So my commodore is in the nursing home with dementia... and I've been googling vans as a replacement. I'm keen to find something second hand with a few criteria...

Hold lots of boards and sails
Tow at least 1.6T, prefer 2T
Auto so my wife can use it too
No sleeper, I'm not aloud out after dark
Decent service pricing
Diesel or Petrol

I've used Car websites and found a few that match my hard criteria.

VW Transit nice and compact
Toyota HiAce has a nice lot of room with forward seats and no nose
Merc Ambo looks quite roomy! Call the wind doctor, it's an emergency. Woo Woo
iLoad doesn't have the towing capacity
Ford Transit has a few fans

Vertical tail lift is good for a bit of shade...
Long noses are better for safety (maybe)...
Compact vans fit in stack up car parks...
Long high vans fit more stuff...

Any advice, what have you got and what do you like about it?
Any good load out ideas? Efficient space use is always good!

Hi Guys,

Just thought that I would share what a mate and I did for a board rack in my LWB hiace.

We used: 12m Galvinized steel pipe (26mm) and 24 clips. Sort of looks like a mini scaffold. Also needed are 4 small steel base plates to weld onto the vertical pipes and then bolt to floor, and 4 U joints though which are welded to the upper internal wall panels.

Dimentions:

verticals: 4 x 1200mm
verticals(board partition): 8 x 747mm
horozintals: 4 x 1200

The vertical rack slots allow for 5 boards 750mm wide and 2 more can go on the top 1450mm total width. I personlally have a hole in the cargo cage to allow for a 3400mm SUP to fit on the top most level.

On the floor 6 sails fit between the wheel arches.

The best thing about using piping and bolts is that its modular and can be readjusted in higher lower and more bars can be added or removed in a matter of minutes as long as you have cut some spares.

The whole thing comes out in 3-5 minutes, but once installed is solid with no rattles.

What I would do differently, or even just to make it even easier is to have hinges of the bases front and back, so it opens to the sides and make the cargo area available, sort of like a gate. Not to hard to do but only go the idea after we installed it. Easy retrofit though.

booms and masts go down the sides out of the way. Might put some hooks on later so its all off the floor.

Still needs padding. I will post final pick with padding and or any changes if I make them.