Ply flooring advice needed

Green Giant

Senior Member
T6 Guru
Hi
Looking for some advice on how I can ply our swb van, ready for Altro vinyl and then a Van furniture U shape set up on top.
Watched loads of videos and read posts on forum but there so many different ways to do it.
The converter I had a quote from, was going to just fit 18mm ply onto the bare metal floor.
I previously had the Kombi rear rubber matting in the rear and this looked like about 18mm thick, so in theory 18mm ply would work with the current side step and the rear threshold cover at the tailgate.
Also 18 mm ply would give me some extra thickness to fix the furniture to the floor using brackets.
My questions are.. what should I use under the 18 mm ply, if anything?, some kind of sound deadening matting in between the ridges of the metal floor, I don’t want to raise up the 18 mm ply floor any more though.
Also should I use marine grade 18 mm ply?
should I make the ply joints to be under and along the kitchen side and also small strip across the rear at the tailgate.
Do I need to glue these joints together before laying the vinyl?
Phew, thanks for any help
 
Just chiming in here as well with a wee question, currently the floor of my van is ply lined, and they have been secured with some really heavy duty rubbery fixing which is now left in lumps when I take the floor up. Do I have to painstakingly remove all this adhesive residue first before I insulate it or I could just take the bigger and easily removeable lumpy bits of and put the insulation on top of it. Am I wrong to assume that with the batons being slightly raised from the insulation level that I could potentially get away with this short cut? Will the insulation still stick to the floor with the residue still there?

Am I understanding this right, that the batons are placed strategically at this point considering the future fixing of shelving and beds and units, so I can use the additional grip and thickness of the batons to screw the later fixings into?

What happens when you add underslung water tanks, is it easy enough to later then make holes through all the layers of ply and insulation and van when all these parts are complete.

the more I learn the more I wish that I should have just bought a pre loved van, that was well put together :(
 
Last edited:
Re underslung tanks - you can get through existing holes in the sills that will be currently plugged with grommets, into the void in the wall.

For drilling through multiple layers, I did this for a gas dropout vent. Just a Holesaw, and keep pulling out each layer of the core as you go. My floor was nearly 40mm thick and it was fine.
 
Re underslung tanks - you can get through existing holes in the sills that will be currently plugged with grommets, into the void in the wall.

For drilling through multiple layers, I did this for a gas dropout vent. Just a Holesaw, and keep pulling out each layer of the core as you go. My floor was nearly 40mm thick and it was fine.
that's great to hear, can I pick your brain a little more? I have those cargo hook holes in the van floor since it was commercial, should I close them up before I insulate or could they be useful to keep access to at a later point for either water or gas or attaching furniture to? Im scratching my head with what to do with them.
 
I took the rings and bolts out, sealed the holes and went over the top with ply (apart from the two that are part of the bed fitting). My furniture is screwed to the ply.
 
I took the rings and bolts out, sealed the holes and went over the top with ply (apart from the two that are part of the bed fitting). My furniture is screwed to the ply.
Thank you, did you seal them from the underside aswell? Any tips for getting some out which are stuck the washer seems to spin so I can't get them either out or in. Should I just cut them off? Im seriously consider a water tank in the under wheel holder, could I use the existing hole near the door on that side for water fit out?
 
Thank you, did you seal them from the underside aswell? Any tips for getting some out which are stuck the washer seems to spin so I can't get them either out or in. Should I just cut them off? Im seriously consider a water tank in the under wheel holder, could I use the existing hole near the door on that side for water fit out?
I did that with mine, one was seized solid so took a grinder to it, the others I sealed up.
 
Thank you, did you seal them from the underside aswell? Any tips for getting some out which are stuck the washer seems to spin so I can't get them either out or in. Should I just cut them off? Im seriously consider a water tank in the under wheel holder, could I use the existing hole near the door on that side for water fit out?
I sealed them from the top. If it won’t com out, you can probably just floor over them.

For the water, have a poke around and see where it comes out - I’ve not used the spare wheel space ( it has a wheel in it) , but possibly will feed inside the van.
 
Back
Top