My wife gave me a 2012 diesel hiace for christmas! I mean to say, I said she can call it my Christmas present everyone wins.






I started the fitout.

First was a thick layer of bitumen sound deadener. I put alfoil on top to stop stuff sticking to it.

Next was the standard rubber mat.

I made wall panels with 4mm ply wood clad in marine carpet. The holes are for fusion 6x9" speakers.



Next I boxed out the wheel arches in 18mm ply.




Next went on the 18mm form ply floor. I like to store my sails under the floor. The light is an led strip light. I put a switch just inside the back door.




I stopped the floor 400mm short of the front so I can keep an esky behind the drivers seat.

Stay tuned for the racks. I'm doing those when I get back in two weeks.

If I ever get a new van I will spray the floor and half way up the walls with ryno tub liner. No worries about water or sand getting in anywhere then and you can tint it to match the colour of your van.

What does your wife do so that she can afford to give you a van?
And where did you find a wife like that? Online dating site for wealthy women only?
Such envy.

Good bit of forward planning with the esky cutout looking good.

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Mastbender said...
What does your wife do so that she can afford to give you a van?
And where did you find a wife like that? Online dating site for wealthy women only?
Such envy.

Agree with mastbender. Where'd you find a woman like that. I need one

The van is looking good too

Don't go too heavy duty when you build the racks. One sheet of 19 mm ply weighs 30 kg, about the same weight as fully rigged moth dinghy. Vehicle manufacturers go to great extents to save a few kgs. The rack in my van is made of 19 by 42 pine with the bare neccessity of 3mm ply bracing. Holds 3 boards and sails at about 6 kg. It's not pretty. Formula Nova has used poly pipe and joiners to make a lightweight racking system.

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SupsailDave said..

Mastbender said...
What does your wife do so that she can afford to give you a van?
And where did you find a wife like that? Online dating site for wealthy women only?
Such envy.

Agree with mastbender. Where'd you find a woman like that. I need one

The van is looking good too

Can't see what all the fuss is about.

I saw Mrs Yuppy out shopping for the Van the other day
and she didn't seem to be taking her research too seriously.

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Ian K said..
Don't go too heavy duty when you build the racks. One sheet of 19 mm ply weighs 30 kg, about the same weight as fully rigged moth dinghy. Vehicle manufacturers go to great extents to save a few kgs. The rack in my van is made of 19 by 42 pine with the bare neccessity of 3mm ply bracing. Holds 3 boards and sails at about 6 kg. It's not pretty. Formula Nova has used poly pipe and joiners to make a lightweight racking system.

Or, alternatively, go heavy with the racks and all the fit-out. It will make the van ride better on rough roads. My racks are made from double layers of 19mm ply and the floor from 19mm yellow-tongue flooring. Nice and heavy and strong.

You should sell those racks they look great!

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ikw777 said..



Or, alternatively, go heavy with the racks and all the fit-out. It will make the van ride better on rough roads.

True , but it's a moot point if you use that 100kg+ of racking to tote 3 X 6kg of high carbon slalom boards.

( You can compensate to some degree by buying a few of these ultra lightweight camping chairs to slide down the left hand side, they weigh only 890 grams each but are rated to support 145 kg
http://www.helinox.com.au/helinox-chair-one.php.)

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Mastbender said..
What does your wife do so that she can afford to give you a van?
And where did you find a wife like that? Online dating site for wealthy women only?
Such envy.

If you read it again, I think what he's saying is that he bought it himself and told his wife she can call it her present to him.

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Ian K said..

ikw777 said..



Or, alternatively, go heavy with the racks and all the fit-out. It will make the van ride better on rough roads.

True , but it's a moot point if you use that 100kg+ of racking to tote 3 X 6kg of high carbon slalom boards.

( You can compensate to some degree by buying a few of these ultra lightweight camping chairs to slide down the left hand side, they weigh only 890 grams each but are rated to support 145 kg
http://www.helinox.com.au/helinox-chair-one.php.)

I think fitting it out with ply and timber is a good idea. In my Mazda van I fitted it out with marine ply and heaps of it. It was designed to take 1.5 tonnes as payload I think, and the extra weight of the timber did make it ride better. With no payload they bounce a bit too much. I even took one of the helper leaf springs out to make it ride better. It was also made of timber because I made a bed platform in the back of the van.

Ian, the light-weight rack that I made out of pipe and timber was a 'travel rack' that I took to WA. It was meant to pack down into small bits and assemble into a hire van. It was good though as it let us put something like 8 boards and accompanying sails and stuff into a van without piling it all on top of itself. If I built out a van again I would build it in the same layout but I would use timber and steel.

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FormulaNova said..
Ian, the light-weight rack that I made out of pipe and timber was a 'travel rack' that I took to WA. It was meant to pack down into small bits and assemble into a hire van. It was good though as it let us put something like 8 boards and accompanying sails and stuff into a van without piling it all on top of itself. If I built out a van again I would build it in the same layout but I would use timber and steel.

But Mr Nova, it's 2015, Australia has vowed to reduce its carbon emissions 26 to 28% by 2030. A little bit of thought about the weight added when fitting out a van does that little bit to save the planet. When folks look in the back of your van you can point out how green you are.

Go crazy fitting out the man cave with recycled jetty timbers, they'll look cool, but if a recycled carbon mast will do the same job in the van...

www.autoblog.com/2009/10/29/greenlings-how-does-weight-affect-a-vehicles-efficiency/

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Ian K said..

FormulaNova said..
Ian, the light-weight rack that I made out of pipe and timber was a 'travel rack' that I took to WA. It was meant to pack down into small bits and assemble into a hire van. It was good though as it let us put something like 8 boards and accompanying sails and stuff into a van without piling it all on top of itself. If I built out a van again I would build it in the same layout but I would use timber and steel.

But Mr Nova, it's 2015, Australia has vowed to reduce its carbon emissions 26 to 28% by 2030. A little bit of thought about the weight added when fitting out a van does that little bit to save the planet. When folks look in the back of your van you can point out how green you are.

Go crazy fitting out the man cave with recycled jetty timbers, they'll look cool, but if a recycled carbon mast will do the same job in the van...

www.autoblog.com/2009/10/29/greenlings-how-does-weight-affect-a-vehicles-efficiency/

Ian, if I start thinking about the carbon emissions, I would stop driving 2.5 hours south to go to my favorite sailing spot. Instead I would be sitting at a cafe with my Prius in full view with the fuel consumption sticker left conspicuously on the windscreen. (Please note I don't actually own a Prius, and probably never will)

My Mazda was sooooooo slowwwwwww, and I am sure it used more fuel revving its head off than a bigger capacity engine would have.

If I ever finish my windsurfing trailer I will have something that is not too bad to tow, probably reasonably aerodynamic, and comfortable too. If I ever finish it...

Also, I haven't broken a mast since I switched to Ezzy RDMs, so the fitout of the van would either be very expensive or very small.

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FormulaNova said..

Ian, if I start thinking about the carbon emissions, I would stop driving 2.5 hours south to go to my favorite sailing spot. Instead I would be sitting at a cafe with my Prius in full view with the fuel consumption sticker left conspicuously on the windscreen. (Please note I don't actually own a Prius, and probably never will)

My Mazda was sooooooo slowwwwwww, and I am sure it used more fuel revving its head off than a bigger capacity engine would have.

If I ever finish my windsurfing trailer I will have something that is not too bad to tow, probably reasonably aerodynamic, and comfortable too. If I ever finish it...

Also, I haven't broken a mast since I switched to Ezzy RDMs, so the fitout of the van would either be very expensive or very small.

Formula, the Direct Action Plan for reducing carbon emissions is not intended to "affect the living standards of Australian families". www.liberal.org.au/our-plan/environment.

So you should still drive to Sanctuary Point. And you still need to be ready for all conditions when you get there. A Prius won't cut it, you'll need a van.
Putting thought into vehicle weight is like insulating your house. (same size, same temperature, same entertainment system, just smarter.)

In 20 years you'll be heading down south in a battery powered van. You'll need a long van, the boards will all be 295s.

The first rack support is made

Looks good Yuppy. Are you going to have an arms that extend from these that removable. I saw a really nice board rack in a shop the other day, where the arms slotted into routed groves in the side of the rack and looked like you could remove them when needed.

Hi dean.

On one side I created a slot to receive the rack. See photo below.

The other side has a stainless steel bolt with a butterfly nut.

Nicely done. So there are equivalent uprights on the other side?

Yuppy - with that interior lighting - is this you?

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AusMoz said...

Yeah Baby!!!

The finished racks. I feel like dancing!

Flash as a rat with a gold tooth ;)

What's the consensus wrt electronic rust prevention?

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Yuppy said...
The finished racks. I feel like dancing!

I'm so surprised that no one has asked.
Are you taking orders?
Can you do my van next ?
And how much (approx) spent & hours invested.
Awesome work!

Nice job Yuppy. Look like a lot of time and effort went into it. Attention to detail has paid off

...but, once the boards are in, is there any room to shag once you've made an epic impression with the chicks on the beach with your forward loops on the water?

Nice Job Yuppy. Serious handyman skills there!

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BSN101 said...

Yuppy said...
The finished racks. I feel like dancing!

I'm so surprised that no one has asked.
Are you taking orders?
Can you do my van next ?
And how much (approx) spent & hours invested.
Awesome work!

I spent about $500 on the waterproofing, plywood and marine carpet.

The rubber Matt was about $300 same with the cargo barrier.

The stereo was $500

I spent about 24 man hours doing it.

I would not take the pleasure away from anyone doing it themselves.

Looks great, is this the first van you've done?
Is that a wind skate board in the corner ?

It's my second van. The first I bought from Kirk who had a similar fitout. Yes it's a skate sailboard but I'm not game to use it.

I built a handy drying system last night. Took one hour and cost nothing. The wetsuit drains straight into a bucket. Green esky in the corner. Beer inside it. Water tank at the door for washing off my feet.