Cabinet update, and spoiler. I'm pretty much finished but haven't got 3 cabinet faces done so I'll hold off on final pics til then. I got done Friday midday, headed to work and then sped off Saturday morning for a shakedown camping trip. Met a friend and family and had an awesome weekend off grid. Everything worked great even in the rain, but of course the black carpet gets dirty instantly when kids and rain mix.
First, I finished my generator rack, modeled after my spare tire rack, which is modeled after the original SMB one bolted to the rear door, not a swingarm rack unfortunately.
I had to work this one out around the rear door handle, and more importantly the inner latch mechanism, so it is a little different looking but you can't see that with the rack and spare on.
Here's the super easy way to level your rack for mounting.
Scepter water cans fit my rack perfectly, but only standing up. I can flip one though to use it as a wash station, and am currently working on a spout setup now.
Field tested this weekend and worked great. Doesn't add as much weight to the swing of the rear door as you might think, and yes there is a large plate behind the inner bolts on each rack, so they aren't relying on sheet metal. The outside bolts go through the hinges, which are about 1/4 plate steel. The racks are stable and strong, but I won't be climbing on them.
I still have to put some sheet metal sides around the generator and it will resemble a closed box. And yes, my welding skills suck but nothing has ever broken. Close watchers will notice the cracked body filler just to the right of the spare tire rack on the left, at the edge of the door. This is where I patched an accident the PO had by backing the van into something and uglying up the door when the spare rack crunched it. When I torqued down on the bolts on that side the plate behind squeezed and cracked the body filler. It seems there's always something else to fix, but it is still strong.