Removable board between rear wheel arches

[PopaDom]

Morning all, I want to put a board or set of boards between the wheel arches in my 90. I know its been discussed a number of times, its pretty straightforward job.

Most of what I have seen has been the boards covering the entire width and just sits on the wheel arches. Or angle iron on the boards that then rests on the edge of the wheel arches.

Has anyone done it the other way round and had angle iron or box section on the wheel arches and then boards rest on that? This is the way I think I want to do it, but I'd have concerns the wheel arches aren't necessarily strong enough to do that. Is that the case or am I overtaking it?

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[miktdish]

The internal box sections of the tub (wheel arches) are pretty robust and would support planks running across the car. You could sit on them, lie on them etc and probably carry a few hundred kilo's if the planks/boards were robust enough.

I think I would put roofing lathe (25x38mm) under the planks/boards, against the box section so that they couldn't slide into the sides of the tub.
I think most are quite parallel so allowing 2 or 3mm clearance should be fine.

What is the ulimate purpose, a campervan bed sort of thing ?

 

[Hicap phill]

Put the boards on top. Less stress on the metal work.
If you done the angle iron method bet you would catch your legs on them unless you remove these after use.

 

[PopaDom]

The internal box sections of the tub (wheel arches) are pretty robust and would support planks running across the car. You could sit on them, lie on them etc and probably carry a few hundred kilo's if the planks/boards were robust enough.

Ah thanks thats good to know.

I think I would put roofing lathe (25x38mm) under the planks/boards, against the box section so that they couldn't slide into the sides of the tub.
I think most are quite parallel so allowing 2 or 3mm clearance should be fine.

Yes that makes sense. The less movement the better.

What is the ulimate purpose, a campervan bed sort of thing ?

I have inward facing bench seats in the back and I don't want to lose that seating capacity. My wife and I like to go camping with our dog and sometimes we meet freinds or family at the site and its really great when we can all go in the same car from there when we go out site seeing ect.

But with our current set up its not super comfortable or safe for the dog when we have all the camping equipment in the back, especially for longer trips. So I want to put the removable boards so I can put all our stuff in under the boards and it gives me space to put a proper cage in for dog.

Then when we get to where we're going and get set up, we can remove the boards and have use of the bench seats again.

 

[Hicap phill]

How about putting board on top of the seats ?(either on the seat part or back rest)
Put a few uprights to support this. Make it so it folds in the middle or in 2 pieces (then
You could slide it onto the floor for storage)

 

[dag019]

How about putting board on top of the seats ?(either on the seat part or back rest)
Put a few uprights to support this. Make it so it folds in the middle or in 2 pieces (then
You could slide it onto the floor for storage)

That is a neat sounding idea, but unless you have a horse of a dog I would have thought the solution does not need to be hugely over engineered if all the board is doing is taking the weight of the dog and their bed. What sort of seats do you have in the back, the individual or the two man bench? If it is the two man bench there should be enough room to just sit a piece of ply on top between the arches with the bench folded up and make it wide enough that it will not slide side to side sideways enough to drop down.


But we all know the main issue is you have a 90, they are renowned for being too small to carry anything, you can have people, things, or the dog, but only one. I know its not the original question but have you considered a roof rack/box or similar for the camping kit?

 

[Hicap phill]

@dag019 Just having visions of a dog in a cage on the roof rack…

Ours go to sleep when out in classic runs

 

[miktdish]

@dag019 Just having visions of a dog in a cage on the roof rack…

Me too
You'd need a ramp unless it was a dog on a rope and you could just sling it in ....