very nice..inspiration and ideas..anyone know if you can get the racking system in Australia?

What do you recon guys, better to go PVC construction / or aluminium square tubing? I am going to attempt my build in a few weeks....... thinking horizontal stacking rather than vertical.....

One of the quickets easiest ways to do a van rack that I have done in the past is.

Get some cross member roof supports of the van (as seen in the above pic) from a wrecking yard, re install them upside down in the van, and you have a great system that costs little and will hold 2 boards, sails and gear and keep the van free for other stuff.

Theyre good looking racks also, like the flexability in the action van racks and their lean size.

Now here is the challenge,

A van that has to meet the following specs.

1 x SUP/Sail, 1 x Slalom, 1 x Wave, 1 x Kite, 1 x Skate , 1 x Bike, Tennis/Footy and some camp & fishing gear. PLUS

4 x Children & Better half (and a soft kids surf board! think they will have to balance that on their heads!)

And wait for it..must be able to be a daily drive, and fit in and under car parks!

Ideally can sleep 1 also.

I have done some early scale sketches , its do able, the issue will be 3 boards, 2 is ok 3 a push, it will need to be a LWB van,

Equipment selection will be key also..think I have that sorted, luckly I dont formula, SUP race or Windsurf Race otherwise it would need to be a small truck.

This set up will cover 0-30knts any condition, and non wind activities and also be able to teach kids or anyone on the SUP sail also.

worse case scenario, would have to go to a van that wont go 'under' car parks.

clever!
more seats accross more room in back! if budget was not a factor you could really set up something awesome with that crew cab config for any sport/rec/camp use.
not sure can get into a city park too easy though.....will keep idea for plan B.

aus301 said...

When building racks I have always preferred to have my boards stored on their side, always seems more secure to me and takes up a little less room. If you need to tie them down you can with one strap across multiple boards.

What about bouncing them on their rails when you hit a pothole?

aus301 said...

When building racks I have always preferred to have my boards stored on their side, always seems more secure to me and takes up a little less room. If you need to tie them down you can with one strap across multiple boards.

Pics or banned!

K Dog said...

aus301 said...

When building racks I have always preferred to have my boards stored on their side, always seems more secure to me and takes up a little less room. If you need to tie them down you can with one strap across multiple boards.

Pics or banned!

Hmmm,just checked and I don't have a single pic of my old van set up that way. I used to have two wave boards stored on their side and one SUP. The way the rack was built the boards were effectively in a cage which meant no matter what happened they stayed secure.

I don't have any racks in my current transporter, it's more practical for me at the moment to have no racks so I can use the space in the van for other purposes with no fuss.

As a van owner with experience of car parks, finding a van that will go into car parks is going to be tricky. Might be best to find out the lowest one you want to enter, then find out what the smallest overall height of a van/vans with that spec, then try to meet all of your other specs.

IKW777 said to consider the VW Crafter Crew Cab, but this is 2.853m high and without a body. A VW Transporter Crewvan is 1.990 or 2.176 high and has options for varying cargo lengths. The Scudo (1.942 high) isn't available with child seats fitted so there would be a high extra cost having them fitted and ADR-certified for child carrying.

If you look at the VW, watch out for their DSG transmission. Our local car paper is reporting failures of the earlier-model DSG and the new model hasn't been around long enough to confirm that the problems have been solved.

Hope this helps.

Are the VW motors OK?

We've got a VW Caddy maxi & it gets 5.5ltres per 100km.Only a 1.6 or 1.8ltre motor but Turbo diesel and suprisingly powerful.Not as nippy around town as my Corolla but on the highway cruises effortlessly with low revs.
I store my 3 boards on their edge ( or 2 on their edge & one wedged across the others). They are on a bed in their bags and no worries re bumps.Have a cargo barrier but a hole in it for the noses & put the front seat angled forward and they fit well 245 cm longest one.

Board toaster rack....... had me thinking, simple design, like your filing toaster rack at work, just drop the boards in, they get snug in the vee..... and strap them over and around.... sorted...........

size does matter ! re board space
i like my swb sprinter 01
4cyl is more reliable imho
just fitted the hws ;]
have had drama at car parks

Mine - www.redsurfbus.com/2011/02/building-van-interior-for-camping-and.html
Currently cram in 90 and 111l slalom boards, 3 booms and an 8.8 under the wide sections at the back, along with 6 masts that fit in a new section above the rear wheel arch. Under the thinner section I have a sail bag with 6 slalom sails. Resting from the rear of the bed over the headrests secured by lots of chord is my 11'2 sup and a 78cm wide slalom board on top of that, these go on the roof when camping.

I always thought if stuck with barn doors to use a 'window blind' type thing from the roof inside the van to secure to both doors when open - almost creating another room for the van........tempted to get a bigger one with barn doors but love my redsurfbus too much to change it, and of course I would have to get anything bigger resprayed or the whole website goes wrong!

Have you seen the vw doubleback?....www.bikeradar.com/news/video-doubleback-vw-campervan/

Hi Guys, .

slightly off topic but do you know how the previous H1/Iload (pre 2008) was called in Oz ?



I'm trying to source a part for mine but I can't even find the aussie name for my van....

I found "Starex/satelitte" but they don't seem to be the right name.

And what would be the name in english for the part that splits the brake lines under the car , "Brake splitter" ? ? In french it's "repartiteur"

thanks in advance

Sean

it's the model just before the new look Iload, maybe it wasn't imported ?