Wood floor in a Tin Top

[Timwhy]

Looked at all the wood floor threads and couldn't find what I needed for "How To" in a Tin Top.
So, I decided to start a thread for Tin Top flooring and what I came up with.

I started with gathering the supplies that I would need. I bought two pieces of plywood. One 4' X 4', and the other 2' X 4'.
Both are 5,5mm thick.

To give the floor a bit more stability I ripped some Cedar boards to 1.75" wide and planned them down to 3/8" thick. Then cut them to length.

My Tin Top is a Seven seater and I removed the middle row. I had thought about removing the seat rail bolts and
screwing them uo from the bottom to keep the holes filled. That seemed like a lot of work, so I drilled out holes
with a Forstner bit and left the bolts in tack.
Not all of the Cedar boards are screwed in to the floor and I only screwed them in to just the outer sides.

I laid the plywood on the floor and secured it to the Cedar strips with wood screws. In all I ended up with four pieces of
plywood to cover all the floor in the passenger area. The floor goes under the rear bench to the front of the rear heater.

To secure the Laminate, I trimmed the rear bench kick panel on the bottom. Depending upon the thickness of the
plywood and laminate combined, was my measurement to trim the panel.

For the sides of the floor I used angle Aluminium. The Drivers side is 1/2" X 1/4" X 4'. The Passengers side was a 1" X 1" X 51".
I had to notch this piece to get around the B column. Both sides are screwed in with SS sheet metal screws of which I
broke the heads off of three screws.

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'15 Audi A3 Quattro
'09 VW Tiguan (dead)
'87 VW Westy
'91 Tin Top
'90 Cabby
What the Westy wants the Westy GETS


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=Timwhy&show_results=summary

http://www.youtube.com/user/TIMWHY2?feature=mhee

[dhaavers]

Looks VERY nice!

- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[dougass]

Hey I have a tin top and I put one in too!

I used DuraRock instead of plywood in case moisture gets down there; thin insulation below and underlayment on top and THEN "wood" vinyl floor planks. I took the rear bench out and extended it all the way back, too.

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'91 GL - 2.1 automatic named Klaus for weekend adventures.

#klausvan & @thisisklausvan

[erste]

Nice work in here! Way more pro than what I did.

I bought the flattest 4x8 sheet of the 5.5mm thick (birch?) ply from one of the big box hardware stores.

I kept the cork pad and filled the gaps with some rubber.

Since the plan was to build a cabinet, I hid the seam there. The only thing holding it down is the weight of the cabinet and the 4 bolts that anchor the cabinet to the seat rails.

It was such a tight fit that it slides under the heater cover and butts right up against the carpet in the front. It sits mostly flat.

I was really happy to cut this panel that hides the mess of wires and makes that space usable for storage again.

[BUGSLEE]

This is what I came up with in my tin top.

I started by pulling out the bench and all the sub flooring, and removing the seat rails.
I added some strips of foil wrapped bubble wrap I found at home depot,
then cut 5/8 plywood down to size, glued that down to the peaks of the floor.
topped with a underlay material then installed some cheap laminate I found second hand.
I used an aluminum molding for the sliding door trim.
I made a new matching kick panel for under the bench, then added a westy Kitchen cabinet. I'm still working on some final touches but it worked for this summers camping.
_________________
68 Beetle - 1776
89 Vanagon TinTop Syncro - Subi 2.5

[childofthewind]

New van, Tim?? (or second project van?)


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1987.5 wolfsburg hardtop; 2.1

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote." - Melville

[9.5isCanadian]

Thank you guys for the great info.
This is exactly what my plan is.
Love the clean look of the wood flooring.
If I can find the boards I really want to use "cottage grade" pine plank for mine.
Some years ago I did an apartment floor in this stuff and found the color and knots made it so unique.

Anyone ever consider tile on top of cement backer board?
Wonder if it would be noisy.

Owen
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9 1/2 - missing a few pieces.

1987 Getaway Hightop
1980 Sunroof Vanagon
2018 BMW R Nine T
2012 Golf tdi

[Slimvest]

I'm considering some sort of flooring myself, but I'm wondering one thing:

Do most run the flooring underneath any cabinet you have in place and create holes that align with the seat rails, etc. to mount to? Or do you bolt your cabinet base direct to the van metal flooring and run your subfloor & laminate or carpet alternative up to the cabinet's edge?
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'87 GL w/ Reimo top

[dougass]

[Timwhy]

[9.5isCanadian]