I've been completely let down by someone so need a box making at short notice. I wondered if anyone on here could do it or knew someone who could do it within the next week?
It's for my campervan conversion. I'm going to mount the rear seats to the top of this box and then bolt the box through the floor of the van. I've got a drawing I can share with the right person.
Thanks in advance. Need to get this done before we're supposed to be going on holiday!
If the seats are passenger-carrying, they really ought to be bolted (properly) straight to the floor. If not, the box will need some serious reinforcement. Speak to Arthur at MAD Workshop in Kingswood...
Yes the are passenger carrying so I've done quite a bit of research/thinking on the topic. The box is going to be made of thicker material than the van floor so I suspect it won't be the weak link. The top of the box will be 5mm steel sheet and the box will then bolt through the floor and be reinforced underneath by going through another 5mm steel sheet (to also spread the bolt load).
I've has some work done at MAD years ago but from what I remember they were always mega busy so not sure they're going to be able to do this at short notice. 🙁
Have used Bambury and RPA Engineering for various metal fabrication jobs, both in St Philips
Surely it will need to be insurance approved if it is to carry passengers? We have rear seats in a motor home mounted over the main freshwater tank. The tank is bespoke to fit around a seriously reinforced frame.
Think of the rotational/leverage forces on the upper part of a seat. Especially if there is anything stowed behind them.
Try Aem steel profiles in Avonmouth. Sounds like you need someone with plasma or laser cutters as well as a welder.
Never used AEM btw.
The weak link isn't the thickness of the top and bottom of the box, it's the way those two bits are connected. You need someone with (at the very least) some experience of building this kind of thing for use in vehicles to work out how it can be done, but I'd be very surprised if a standard box configuration on its own would be anywhere near strong enough.
Yes, MAD are normally pretty busy but it's worth talking to them anyway. They do this kind of thing all the time and they don't cut corners.
Thick isn't strong. It is just heavy. Structural shapes are what add strength - boxes section, angles, triangles etc. Your van floor might be thin, but it uses pressed shapes / corrugations to give it lots of strength.
Seat belt anchorage tests (which aren't mandatory for your post-registration one-off but should be used as a guide for design) include the mass of the seat and full attachment system. So your box and the seat would be loaded to 20 x their mass, plus 20 x the occupation mass (because everything is trying to tear out in a crash).
I've seen plenty of manufacturers go down the rabbit hole of fail the test = beef it up = increase the mass = increase the test load = still fail the test.
You want to make something strong AND light.
unless the aftermarket seats /adaptors are crash tested and certificated i`d never buy a van with them in. its too much of a risk. Your insurer may also need this certificate if you declare any mods, which you need to. (they did with my old reimo rail seat).
Its not that what you propose is wrong just needs a bit of thought and doing properly.
I`ve seen so may bodged vans its scary.
ironically the regs are that you dont NEED any approval for motorhomes. its madness.
All good advice and I suggest any future person who reads this to heed all of it. I found a couple of good options in Bristol and will share some feedback once it's done.
As you probably know, there are alternatives to bolting through the floor which will pass an iva. One option sold by scot seats is to sikaflex the seat runners to the floor and then mount the seats to that. The runners are a decent length and their solution has been crash tested and is certified.
Ultimately after considering all the options and doing my own dd, plus having had a previous van which is was converted professionally, I'm confident the solution I have is plenty strong enough. But you should do your own research...
I ended up having a really excellent box built to spec by avomech over in Saltford. Great service and I can 100% recommend.
Do you have any pictures of the final product installed? Thanks
