Northleftcoast Box Install Photos
Was able to bang out the install of the subfloor box on my van this morning without too much trouble. I'm really pretty pleased with the aesthetics of the final product and the utility is absolutely out of this world!!! I've only had the box installed for 10 hours and I can't believe that I've gone this long without one.
Before we move onto the install here are a couple of pictures of the drain boss and trim around the opening:
Here we go.....a blank slate: Pull back your carpet to expose your steel van floor.
Center the box on its side where it will be placed.
Rotate it so its top is down so you can mark the
actual dimensions of the cut.
Drill a hole using a hole saw to get your sawsall started (alternately just use an angle grinder to cut the entire opening).
Sawsall is clean but does not cut quite as straight. Angle grinder is messy, loud, and throws sparks, but cuts very straight. I used both and it only took about 5 minutes to have the finished hole cut.
Testing the sawsall:
Final hole:
Because of where the edges of the box ended up, I had to double up some aluminum stock to shim the box between the box top and floor bottom to make for a good mounting surface.
A little masking and paint of the raw steel and some weather stripping around the outside of the box flange completed the final prep prior to drilling holes.
Quick grips easily healed the box in place and allowed me to position it appropriately and slide the shims into their respective spots.
Pilot hole, 1/4" hole and final 1/2" hole in each of the corners. Backer plates on top and bottom and look at this! The box easily holds 200# without deflecting the floor at all. Any movement while I was standing in it was transferred directly to the body and then suspension of the van.
Once the box was firmly secured, I rolled back the carpet and cut it out so that it fit snugly on the outside of the flange. My hatch slid into place on the inside and the angle aluminum trim covered the transition nicely
Final view from the outside:
Conclusion:
With some basic tools (sawsall, grinder, drill, drillbits) this project is easily completed in a few hours by a single person with basic mechanical knowledge. I'll be including shims and backer plates with boxes that I sell. Buyers supply their own weatherstrip and hardware.
Hopefully within a week I'll have some pictures of the install procedure in a SMB with a wood/vinyl floor.
Honestly I just let experience guide me. I certainly didn't have it engineered to see if it would hold. I kinda just did some rough barnyard figuring and it seems to be working out fine. I think without the backer plates or fender washers you might be more likely to deflect the van floor or box top some. With the backer plates (basically acting as washers) sandwiching the box, shim material, and van floor you are looking at a very thick product that is compressed highly by the mechanical force of the tightened bolt. Shearing or bending something like that is much more difficult in my experience than if I had just bolted the 1/8" box to the 1/8" van floor. 
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