Any Timber Engineers out there?

I'm looking at making a couple of units to fit into the V*va*o van for camping. They'll be a fairly simple affair that I can install for camping trips along with the R&R bed and remove afterwards. I've drawn up some rough plans and ideally I'll bring the timber, blocks, screws and tools and make them at TE later this month.

My question is, what timber should I use? I've seen some for purchase made from 15mm MDF but they're really heavy so I'm thinking of making them from 12mm ply as it's a lot lighter. do you think that will be strong enough in conjunction with 10mm screws and blocks, bearing in mind that they're for occasional use and need to be installed and removed?

 

For a permanent solution, I would go with a lightweight ply like Morland or Vohringer - I did this in the Bay when weight is a serious concern.

You could also do this in a modern van, but in our T5.1 we used hexagrip faced plywood (like Stitches and Steel or Ovano) as the van has enough power to cope with the weight. The hexagrip is a bit more forgiving than Morland when being taken in and out of the van frequently.

As for building the units, I’m cad proficient so I designed the units and had them cut before I put them together. My wood working skills have improved more recently and I’d be a bit more confident (if I wasn’t Lazy) to build from scratch, but I’d do so by using cheaper MDF to build templates and then use those to cut finals from the more expensive boards with a router.

footnote…. I’m not a real timber engineer, just a wood enthusiast!

 

Trailer board is pretty durable stuff so should stand up well to being fitted and removed often.
I’d imagine it would be heavier than normal ply though
I had thought about possibly using it for my van so I thought I’d just chuck it out there
It will be interesting to see what people think

Are you using modesty blocks?

 

9mm Ply is for cupboard with 90 degree aluminium strip on the corners. Swing out cooker - 2 hinges, pull out the hinges pins/ bolts to remove.
Go for a interior which when you remove the pull out cooker. Lets you put and 8x4 foot sheet of plaster board in, they were intended as work vans.

 

No expert but last year went to a local Vw camper converter to see what he did to new vans. Amazing set-up but £££
He used a lightweight panel ( similar but stronger than you might see in shower panels ) . Very strong, easy to construct/ fix and incredibly light weight. Loads of colour choice . If I was considering a revamp then that’s the way I’d go ( waterproof as well !)

 

Where the hell is he when he’s wanted???. Come on Geordie, I can see you hiding behind that tarmac roller.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,Oh Geordie, where are you bud.

 

@Geordie is ok he’s having a break to sort some Marmite out but as Arnie said “ he’ll be back “

 

12mm is massively heavy.. if you use the ply to stiffen a wooden frame, you can use much thinner ply .. on my boat with a timber frame supporting the berths, the horizontal bed bunk ply pieces are 6mm (with a maximum distance between supports of about 80cm ) and the vertical are 4mm ply on frames.

I have a table in my bus that hooks one end into the Devon wall fitting. At the other end, its legs are two pieces 10mm x30mm ash with a brace at half height.. it can support my weight (80kg))

 

Just an idea….have a look on Facebook marketplace or eBay for some used racking or removable units by the likes of Sortimo. You can then modify the steel skeleton depending on what you can procure….many come with sliding drawers and closing doors that can be modified, might save you a lot of when building the frames.

Or just used camper units you can fix up.

Price of timber today is extraordinary!

 

I agree, in this day and age when modular furniture pods of different material types are so readily available, why do some people still bolt in, cabinet-made furniture that offers no flexibility whatsoever? The coach builders did it because that was the conventional way 50 years ago, but left you with a floor area of about 5' x 4'. There's absolutely no need to do it nowadays. Every T2 started life as a van!

 

Thanks for all the advice, the key thing for me is that it's lightweight for getting in and aout and moving around and that it looks like a camper. Many places like Download, Reading festival and many others are quite particular about what constitutes a campervan, as a gerneral rule it needs a fixed bed, side windows, fixed storage and a means of cooking which is what I'm trying to achieve. There are many off the shelf unots that'll fit straight in but they're made from 15mm MDF, are difficult to pop in and out and weigh 60 or so Kg. I think I'll make something simple with a softwood frame and 9mm ply, with 6mm ply for the base and rear.

 

There is specialist lightweight finished ply available at about half the weight of normal ply . Not cheap if I remember but it is out there , I'll see if I can find it ...

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Vohringer?

 

I had these in my Brazzer, supplied via the last incarnation of Danbury in Bristol.

Lightweight plastic - not everyones cup of tea I know, but they were each secured with a single butterfly nut to the bulkheads behind the front seats . When removed they left enough space to carry a Vespa.

 

I remember those !
Spot on for a removable interior - did the job well

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Poplar Plywood is the lightest you can get, I have just designed and am installing in my T2. This combined with the T Trim for a finish and can paint or stain as I have done.
If you can send over plans I could see how much to have the CNC lad machine for you and could bring to Tech Enders. I could bring my pocket hole jig and tools to assist installation, you would need to knock-up some kind of work bench (8x4 sheet of anything) to work on.

 

That sounds familiar


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What a splendid generous offer @BarryDean

 

If a carpenter carved a bare breast, that would be rude... wouldn't it.