Building the Escape Pod
A while back we made ourselves some DIY fork mounts for the back of the van. They worked well for our bikes with quick-release front wheels. When we got bikes with 110mm through axles, we upgraded the fork mounts too.
Continue reading “New fork mount bike rack for our L-track”
Our axe and shovel had been rattling around inside the rear storage compartment for over a year before we worked up the courage to mount them on the wall.
We thought that the Quick Fist clamps we’d bought would easily rip out of the 1/4″ plywood walls but they seem to be holding pretty firmly.
Continue reading “Quick Fist clamps for mounting items to the van”
We’ve got L-track mounted in the floor of our van. It’s ideal for placing bike fork mounts pretty much wherever you need them. Here’s how to build your own fork mount that attaches to any piece of L-track on your floor or wall.
If you’re not careful, the whole van can end up being a dirty laundry basket. And it’ll end up smelling that way too. We don’t live full time in the van, so we needed a way to move our clothes in and out quickly and easily. Packing cubes provided the answer because they make it easy to organize and find clean clothes, and to quarantine the stinky ones.
Continue reading “Packing cubes: a filing system for your clothes”
There are no bedside cabinets in our van. We wanted somewhere to hold water bottles, flashlights, our phones while they charge, and so on. Adding grommets to cheap car trunk organizers solved the problem.
I’ve been emailing back and forth with another Sprinter owner who just installed his Espar heater under the passenger seat. That means he doesn’t have room to use it for storage any more, so he sent me his locking door!
Our cabinets can be bolted in and out of the van as we need them. The plan is to keep them in place most of the time, but it’s great to be able to reconfigure the van as we need it. Continue reading “Quick change cabinets”
With four bikes in the back of the van, and living space up front, there’s not much room for a bed. The only option is to mount it above the bikes using removable panels. Continue reading “Finding space for a bed in a bike hauling van”
We’ve been living with some regular bike stands in the back of the van, but they are hassle to use. Every time we drive anywhere we have to clamp the bikes down with a cargo strap.
Longer term, we plan to add a drawer with built-in bike racks and fork mounts. Pulling the drawer out will give us easy access to load and unload the bikes. Continue reading “A slide-out drawer for bike access”
