Since I have finally gotten to the point where mechanically I feel comfortable with my van its time to start thinking about the interior. What a circus, the only thing I still have left to do is get the driveshaft modified and put it in as well as get the exhaust just moved slightly because its tapping a heat shield. Both of those are easy fixes I just don't have the money to get it done right now so its gonna have to wait till next pay day. I would like to get the 55 gallon gas tank I have installed but again, no money and I have a diesel sending unit so thats not gonna work.
Anyway, Interior...
I wanted something simple and I want the ability to remove it. My idea of this van is more of a truck/transformer. I love having the ability to have a forklift just set a pallet in the back but thats not happening everyday so I was thinking maybe a platform in the back would be nice. There seems to be numerous occasions that I have something to carry thats bigger and because I have no platform to put it on that space is taken up.
Most recently I got a hand cycle and love that it fits perfectly behind the bench seat, its pretty big so I was surprised. I was initially thinking if I made the platform tall enough I could slide the hand cycle underneath and then would have all that room above to use. Once I realized how tall it was and in awkward places I decided to do the opposite and build the platform to put the bike on top of and use the area underneath for storage.
I have always been a minimalist when it comes to packing stuff around. Only the necessities and maybe a couple creature comforts if its not taking up too much space. It probably stems from backpacking trips with boy scouts and then the military just solidified it. The less I had to carry the more my knees thanked me.
I have found that this still seems to be the case with me even though I have a massive van so I didnt want anything like cabinets or storage bins that would allow me to start hoarding stuff I thought would be cool to have but not necessary. And like I said before I want it easy to remove so I am just thinking a simple frame is best.
Fast forward to last night. I had taken pre workout and once finished with my workout I was still feeling like I could take on the world so it was time to build this frame out of wood and toss it in to see if I even liked it in reality before ordering a bunch of 80/20 to make it. I also have a horrible track record with being able to use materials wisely so using the random wood I had laying around made more sense to me than spending more money on something to screw up.
I wanted to be able to open the pass side rear door and have it wide open inside for moving around so I tried to make it in line from front to back with the drivers side rear door closed. I also wanted to be able to fit my cooler in the back closest to the rear so it comes in and out easiest but I needed it to open when the rear door was closed so I could utilize it without opening the rear door. I thought it would be cool to have the height of the platform the same as the cooler for uniformity and so the cooler could be part of the platform if need be.
Sure enough I build the frame, set it in and it was too long and too short. The cooler couldn't open with the rear door closed and when I went to set the plywood on top, I slid it over and was hitting the rear ac unit. Like I said, I need to work with cheap wood before I go buying a bunch of material because stuff like this happens. So I made it a little shorter and taller and it fit great, now its just time to let it sit back there and see if there is any reason I don't want it in reality.
Oh and the bike fit great but not accounting for the seat back being higher at the top than the bottom I have to turn the front wheel to be able to shut the door. But it fits so...
Pics...