Bed and cabinet attachment

[KaLvan]

We are building out a Chevy Express Passenger van.  At this point we are leaving all the factory interior plastic walls.  We have installed a 3/4 inch birch plywood floor.  We are thinking of attaching the bed frame and cabinets to the floor with L-brackets since we are unable to access the metal supports in the side of the van.  Should this be sufficient to keep things from moving around?  Appreciate any advice!

 

[crofter]

I installed cleats on the floor to secure things in my build, and have nothing supported by the walls. The floor system is also bolted down through the cargo D rings, and is bolted to a cross channel behind the cab seats.  It is quite solid.

Be sure to utilize the strength of plywood standing on end.
-crofter

 

[nature lover]

I put down three-quarter inch sheet of insulation foam and then three-quarter inch sheet of floor plywood I fastened this to the van with some bolts through the metal floor (be sure to check for wires and fuel line and brake line before you drill any holes blindly and parentheses and then everything else cabinets etc. are fastened to the floor in someway. I’ve had no problems with mine at all working great. Not to say that there wouldn’t be some problems I got to cover my liability here. But I have had none myself.

 

[highdesertranger]

No need for L-brackets just screw the wood directly to the floor. You can use pocket screws or 1x2/2x2 cleats. Highdesertranger

 

[MrNoodly]

How tall are the cabinets?

 

[Vannautical engineer]

Here is another option to consider. For my build, I wanted to be able to take out everything I'm building into the van in case I needed to for any reason down the road. I could have just driven pocket screws right into the wood floor, but I was worried that if I took things in and out a few times, the threads in the wood would strip out. So instead, I put little feet onto every point that I wanted to bolt down to the floor, and put threaded inserts into the floor that I can screw bolts into.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KT43MU

This way, if I need to remove things out of the van for whatever reason, it's a steel bolt going into a steel insert in the plywood floor, so it's not going to wear out the threads no matter how many times I do it. To get the hole in the foot and the corresponding hole in the floor for the threaded insert perfectly lined up, drill one hole through both the foot and the floor at the same time (1/4" or whatever width the bolt you're using is), then remove the piece of furniture and drill the hole in the floor bigger to accept the threaded insert. Also I've found that the threaded insert grabs the best in the wood if you use as small of a drill bit to drill out the hole for the insert as you can get away with.

(Also just ignore the fact that the foot on the left in this photo is wildly out of line with the piece of wood it's screwed onto.  )

 

[KaLvan]

Mr Noodly - the cabinet is 26 inches tall.

 

[MrNoodly]

Okay, so they're not overly top heavy.

 

[WayOutWest]

For my van conversion, I used a standard IKEA twin size bed frame, just notched the frame a bit on one side so it fit over the wheelwell. It's not attached to the floor, but rather is bungee-corded from headboard to the wall in one place near rear doors. I have a carpet on the floor, underneath, (and no wood under the carpet: just the factory rubber mat) so this helps keep it from sliding around. If I didn't have that I would use an L bracket or two from its legs to the wood floor.

 

[B and C]

What holds it in a crash? A bungee cord isn't going to cut it.

 

[bullfrog]

^^^If it is light weight enough it will take less to restrain it. I would much rather get hit with a piece of light weight tubing than a 2"x4'!