Storage options abound under my Van...

[shadetreetim]

Storage in our Vanagons is an ongoing challenge for almost anyone who camps. The finite amount of storage our little boxes provide has led to some most creative solutions for many a Vanagon owner. Adding our current CHC roof solved some storage issues for us while camped, when compared to our original tintop, but I have long contemplated how to get more storage while traveling.

Towards that end I have been imagining a raised, modified Westy roof, or perhaps a modified Country Homes Campers roof to replace the CHC roof I have now. Here are two renderings to give you an idea of my thoughts:

But, the downside with either of these solutions is the overall height with a raised roof poptop. On the one hand, it wouldn’t be any taller than the roof box I ran before installing the CHC top. On the other, storing weight lower keeps the center of gravity lower, improving handling. Lots to consider. Not to mention I would have to build the damn thing.

Lady Shadetree and I typically prefer to leave our hometown of Riverside, California as soon as we get off work on the eve of our vacation. That quite often means we’ll get out of town, get as far as we can, and then sleep at a truck stop or rest area until the next morning, before continuing on to our destination. Because of this preference, I judge all storage solutions by how much crap I have to move to make out the bed.

Currently all of our chairs, tables, portable heater, clothing and overflow food take up space behind the back seat on trips. All I want to do is find an alternative location for most of it.

There is an alternative to the modified top solution I really should pursue before I take the monumental task of creating a brand new top. Many years ago I gave up some coveted storage space, under the back seat, to two 110AH deep cycle batteries, required storage for the 100W Solar Panel on the roof.

I have long considered where to relocate them to. Since I have a 2WD, the area above the trans is appealing as it would utilize totally wasted space.

But not when I factor in my other consideration, how to improve the weight distribution of my van. Over the years, the weight on the back has steadily increased. It started with a Nissan Pathfinder spare tire carrier, then batteries, CHC poptop, etc, etc. With each addition, the handling of the van has slowly declined.

It is interesting to notice how Lady Shadetree’s choice of seats influences the handling performance of the van. Not surprising, the front end tends to float more as more weight shifts to the back. So I’ve wanted to move some weight back up front for quite a while now.

I’ve discussed the idea of moving the batteries to the original spare tire location before, but it is time to get off the porch and put my ideas to use.

The first step is to build a mount to locate the 2 batteries directly in front of the crossmember.

The new bracket utilizes the original mounting locations for the spare tire carrier. At the front of this battery section, struts will tie into the frame rails to support and stabilize the weight of the batteries. By unbolting the struts, the battery tray will hinge down for access, using a floor jack for control. Those 4 tabs seen will be for the battery hold downs.

The front of the battery tray (top of the picture) has hinges for the yet to be built storage tray that will span the rest of the space behind the front bumper. This section will open just as the spare tire carrier did, by unbolting it at the front and hinging it down.

Bolted in place on this storage clamshell will be a couple of ammo boxes I’ve had in the garage for years now. The ammo boxes will provide storage for items like a spare CV, alternator, fuel pump, filter, etc, etc. Stuff I've got stored under the drivers seat now.

Aluminum diamond plate will be fitted inside the angle iron to provide protection and aesthetics.

I’ve ran out of time and energy tonight to work on it. I still need to build the clamshell frame, cut the aluminum, buy a few bolts, and run the wire to the back. I purchased 10 feet of #2 welder wire to run from the batteries to the solar controller / car battery relay, which will remain under the back seat. I’ve ordered two 200A fusible links to put on each end of the wire run. The batteries will ground to the frame rails.

I’m excited to see if my chairs and roll up tables can be stored under the back seat when I’m done. If not, that area above the trans is still whispering to me…
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[DwarfVader]

Interested to see where this goes.
_________________
- oderint dum metuant -

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[Gruppe B]

Good job moving the batteries under the van. The rear seat storage is more valuable than a place to store batteries.

Here is my fuel tank holder and removable 3 gallon fuel tank for my diesel Espar D2 furnace. The fuel tank holder is installed between the frame members beside the sliding door.

So much storage space under the Van!

[akyrie]

Shadetree, you may have thought of this already... If you used the original spare tire holder with a blue barrel cut up, would the two batteries fit inside there? Maybe more storage in that than two batteries.

FYI, I am only couch speculating.
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[djkeev]

No link handy but memories abound!

1) An Aux battery box under the van in the area of the sliding door.

2) A compartment cut into the floor just inside the sliding door with an interior access door.

The biggest problem with under vehicle storage is ease of access...... Rather nothing is easily accessed and it has to be stuff you really don't need but you feel the need to bring anyway. yeah..... I do that too!

In defiance of online advice, local naysayers along with my old plain common sense....... I installed a front 2" reciever hitch.
Into that I slipped a small carry platform, on top of that I strap a carrier bag and into the bag go those things that you need but are bulky and hard to store. Things you don't want wonking you on the back of the head should very bad things happen.
For me? It's folding Rocking Chairs! Yes..... Big, bulky, not really heavy but Oh! So very COMFORTABLE!!! (Rocking chairs also do NOT sink into sand, mud or soft ground.)
It is One of the luxuries we bring traveling......
Those foldup seat contraptions just don't cut it for us..... Vacation is about comfort, relaxation and joy..... Not tolerating a second rate seat because it folds up small!

Now with this front carrier you'd think..... "Uh Oh..... That's gonna OVERHEAT!!!"
I'm happy to report after almost 9,000 miles of travel nary a sign of overheating! That is with AC and passing through 97 degree hellish temperatures in North Dakota!

This photo shows it last Summer, I've since heated and bent up the 2" tube to give a little more nose clearance. Some have questioned the legality of a front extension like this but I've yet to locate any prohibitions about such a setup and I Passed many Many MANY Police in that 9,000 miles!
One even spent an hour with me while I made an emergency repair walking around the Van Chatting with my Grandkids and talking about his Classic WWII era Jeep.

You want up front weight? Here you go! With the front hitch the spare tire area is still completely accessible.
I was given my front hitch by a member here, but I did make a thread on it and how to make your own......

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=608290&highlight=

Anyway..... Great ideas! Keep them coming.

Dave
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[Steve M.]

Can I ask you what is the pixel size of your images?
There is no way they are able to be seen on a limited poor internet connection! Can you resize them if they are full size images? It might just be my internet connection.

Anyway, what are you going to do about the heat coming off the radiator cooking your batteries?
I had the idea of doing the same spare tire location, but haven't gotten time to do it yet. Some thoughts I have on this are:
The survival space blanket material "Mylar" is excellent at stopping heat. If you can find that in a tape and stick it onto a cover shield I'm thinking that would help.
Or the thermal foil backed sound insulation would also help.
Or if you had the front spoiler mounted you could duct some air up from that to blow in under any cover you put over the batteries to get some less hot air blowing off the radiator fan. that would be helpful during the cooler months, but the heat coming off hot asphalt during the summer...
Or ducting the radiator fan airflow so it doesn't blow over the batteries.

It might be an idea to put a thermal probe in there to see what the temps are during a drive? If anything, the area could be turned into a food warmer if it gets really warm!

[djkeev]

OP hosted the images in DropBox so their size could be quite large......
Vanagon related content is best hosted here, not only to prevent image loss but for enhanced speed at seeing the images.

My rocking chair? Not Vanagon related, hosted on PhotoBucket.....

Although with my high speed FIOS I haven't noticed a download lag.....

Dave
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[Steve M.]

I wish I had you guys internet connections!
half the time when I open a thread and it is large picture files I just close the thread....sucks!

[shadetreetim]

Thanks for the alternative under van storage locations, and the front bumper location. It reminds me there are still plenty of projects to do to add storage under the van instead of building a custom poptop. The storage above the trans and inside the slider door can be made accessible from inside the van. Looks like I will never need to build a cool hightop poptop. That's too bad, it would have been cool.

[DLJ]

Tim: I solved some of my storage problem by fabricating a metal box to fit up under sliding door. Its permanently attached and I access it from a hole cut into floor directly above it. I then made a strong steel door to cover the hole and it also serves as a stand for a jack.
Also you might consider a full width westy rear seat, (the wood one) This will yeild more room because its higher than the standard seat, has no metal to deal with and its lighter.
I have the plans for the storage box if your interested.
You can see this for yourself at CHC event at Joshua Tree next month.

[atomatom]

[atomatom]

also, love the ideas tim. however, i'd be a bit concerned about battery acid in the face. i guess you must have gel type ones or similar.

presume you've seen the peacevans battery box: http://peacevansseattle.com/specialty-mods/

_________________
84 Vanagon Westy, 1.9L, California raised but defected to Canada.

[shadetreetim]

[Christopher Schimke]

This isn't a stab at anyone in this thread, but just bringing up a few points to consider.

I'm not sure how many people will put much thought into this, but the further away the heavy objects are mounted from the vehicle's center of gravity, the worse the handling will be. So given the choice (and often times were are not), mounting the heavier items closer to the center of the van will yield better handling characteristics. If we look at Dave's front basket set up versus Tim's battery set up mounted closer to the center of the van, assuming they both add the same amount of weight to the tire contact patches, Tim's set up would handle better than Dave's. It's the same principal that applies to mounting heavy things up high on the van (roof) versus putting them on the floor of the van. The more top heavy the van is, the worse it will handle compared to that same weight placed low on the floor. Again, keeping as much weight mounted as close to the van's center of gravity (or below the center of gravity when considering the vertical aspect) as possible will optimize the handling.

Packaging is often a compromise, but it's still good to have goals that help to improve things overall rather than make them better in some areas and worse in others. Just something to consider.
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[Steve M.]

[shadetreetim]

[djkeev]

First.... Christopher..... I'm an old fart running 90 ponies with an Automatic, I'll move over for you when you come up behind...... Superb handling isn't on my short list. besides...... It's lawn chairs!

Second, I know the amount of heat passing through that radiator tunnel is IMMENSE!!!!
A Pre-Summer job is pulling the shift lever, carpet, etc and putting in some reflective barrier to tone the blast furnace down that is the shift lever area!!!

I for sure would consider some sort of thermal barrier for the flooded lead acid batteries there...... Just the electrolyte evaporation could be enormous from the heat and they aren't going to be exactly easy to check and top off frequently.......

Dave
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[shadetreetim]

[chase4food]

[djkeev]

All interesting points about environments batteries exist in!
Very thought provoking, Many / Most of tge newer engine compartment batteries I've seen are encased in a thermal box or thermal wrapper.
They are aware of heat problems.

I see more and more batteries following the path of the Beetle and moving out of the engine area.
Into trunks, under seats, etc,

There is serious talk about batteries becoming bigger to handle the increased electric demands of the modern automobile. I've heard 24v bounced around.

Do keep us posted.

Water boils at 212*F, thermostats open at what 180* +/- so that cooling air has passed through a 18O* or hotter radiator absorbing a good deal of the heat.

Dave
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