Bought one of the ex BG maxi's a while ago and have been trying to do a minimal conversion on it. My brief was pretty simple: basically I still wanted to be able to use it as a van, but also have it ready for quick weekends climbing, hiking, cycling or surfing etc. I didn't need to connect a power source because I have a portable solar panel for camping anyway.
In effect I just wanted some storage that didn't interfere too much. I did a little search at what was available, and while I liked a lot of the standard modules on Ebay cut from ply, nothing seemed to be offering what I really wanted. some of my first drawings are shown below but they all were seeming too cramped and eventually I started to settled on a really simple design, which was basically just a false floor.
Once I settled on this I candle up with some simple designs. When I spoke to some mates I was eventually made aware of the similar thing made by Stitches and steel, which seemed roughly to fit the bill too - but they didn't make anything maxi related, and also cost the earth. Also wasn't a fan of their drawer configuration. SO, I decided to have a crack at my own design.
After removing the BG racking, I measured and CAD'd up the bare base of the van, taking note of the wheel arches, door spaces and any mounting points. Once I had this template I modelled the wheel arches in 3D so I knew how the profile changed, and I came up with an ideal height for the floor base, so that I could still sit up in the back, and had drawers that were actually a useful size. Then I figured out a couple of drawer spaces, one for shoes and one for longer term storage, and put in a little cutout near each side door so that I could reach into the shoe space and side drawer without opening the doors. Once I had all of this fitted I made a model of my design, and checked that I could slot it all together without anything colliding (much needed idiot check). A really important step here was getting it so all the bits could slide into the van... would've felt like such a muppet if id overlooked that. Results of this are below:
At this point it was just a case of sorting the model into files, and sending them off to be CNC'd. Once they arrived I spent about half an hour gently persuading the joints to fit with a rubber mallet, and the majority of the bed was up!
At this point I still needed to make the drawers, and put in the supports for the middle section so that it was flush with the rest of the bed top. Couple of detail shots:
- Mounting points example (turns out it was heavy enough that I didn't bother using these in the end)
-Shoe storage compartment - has a bit a the bottom to stop them spilling out when I open the door, like on a boat. (this is before I had knocked the top down fully)
- Central compartment space for longer term storage of stuff like a tent etc. (unfinished in this photo)
Once the bed was fully made I changed the wheels from the stock ones - in its current state:
