I somewhat hijacked mk216v's O'erlanderwagon thread earlier to ask about carpet for the top of a cargo shelf, but figured it made sense to start a new thread.
I'm in the process of building a platform (no drawers, just open space underneath) and am not happy with the carpet I have at the moment to wrap the pieces of the platform. What I have is some carpet I got from Parts Express that's intended for wrapping portable speakers and such and I'm not confident that it will hold up well. So I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for a good source for carpet for this sort of application?
The plan is to use a 3/4" sheet of plywood wrapped in carpet, install L-Track around all 4 edges and then another one down the center (front to back). To keep the entire surface close to flat, the plan is to install 1/4" sections of carpeted plywood in the areas between the L-Tracks. I'll also install a vertical piece of 3/4" plywood (also carpeted) in the middle of the platform to give it plenty of support if I need to transport something heavy on top (or use it as a sleeping platform with the rear seats folded down). The platform will be held down to the factory tie down points using eyes attached to the bottom and turnbuckles connecting the eyes and factory tie downs, unless I come up with a better solution to hold it in place.
So the top would be setup something like this ASCII drawing, where "=" and "||" represent L-Track sections, and **** would be where the 1/4" carpeted plywood pieces go:
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||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
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After doing some further searching, I think I may have found a better option instead of the carpeted 1/4" plywood between the L-Tracks. I found a source for rubber matting like is often used on gym floors:
http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/rubber-roll/residential-rubber-roll.html
1/4" or 3/8" rubber mats might be perfect to fill in the space between the L-Tracks to make for a flat, non-slip, fairly easy to clean, and durable surface. If I can cut them to fit tightly enough around the edges, I might be able to just fit them in without any adhesive, which would make it easy to replace them later if they wear out. What do others think?
I'll install pieces of wood on the underside left and right that will serve 2 purposes. The first will be to raise the platform up so that I'll have an almost perfectly flat surface to use when the back seats are folded down. The 2nd will be to countersink the bolts used to attach the L-Tracks to the top so that the bolts don't sit on the wheel wells and mark them up.
I did a very rough first pass of just sitting a sheet of 3/4" plywood (wrapped in the carpet from Parts Express) on top of the wheel wells (no support in the middle) for my recent trip to Newfoundland as I didn't have time to finish the job prior to the trip. It worked out great as we were able to stash smaller items, such as our camera tripods and other camera gear, under the shelf and then put bulkier items, such as duffel bags of clothes and our cooler, on top of the shelf.
I took delivery of the (brand new) G about a week before we left on the trip. I was able to put about 300 miles on before the trip and we added another 3300 over a 2 week period. I'm very happy with it so far and glad that I decided to trade my 2014 Range Rover in for it.
And since I know that nothing actually exists without pictures, here are a few iPhone photos, one showing my G somewhere in Newfoundland during the trip and the other showing the temporary version of the platform just before we left for the trip to test fit some of the stuff we brought with us.
I'm in the process of building a platform (no drawers, just open space underneath) and am not happy with the carpet I have at the moment to wrap the pieces of the platform. What I have is some carpet I got from Parts Express that's intended for wrapping portable speakers and such and I'm not confident that it will hold up well. So I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for a good source for carpet for this sort of application?
The plan is to use a 3/4" sheet of plywood wrapped in carpet, install L-Track around all 4 edges and then another one down the center (front to back). To keep the entire surface close to flat, the plan is to install 1/4" sections of carpeted plywood in the areas between the L-Tracks. I'll also install a vertical piece of 3/4" plywood (also carpeted) in the middle of the platform to give it plenty of support if I need to transport something heavy on top (or use it as a sleeping platform with the rear seats folded down). The platform will be held down to the factory tie down points using eyes attached to the bottom and turnbuckles connecting the eyes and factory tie downs, unless I come up with a better solution to hold it in place.
So the top would be setup something like this ASCII drawing, where "=" and "||" represent L-Track sections, and **** would be where the 1/4" carpeted plywood pieces go:
=================================
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
||*************||**************||
=================================
After doing some further searching, I think I may have found a better option instead of the carpeted 1/4" plywood between the L-Tracks. I found a source for rubber matting like is often used on gym floors:
http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/rubber-roll/residential-rubber-roll.html
1/4" or 3/8" rubber mats might be perfect to fill in the space between the L-Tracks to make for a flat, non-slip, fairly easy to clean, and durable surface. If I can cut them to fit tightly enough around the edges, I might be able to just fit them in without any adhesive, which would make it easy to replace them later if they wear out. What do others think?
I'll install pieces of wood on the underside left and right that will serve 2 purposes. The first will be to raise the platform up so that I'll have an almost perfectly flat surface to use when the back seats are folded down. The 2nd will be to countersink the bolts used to attach the L-Tracks to the top so that the bolts don't sit on the wheel wells and mark them up.
I did a very rough first pass of just sitting a sheet of 3/4" plywood (wrapped in the carpet from Parts Express) on top of the wheel wells (no support in the middle) for my recent trip to Newfoundland as I didn't have time to finish the job prior to the trip. It worked out great as we were able to stash smaller items, such as our camera tripods and other camera gear, under the shelf and then put bulkier items, such as duffel bags of clothes and our cooler, on top of the shelf.
I took delivery of the (brand new) G about a week before we left on the trip. I was able to put about 300 miles on before the trip and we added another 3300 over a 2 week period. I'm very happy with it so far and glad that I decided to trade my 2014 Range Rover in for it.
And since I know that nothing actually exists without pictures, here are a few iPhone photos, one showing my G somewhere in Newfoundland during the trip and the other showing the temporary version of the platform just before we left for the trip to test fit some of the stuff we brought with us.
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