Hi guys,

I want to add some storage to the rear of my van -- for holding tools, hitch stuff, kids toys etc..

Does anyone know of any retail solutions for this? What has worked for other people?

Thanks,

Dave.

 

I just got done installing a combination of commercially available shelving and drawer units and some home made wood shelves in my '96 E-150 Quigley 4X4.
I'll take a few pics and post them in a few days. It is amazing how much you can get in these vans with a little forethought.

 

Thanks P, photos would be much appreciated

 

I have cabinets and shelves from here: http://www.americanvan.com/
I have the type that fit over the wheel wells, but are actually for mini-vans. I prefer the extra hieght for stuff to fit on the top shelf.

 

slimdave,
I have a '94 Chateau and have thought about the storage issue as well. I haven't done anything about it but my thought was to build a box that would be the same heigth of the bottom of the bed when it is folded out to go in the rear compartment. It could have any combination of rear facing drawers on full extention heavy duty ball bearing drawer guides. I would remove the rear steal tube folding leg from the bed and let it rest on the box when in the bed position. You would have to slid the box back to deploy the bed though. You would also need to allow clearance for the rear air conditioner return. A smaller box could be made to go under the rear seat with forward facing drawers and used in conjunction with the big box in the rear or with rear facing drawers and used alone. The smaller box alone would solve the jumper cable, hitch draw bar and emergency tool storage problem without compromising the rear cargo area.
One problem is that you can haul twelve foot lumber or pipe etc under the seat and up the isle in the standard configuration, so anything you do may be a compromise. Keep in mind that there is the small storage compartment where your jack and tire tool are located in the right rear and the open compartments along the left side that will handle a few of the items that you may want to have on hand.
There could have been a lot more factory storage in a vehicle the size of our vans.
Gene

 

Thanks Gene,

yes, all good points -- flat storage would be great, as the floor could easily raise 6 inches without affecting my useful space for shopping/toys/blah blah (I don't have a fold-down bench at the back, so that's one "issue" not to worry about). The trouble is that the retail flat storage I've seen is too much for the job -- $500 for a set of construction-worker-proof steel storage drawers is more than I want to spend and more than i need. Ideally I suppose I could use a couple of end-accessible storage boxes on either side of the cargo area with a covered channel between (for lumber, pipes etc. as you say). At the moment it's just a pipe-dream though.

 

Check with a local cabinet shop. They could do it for maybe half of that with two to three drawers in it. You could cover it with matching auto carpet sort of like the large sub woofer boxes or use stain and poly or paint or even use a plastic laminate like formica. Lots of choices. Maybe have a full depth drawer on either side and a shallow one over your pipe channel idea in the middle. The box could be a little narrower than the rear van bay to allow for air flow to the air conditioner return vent and then a full width top on it to fill the rear load area and create a new higher rear deck. The full width top could be attached to the box with heavy duty velcro to make removal easier.

Gene