Now that I am very nearly ready to attempt Phase Two of the Leisure Battery plan and wire the battery up to the alternator via a neat split relay charge system I've just ordered, I need to finalise a place to keep all this electrical wizardry.
I posted a thread on the Brick Yard about boxing in the rear wheel arches and looking at the replies on that thread, especially from Fozzy, plus looking at what Digs had done with his battery and coolbox-seat idea, I came up with a newer, simpler design. This design is only going to hold the electrical stuff. It is not going to try and hold any storage boxes. For now they can stay on the floor held tight by my storage frame.
All I am going to do is to box in the rear wheel arches. This could prove to be annoying as the seat belts in the back of my Kombi actually sit very close to the wheel arches:
I'm going to box both sides in which will also make the van look a little neater and hopefully make it easier to carpet these bits later on too!
The plan is (stealing Fozzy's idea) to make the top of the passenger side box a lid so I can use the extra space for storage. There is a wheel jack and also I have a box of bungees I think would store nicely in there.
On top of the drivers side box I'm going to build another box, the same width as the wheel arch box. This box can be partitioned if needed and will be used to house the Ring Mains Charger, the Leisure Battery and the SRC consumer unit. These three units will all be connected up together inside the box out of sight. The wire which connects the SRC to the starter battery can come out of the back of this box out of sight. This box will have the same style lid on it as the passenger side one. As you can see from the picture I will have to move the speaker that is currently mounted in the plywood panel. I think I'll probably stick that on the front of the box.
Initially I'll connect my double 12v socket up to the consumer unit in here, so I'm going to cut out a little slot on the side for this double socket to peek out giving easy access without opening the box. I also plan to allow a mains cable sized hole at the top of the box by the lid, so I can open the lid, pull the mains charger cable out and slot it into that hole, then close the lid back down. This allows me to plug the mains charger in with the lid shut.
I need to speak to my carpenter mate about what sort of wood to use for this task. The plan will be to carpet over the top of it so it doesn't need to be all that nicely finished. It would be a bonus if the boxes were strong enough to support the weight of someone sitting on them as well, which should be quite possible - adding some extra spare seating to the van!
As an added extra, if at all possible I'd like to be able to fit my cool box into the same drivers side box set up. This cool box is quite big, but if I could have a compartment in there for this to live alongside all the electrical stuff that would be really handy. This optional extra will have to be considered when we make the final plans for the boxes.
All these boxes are designed to be attached to the plywood panels at the rear of the van, and not attached to the floor at all, but clearly resting on the floor. This way, when you need to remove the panels you still can and the boxes will come off with the panels. In the case of the battery box I will need to make sure I can remove all the kit in the boxes first of course! Should be simple.
I like this design as it is a lot simpler than the caninet idea I had. It removes the unseemly wheel arches. It adds some storage to the back of the van. It allows me to store my leisure battery and wire it into the mains easily. All in all it's a nice set up and I don't think it should be too hard to build. It isn't trying to be too clever by holding and supporting the camping boxes I have which I think is asking too much.
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