Looking to deck out the back of the van soon, anybody got any photos, ideas or hints for making a false floor in a van .Appreciate any info!!

No photos but a good detail that I've seen is a big plastic drawer/tray or better side by side drawers to drop your sails in. That keeps the water off the car and in the tray. A drain bung might be handy.

Apart from that the standard detail for a false floor is 12 mm structural grade ply (same as marine ply only less well finished) and pvc pipe legs - as many as you need. If you were to put a couple of trays under as suggested above then you would have a row of posts each side and one down the middle. That ply would only span about 450 or 500 if you were to put any weight on it like a bed so you'd have to put some joists to span across the back - 70 X 35 pine framing laid flat would be ample. A tiny bit smaller would be nicer. You'd want to think a bit about how to fix/restrain the legs against the floor.

I have a detail for racks to hold a couple of boards up against the ceiling that works well for me. Its just a couple of approx 20 dia alum tubes with foam padding on them, one directly above the back of the drivers seat and the other about 400 in from the tail gate. The tubes have a long loop of about 12 mm nylon webbing right through them and over a couple of sturdy D handles pk screwed to the cornice.
The straps have triglide buckles. You put the boards on the racks and put an old booty stuffed with plastic bags in a back footstrap then tighten up the webbing with a firm tug to push the boards firmly against the ceiling. You don't need anything else to stop them from moving around. There's a bit of a trick in setting up the straps properly. If you're interested a can do a sketch. I can just fit a 76 wide board and a trad wave board side by side up there. Its an older SWB Mitsubishi so not very wide.

Whatever you do good ventilation is important if you want to stop the interior from rusting.

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Originally posted by Ian730

Looking to deck out the back of the van soon, anybody got any photos, ideas or hints for making a false floor in a van .Appreciate any info!!

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Hi Ian,

I'm not sure if you can call it a false-floor, as its probably a little bit higher than a floor! No pictures, but its pretty easy to tell what I have done.

I have built a plywood box in the back of my van that is about 1200 wide by 2800 long, and 600 high. I can fit inside it two formula boards, about 8 sails, and 4 or more masts. The booms go beside the box, and any other 'short-boards' can go on top of the box.

The key to my box is that there is some 25mm angle iron plug-welded to the driver's side of the van that stretches from the front of the load area to the back (2.9m) about 60cm from the floor, which funnily enough puts it just below the side windows. This has holes drilled into the top side, of which screws pass through into the plywood top of the box.

You can use construction grade ply for the top, but you will find that it will bow pretty easily. If you use a hardwood ply it will support weight much better and can easily form the base of a bed. I think I used Fijian-fir or something like that. The top of mine is about 2.4m by 1.1m and is unsupported anywhere but the sides, and has no bowing in it at all. I think its 16mm thick.

About 20 to 25cm below the top I have another sheet of 2.4m by 1.1m ply out of construction ply. This shelf forms the shelf where all the sails sit, and its surprising how many sails can fit without crushing anything. Being cheaper plywood, also 16mm, this shelf bows, just under the weight of the sails.

In the middle of this shelf, the formula masts go, as the longest is longer than the box, but because its in the middle, it pokes out between the front seats. The front of the box has an end piece, with a section cut out to allow the 12.5m sails and mast to stick out the few centimetres that it needs to.

Under this shelf, I fit two formula boards or any other board, one on top of each other in their board bags.

The side that is facing the sliding door on the side is 60cm high by the 2.8m of the length. It has a small hinged door in the front. This gives access to the space that is empty underneath the noses of the boards. This space is useful as you can fit all the fins and extensions you want here. Heaps of space!

Lastly, there is a hinged door on the back of the box that is meant to fold down and be used as a seat. At the moment it is just used for security as it has a padlock and hasp fitted to it.

Anyway, I think the angle iron on the side of the van is perfect for holding it all together and the use of decent ply for the top means I can avoid losing space to havig to support it underneath.

I hope this helps.

So FormulaNovo you have one steel angle spanning from behind the drivers seat to somewhere near the tailgate where presumably it is supported by a post of sopme sort. Is that it. and the box is supported on the other side by fixing directly to the side of the van?
and that leaves a gap at one side presumably where the side door is to put booms & stuff?

I was thinking if you just wanted a false floor with no posts then you could make up a pretty light hollow core floor with a top layer of 12 mm stuctural/marine ply, 19 mm x 19 mm furring at 300 centres and a bottom membrane of marine grade 3 ply all glued and screwed together. Lets see thats 34 thick overall same as a door and it would be pretty light. Youd want to include some more substantial 19 mm pieces to accommodate fixing.