yeah i got in a passenger van today (though not one i would buy) since i like what graham has done, which is a really simple setup.
Thanks
Its ghetto for sure. I think the whole interior cost less than $300 and took a weekend to put together. The rack I bought from a kayaker friend when he sold a similar van, I think he made it for about $300 in hardware and lumber.
Pros and cons of a passenger van (you can decide which are which and if it actually matters whether its a passenger van anyway):
The nice thing about retaining factory seats is you get seat belts for your passengers. We have kids so it was essential back then but its still good peace of mind. The disadvantage is the space under the seat is hard to use efficiently. We found plastic boxes that fit ok and jammed them in, using bungees or something equally inappropriate to hold them in place.
The plastic interior paneling isn't flat or straight so it wastes space and is awkward to attach things to the walls. I took some of the panels off with the intention of screwing plywood sheets to the walls with simple cutouts for the windows but it looked like it would be a tricky job to make it look reasonable around the windows, the back corners, the front where it meets the cab, and the roof. (And my bar is set pretty low.) So I put them back on again and made everything fit around it. The bed platform took some scribing and a jigsaw to fit cleanly. I think I reused holes in the floor (from removing seat hardware) to bolt stuff down where I could.
The table was handy but the column required a raised cone on the floor that prevented anybody from sleeping down there with any level of comfort. There weren't any walls to attach it to but there must be some better flush floor mounted options than the standard RV setup. Also its a bad idea to leave the table deployed when driving because sooner or later it flies off and hits something objectionable.
I put climbing bolt anchors everywhere in the roof where I removed a seatbelt and probably other places too. Very handy for all sorts of things including lines for damp smelly stuff to fester.
The large storage area under the bed and behind the seat was a huge plus because the stuff in there doesn't get in the way or (more importantly) fly around the van.
Good luck!!!