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Old 02-12-2022, 09:00 AM   #21
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Your van is going to be amazing!
Maybe consider ditching a seat? Eliminating the seat in front of the 60/40 doors really opens things up. Then consider side access to your cabinet instead of top access. If you eliminated rear driver side seat a full height storage cabinet can go there for max storage.

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Old 02-12-2022, 03:45 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by motovan_mn View Post
Thanks for the feedback! I definitely agree with keeping it simple. I guess one thing I forgot to mention is that The platform above the cooler slide is intended to be a bed for a single person. Maybe what I'll do is make a hinged lid to allow access to the "open space" you describe. Then we can toss in backpacks/duffels/any loose items.

I Like the drawer suggestion as well, but putting the sleeping platform on top of the drawers might bring the sleeping platform a little too close to the ceiling for comfort. Were you envisioning the drawers opening E/W (i.e. drawers slide open towards the driver side of the van) or N/S?

I was also trying to think of how to utilize the vertical space above the bikes. One thought I had was to build a drawer system under the bike slide that opens out the rear door (a la "Decked" system). But another thought I had was to somehow build soft storage above the bikes - maybe a bungee net so we can stuff in loose items like blankets, jackets, etc. Or hanging duffel bags, kind of like soft overhead cabinets.

When we had our high roof transit, it was always so difficult to effectively use the vertical space. Something I'm trying to combat in this build.
Just spit-balling here;
Yes, I envisioned drawers across the top of the cabinet that opened towards the inside of the Van. A cabinet with a hinged lid (in your 'open' space) I fear will greatly restrict the size of whatever you would store inside. if it were me, looking at your set-up as drawn, I would create a hinged side to the current cabinet that would swing up - have braces that lock into place so it effectively extends the top of the cabinet when deployed. That's the end I would have my feet on if I were sleeping on the top.
Are you opposed to covering up the rear side passenger windows ? If not you could attach a couple shelve units up high - they would hang down below the windows (not covering them up completely) - Maybe something like this on each side in the rear (with the door opening up towards the ceiling of the van)?
https://tuffyproducts.com/products/s...trunk-lockbox/

Or Mole board mounted on each side effectively covering both rear side windows - benefit is you can configure bags, storage, etc as it suits you).
There are also molle seat back boards that could be utilized:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=molle+sea..._1_16_ts-doa-p

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Org...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Org...62&sr=8-9&th=1

I like your idea of a drawer subfloor below the bike storage - Drawers that slide out towards the back doors (like your Fridge) and others just opposite which open inside.
Options are endless, sometime just need a suggestion or idea to spark your own creative resources .
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Old 02-12-2022, 03:48 PM   #23
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It’s nice to have a bit of open floor space, preferably on the barn door (passenger) side for easy access in/out. I’d also consider ditching the seat behind the driver and moving the platform storage unit to the drivers side and have the chest fridge slide out E/W for access into the van vs out the back, this would flip the bikes over to the other side.
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Old 02-13-2022, 12:38 PM   #24
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Wow, lots of good ideas and loving all the feedback! I'll have lots to chew on over the next few months. One thing to clarify - y'all seem to think we're blessed with the 60/40 barn doors, but unfortunately the only downside to the van we found is that it has a sliding door. I'm OK with this though - our old E250 and Transit both had sliding doors and we managed just fine. The most annoying thing is just dealing with the rear tire clearance, but after I install the hinge extender and (maybe) trim away a little bit of the inside surface of the door, we should be golden.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Coloradical View Post
Your van is going to be amazing!
Maybe consider ditching a seat? Eliminating the seat in front of the 60/40 doors really opens things up. Then consider side access to your cabinet instead of top access. If you eliminated rear driver side seat a full height storage cabinet can go there for max storage.
Yes, ditching a seat is certainly an option as we won't use it 90% of the time. It's always a battle in my head of optimizing for our 90% use case versus maintaining versatility for the 10%. It certainly would free up a lot of space, though. Oh, the other reason I'm kind of hoping to keep both rear seats is that only the passenger seat can swivel. The driver's seat is a OEM power seat and as far as I know, nobody makes a compatible swivel base. So for the rare scenario where we are hanging out inside the van, it would be nice to have the front passenger seat swiveled around + the 2 rear seats.

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Originally Posted by Twoxentrix View Post
Just spit-balling here;
Yes, I envisioned drawers across the top of the cabinet that opened towards the inside of the Van. A cabinet with a hinged lid (in your 'open' space) I fear will greatly restrict the size of whatever you would store inside. if it were me, looking at your set-up as drawn, I would create a hinged side to the current cabinet that would swing up - have braces that lock into place so it effectively extends the top of the cabinet when deployed. That's the end I would have my feet on if I were sleeping on the top.
Are you opposed to covering up the rear side passenger windows ? If not you could attach a couple shelve units up high - they would hang down below the windows (not covering them up completely) - Maybe something like this on each side in the rear (with the door opening up towards the ceiling of the van)?
https://tuffyproducts.com/products/s...trunk-lockbox/

Or Mole board mounted on each side effectively covering both rear side windows - benefit is you can configure bags, storage, etc as it suits you).
There are also molle seat back boards that could be utilized:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=molle+sea..._1_16_ts-doa-p

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Org...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Org...62&sr=8-9&th=1

I like your idea of a drawer subfloor below the bike storage - Drawers that slide out towards the back doors (like your Fridge) and others just opposite which open inside.
Options are endless, sometime just need a suggestion or idea to spark your own creative resources .
It's funny, I was just recently thinking about how I wanted to cover up the windows with some sort of MOLLE panel for both A) increased storage, B) window cage for theft protection, and C) visual block to keep MTB's and other goodies out of view. Great point about drawers opening rearward AND forward as well.


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It’s nice to have a bit of open floor space, preferably on the barn door (passenger) side for easy access in/out. I’d also consider ditching the seat behind the driver and moving the platform storage unit to the drivers side and have the chest fridge slide out E/W for access into the van vs out the back, this would flip the bikes over to the other side.
I like this idea, except that our "fridge" is actually just a rotomolded cooler and we find ourselves dumping the water out every couple days when on the road. I thought having it slide out the back would be nice because the drain would be accessible. I was also considering building a tilting slide feature to make the cooler more accessible and to make draining it easier. But going along the lines of your suggestion, and as Coloradical suggested above, we could build a storage in place of where you suggested putting the fridge. Or suck it up and buy an actual fridge
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Old 03-23-2022, 10:07 PM   #25
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I'm coming around to the idea of only having 3 seats and putting the cooler right behind the driver's seat. The cooler can double as extra seating for hanging out inside the van if there is inclement weather, etc.

I think I'll do that and keep the rear cargo area of the van flexible for now, aka run it in "truck" mode. I'm thinking a cot like the Discobed Bunk might be kind of neat, and would leave enough room for a couple MTBs. The lower bunk could be used as a storage shelf for rubbermaid bins, and our kid could sleep on the top bunk.

Also really liking the idea of the Decked drawers, though I'll have to see how much vertical clearance there is and whether we'd be able to sneak some MTB's above the drawer without too much trouble.




And I know this thread has been a whole lot of "i might do this or that," but our 4x4 conversion parts made an appearance on the UJOR IG and are headed to CO!

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Old 03-23-2022, 11:57 PM   #26
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I recommend the driver seat swivel even if only using it for 90 degrees. That would give you another usable camping seat.
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Old 03-24-2022, 08:10 AM   #27
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I recommend the driver seat swivel even if only using it for 90 degrees. That would give you another usable camping seat.
I will as soon as you offer a power seat swivel!

I kid, I kid. In all seriousness I know how much that would open things up and am considering swapping out my power driver's seat for a regular seat. Might be a future project.
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Old 04-14-2022, 01:53 PM   #28
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After much anticipation, the van is finally at UJOR CO and starting to get torn down. Just a few more weeks till we can drive this thing home!

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Old 04-14-2022, 03:07 PM   #29
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It might be time for a bigger shop! Is that the Airstream 190 up on the lift?
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Old 04-14-2022, 06:14 PM   #30
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It might be time for a bigger shop! Is that the Airstream 190 up on the lift?
I believe he just secured another unit in his building! And yes that's a B190 up on the lift. But just to be clear this is a photo Justin texted me. I'm not there in person... YET.

FYI There is a specific UJOR CO thread on ExPo, if you're into that sort of thing:
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/t...0#post-3014045
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