box I’m thinking about. They are available in both aluminum and steel (steel being heavier and more expensive). Common sizes seem to be LengthX18X18 or LengthX24X24. The latter may be best if planning to store a portable generator inside. I think loading from the top is probably easier for most anything, and you can probably cram more stuff in the same size box versus loading from the back, but the simplicity of not having to deal with bikes pivoting is appealing to me.



I won’t need a telescoping hitch adaptor or anti-rock pins because my van has two 2” hitch receivers about 39-inches apart. I can insert 2X2 square tubes up to about 4 feet long each if needed so moving box way back to open doors shouldn’t be difficult. Structurally just about any amount of weight back there should be OK as long as it doesn’t make front end drive too light. I estimate at least 500 pounds shouldn’t affect steering too badly.

Again, thanks for link.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by vwteleman

Something very similar has been done by tmtm. See this thread: Trunk / Bike Rack

Cheers,
Brent

By the way, in that thread Steve_382 mentioned wanting a box large enough (24-inches wide X 36-inches tall) to carry nice road bikes inside. That was my initial thinking also at beginning of this thread. I even wanted the doors at ends just like Steve mentioned.

While searching I found a company that appears to make what they call Cross/Saddle Boxes for trucks that are 24 inches wide, 36 / 48 / or 60 inches tall, and 87.5 inches long. They claim to custom make boxes so a shorter version to fit across a van should be an easy modification. Cost, however, is probably quite high I'd expect. I didn't even get around to calling them when I started to think about the weight and how difficult it would be to install.

Here are pictures just in case Steve_382 is following this thread. To me these appear to be the taller 60-inch height. A 36-inch height and not more than 72-inches long probably wouldn't look quite as big.