I thought I might post up a few photos of a couple of mods we have done to our van, which others may find useful.
The first is to add our own shelves into the tall cupboards in our van.
The rear cupboard we use for clothes storage and the front cupboard (near the fridge) we use as our pantry.
Basically I purchased a sheet of MDF board, cut it to size and used some small cuts of pine as the supports (screwed to the inside walls of the cupboards).
I will mention that you should take careful note of the exact dimensions of where each shelf will go (as our cupboards were not square, so I imagine yours may not be either), so I had to fine-tune a few cuts so they fit nicely...which wasn't a difficult task.
We now have two removable shelves in each cupboard that we can take out if and when we need to store longer/larger items (or to hang clothes etc.).
Here is a photo of the cupboard with shelves installed:
And here is a photo of the supports I made (very basic):
The second mod is for our 18 month old who loves to get around everywhere (especially at night when we try to put him to bed, he just jumps straight out).
We have a 1m x 1m wooden play pen we use at home to keep him at bay when we can't always have our eyes on him which I have used one section from for this mod.
We decided early on that the best bed for him was the rear double bed in the Expanda as it is a decent size and can also double as a daytime play pen if we're getting lunch/dinner ready and need to keep him safe/out of our way.
On the side of each section I drilled a hole just large enough for a door lock/bolt to go into and then mounted one of these bolts on either side of the bed opening. These then remain permanently on the van and the play pen section can be installed or removed with ease.
whenever we go away I remove two screws and pack the play pen section in the van and when we return home I simply put the section back and we can continue using the play pen at home.
This now allows us to put our little one to bed at night secure in the knowledge that he cannot fall out of bed or sneak out when we don't want him to (at least for now...LOL).
Here is a photo of the play pen section installed:
I am also using a short piece of wood underneath the play pen section to raise it up higher as it was originally a bit too low when the little one stood on the bed.
And here is a photo of the bolt locked in to place (there is one on either side):
They fit snuggly up against each end to minimise any side-to-side movement.
We did originally look at a couple of bed nets which can be fitted to caravan bunk beds etc, but they were quite expensive and we weren't sure how well they would work and how the little one would go.
Another advantage of using the rear double bed is that we can still use the privacy curtains to keep the bed area quite dark, so we can keep the lights on in the van without disturbing the little man too much.
For anyone with a little one, this solution may be of interest to you.
Cheers,
Dave
The first is to add our own shelves into the tall cupboards in our van.
The rear cupboard we use for clothes storage and the front cupboard (near the fridge) we use as our pantry.
Basically I purchased a sheet of MDF board, cut it to size and used some small cuts of pine as the supports (screwed to the inside walls of the cupboards).
I will mention that you should take careful note of the exact dimensions of where each shelf will go (as our cupboards were not square, so I imagine yours may not be either), so I had to fine-tune a few cuts so they fit nicely...which wasn't a difficult task.
We now have two removable shelves in each cupboard that we can take out if and when we need to store longer/larger items (or to hang clothes etc.).
Here is a photo of the cupboard with shelves installed:
And here is a photo of the supports I made (very basic):
The second mod is for our 18 month old who loves to get around everywhere (especially at night when we try to put him to bed, he just jumps straight out).
We have a 1m x 1m wooden play pen we use at home to keep him at bay when we can't always have our eyes on him which I have used one section from for this mod.
We decided early on that the best bed for him was the rear double bed in the Expanda as it is a decent size and can also double as a daytime play pen if we're getting lunch/dinner ready and need to keep him safe/out of our way.
On the side of each section I drilled a hole just large enough for a door lock/bolt to go into and then mounted one of these bolts on either side of the bed opening. These then remain permanently on the van and the play pen section can be installed or removed with ease.
whenever we go away I remove two screws and pack the play pen section in the van and when we return home I simply put the section back and we can continue using the play pen at home.
This now allows us to put our little one to bed at night secure in the knowledge that he cannot fall out of bed or sneak out when we don't want him to (at least for now...LOL).
Here is a photo of the play pen section installed:
I am also using a short piece of wood underneath the play pen section to raise it up higher as it was originally a bit too low when the little one stood on the bed.
And here is a photo of the bolt locked in to place (there is one on either side):
They fit snuggly up against each end to minimise any side-to-side movement.
We did originally look at a couple of bed nets which can be fitted to caravan bunk beds etc, but they were quite expensive and we weren't sure how well they would work and how the little one would go.
Another advantage of using the rear double bed is that we can still use the privacy curtains to keep the bed area quite dark, so we can keep the lights on in the van without disturbing the little man too much.
For anyone with a little one, this solution may be of interest to you.
Cheers,
Dave
