Van Racking Ideas That Actually Work

1. Create a false bed with access at the rear and side doors

This is a no brainer if you’re a carpenter and need to transport large pieces of plywood. Creating a false floor definitely adds a of storage to your mobile workshop.

Ensure access at the rear and side door by using panels out of ply. If you just use supporting legs on the sides with supporting beams across, you can easily slide in large sheets of 8×4 ply from the rear. Create a removable hatch at the bulkhead to have access to smaller materials from the side door.

Pros: a lot of flexible storage space for large materials.

Cons: the height you take out at the bottom can limit your standing height in the van. If you need to work inside the van, make sure you have a high roof (H2 or H3) to ensure you can stand up straigt. Or use tip number … to simply work outside.

2. Use old pipes for storing kits and glues

Use those short, useless pieces of pipe instead of throwing them away! If you have any old pieces of 3″ PVC pipe lying around, simply cut them into 4-5″ pieces (10-15cm) and attach them… really anywhere you’d like. Attach a simple stainless steel bracket at the bottom facing inwards, functioning as a support for your glues. Use them to store really anything that’s round. The easiest hack for tidying up your shelves.

3. Build a cabinet in the side door for crates and toolboxes

Building a van-high cabinet in the side door allows for easy access to your most-used tools and materials. Plan out the cabinet to fit your ‘definitely-need’ tools. A cabinet with 2 columns of wide, high shelves from the flooring up for about 3/4 should do the trick. Make sure these shelves are made-to-measure for your specific toolboxes and crates.

Above it, create a shelf for storing small materials such as cannisters, tape, hearing protection, etc. Provide this shelf with an edge to prevent anything from falling of.

Finish the cabinet by placing a column of solid plywood next to the two columns, and use this space to hang your screwdrivers and pliers from. This way, all your need-to-have tools are within reach, and you lose about 15″ in your load area. It get’s better in the next tip.

Having this cabinet is great and all, but there’s always room for improvement. So here’s a tip: make the shelves heavy duty drawers. This allows you to pull out the toolbox, open it, get the tools, and slide it back in effortlessly. This way you won’t even have to get the toolbox out. Efficiency is king.

Pros: most-used tools at hand at all times.

Cons: the cabinet is bulky, you lose some space in the load area, and it’s only accessible from the outside, which sucks when it’s raining. But there’s a solution, read on.

4. Place your side door cabinet on a swivel foot

If you want to be able to access this cabinet from the inside as well, simply place the entire cabinet on a swivel plateau. This way, if you’re ie. working inside of your van and need your favorite tools at hand, you simply rotate the entire cabinet. The front becomes the back, and your entire toolbox cabinet is now facing the inside.

This requires some serious measuring, since the cabinet can only rotate towards the bulkhead. Just don’t forget to place a lock which secures the system in place while driving.

Pros: flexibility in deciding where you need your tools.

Cons: you need to keep the bulkhead area clear, so you can’t build an inside cabinet there.

5. Create a side door drawer under the false floor

Drawers can be just the thing if you need to store a lot of small bits and pieces. Mostly people put these drawers at the rear. This really does two things:

1. The drawers are very long, and long drawers are the worst
2. You lose access to possibly the best storage space of the entire van.

By putting in a drawer at the side door you can keep the drawers (very) short (like 12″), and still have complete access to the big under-floor storage.

In the end, I would highly recommend you to consult professionals if you are looking to install shelves in your cargo van. It is very important to get the cargo van shelving right.