[danketchpel]

OK, I'm going to start a thread here hoping to consolidate info on various ready made kits or custom made efforts.

I'm looking into what my options are for both ceiling and wall liners. I'm capable of making my own, either wood or preferably plastic, but.... if there's a kit out there that's done right and not priced crazy I'd opt for that.

I ran across these rather nice looking pieces from Hammer Plastics and wondered if any of your have tried them?

The other one I've seen is from Advantage Outfitters

I "think" this same kit might be sold by others also, not sure yet.

Please post up links and info from what you've found so we can create an info base for cargo van owners doing their own build outs.

 

[EddieZ]

I'll copy over info on my Celtec job, from my build thread, since this thread can make a good reference.

Have been considering purchase of commercial wall and ceiling (and even floor) liner kits. In another thread, I had looked at theeconomics and quality of liner kits. I had determined that doing it myself with Celtec -- my preferred material -- would cost at least $1062, while kits from Legend, via Inlad, would cost $1448.

Today, I finally found a way to get Celtec for less, through a plastics supplier in Atlanta. I just ordered sheets of 6mm gray Celtec for $68 each, and $139 shipping for 8 of 'em, total of $685. I think the liners can be done with 7 sheets, so, I'll have 1 extra backup sheet. So, I'll be saving $250 over my previous DIY estimate, and more than $600 over buying kits from Inlad.

Will it be Celtec light grey, or dark grey? I don't know! The supplier was unsure, from his available data. Either will be OK. Light grey, more like the pewter seats. Dark grey, more like the slider door panel, and other charcoal accents.

I've been worried about how to join panels of Celtec, for the ceiling. When I was talking to Hein, ordering Thinsulate, he mentioned that Celtec bonds well with CA glue (similar to Superglue). Hein even makes interior van furnishings with thicker pieces of Celtec, and CA glue. Now, I think I can work out edge bonding with CA, possibly with router cut-edges, if necessary.

For the record, the Legend liners are made of their Duratherm, and, I eventually learned that the material consists of two layers of HDPE, with corrugated or other hollow material between them.

Also, for benefit of others, I eventually found another liner kit for less money. But, it appears too soft, as photos show the fastener buttons causing indents in the material.


Wall panels
The Celtec worked out as I had hoped, for walls. I wanted to get close to an OEM or commercial liner look. I did not want to deal with wood, and finishing. The Celtec will be durable enough for my use, though it can be scratched or marred with thoughtless treatment. Well, so can other materials, to some degree. I'm not too rough on my stuff.

In fact, it's pretty easy to mar in handling, when working with it -- especially working alone. I do have a few blems built into the walls, but, it's not like I even notice them. Most of the layout work and cutting was done on the back sides of the Celtec.

Working with Celtec reminded me of working with balsa wood. Careful with those power tools!

The material is pretty floppy, and my work environment limited. I could not get perfect "machined" edge cuts. So, I made sure the edges that butted near van center were the manufactured edges.

I had purchased 150 of the OEM push-fasteners. I thought I'd have leftovers. But, I see that, by the time I'm done with the ceiling, I'll be short a few fasteners.

I had to drill a few new fastener holes, most of which can be referenced in the left-side photo, below. One at the rearmost part of the lower front panel. One at the upper front corner of the upper rear panel. There is nothing to anchor the paneling to at the front of the front upper panel. For that, I had to use 1 inch aluminum angle, cut to 1-inch pieces, with fastener holes drilled, then attached with VHB tape. I also had to squeeze the aluminum angle in a vice, to tighten up the angles, due to the angled sides of the B-pillar.

The panel edges below the wiring race may appear not to be cut straight. Actually, the wiring race is kind of goofy.

Ceiling complete

The ceiling was a much bigger challenge than the walls, complicated by having to wait 4x, for assistance in handling/placing/removing/installing the ceiling, as I progressed.

It's installed as one single piece, using the factory holes, along with 8 screws at the edges that go into nut plates that I made, to fit into the crossbar rectangles. All along, I wanted to do one large piece, to avoid having to engineer some way to join and support separate panels, at the ceiling.

I had learned from Hien -- the Thinsulate guy -- that Celtec bonds well with "superglue" type CA. The question was, would it sufficiently edge-bond 6mm Celtec? The answer is: yes, and no. It's true, that IF you have perfect edges, the bond will be stronger than the material itself. The best glue I tried for this was "Bob Smith" BSI MaxiCure. BUT, it's virtually impossible to get perfect edges to work with. None of my tools or setups are precise enough to get perfect, stutter-free, smooth, perpendicular cuts. SO, I figured I'd use the factory cut edges for the joints I needed to make a 1-piece ceiling. BUT, even those edges are not perfect, which becomes more apparent as the joints become longer.

I finally had to resort to putting fiberglass over the joints, on both sides. The fiberglass is wetted with CA glue. The best for glassing is BSI Insta-Cure Super Thin. But, I ran out of Super Thin, and had to use some thicker formulations -- just one of several headaches that resulted in what I consider less-than-perfect visual results of the joints. Ah-well -- it still looks pretty good, for what little time anyone would actually be looking at the joints.

I've included a photo of my custom made nut insert plates, for the rectangles at each end of the ceiling cross-bar supports. They are just held in place by their own structure, and having insulation packed in behind them. They can slide up/down a bit in the rectangle, as needed. I had made the same 9 or 10mm holes as for the push fasteners, so I would have some slop factor. When I went to install the screws, I did have to stick a tiny screwdriver in, and line up a couple of the nuts. The screws that I used are black, with large captive washers
.

In the photo of the ceiling, you can see my installed LED lights. The one near the back door is to be a reading light, over the head of the bed. The double light near the center is operated by the wall switch at the rear of the sliding door. This switch can be reached while standing outside the van. I placed this "center" light out of the center walking area. It will be partially over a cabinet, eventually. Also, up high and near the back door, I have 2 12v power sockets. They are recessed into one of those ovals in the sheet metal, so, there's support (several push-fasteners, and one sheet metal screw with fender washer, that I added up high, hidden by the ceiling) for both inserting and removing 12v plugs. I will make a shelf over the bed that, among other things, will be a good place to stash electronic devices while they are charging.

There is not currently any support for the ceiling, up there at the cross-bar that is shared with the cabin headliner. It does not seem to be a major need, given that the ceiling arch makes that section pretty rigid. I may attach some supports of angle aluminum to the side of the crossbar, with VHB tape. Or, I may find some 3M Command self-stick attachments that I can modify and attach, both to give the ceiling support, and, possibly, to hold up other stuff, like curtains, or clothes on a hanger, or drying towels... I dunno.

It's worth noting that the ceiling could be assembled out of just three pieces, with fewer joints. But, that would require a nice pattern to work off of, and getting a pattern of the ceiling is not nearly as practical as getting patterns for the walls was. I found it relatively easy to get a pattern for the front, center edge, at the crossbar shared with the headliner. After getting that transferred to the front of a sheet of Celtec, and doing a lot of very careful measurements for hole placement, I was able to do a preliminary install of the main, center section. From there, it was possible to do a few patterns and more measurements for the side extensions. That's how I wound up with 6 pieces and more joints.

I don't have a pic handy of the custom nut plate, so, it would need to be viewed at the original post: http://www.fordtransitusaforum.com/...50-project-minimalist-kayak-4.html#post180602

I should also note that the Celtec weighs a little bit more than wood would, and surely weighs more than corrugated plastic liners.

 

[Hein]

Celtec panels look great. We plan to CNC machine some for our van. We can supply Celtec material in the PNW.

 

[danketchpel]

Thanks for the reply and additional info guys.

I contacted Hammer Plastics today and unfortunately they will only sell complete kits with a 20 set minimum. OK, so that option is off the table, bummer......

I was planning on using Coroplast sheet as I hadn't really checked out the Celtec sheet material. I haven't settled on it yet and am open to understanding why it's been considered a favored material. I have the black hex cored type of coroplast material on my sliding door from Ford so I was thinking to match that in appearance for the lower sections.

I don't plan to do a complete covering on the sidewalls as I have the windows all around. It will most likely be the lower section and possibly smaller sections higher up where it makes sense.

For the roof I was going to a light grey or cover it in headliner type material to cut down on acoustic reflection.

I am still considering purchasing a roof liner and making my own sidewall liners. I see the various issues with the roof liner, it's large.

EddieZ, where did you purchase the push type fasteners? I'm hoping there's a more economical source than Ford. I have used that type of fastener on motorcycles and purchased them in small quantity only. I was hoping to use as many of the push type as possible/practical.

 

[EddieZ]

EddieZ, where did you purchase the push type fasteners? I'm hoping there's a more economical source than Ford. I have used that type of fastener on motorcycles and purchased them in small quantity only. I was hoping to use as many of the push type as possible/practical.

Here's a link to my post on the fasteners... Clips and Fasteners, via Amazon, $29 for 150 of them. I may have gotten a closeout price on a particular batch, because I did see they had same item higher price, as well.


http://www.fordtransitusaforum.com/...0650-project-minimalist-kayak.html#post161938

 

[danketchpel]

Thanks,

It's one of the challenges of this site, lots of custom build threads with tons of great info.... that's hard as heck to recall and search for.

It's not uncommon for a forum. The only fix is index pages with links and that takes time for somebody.

 

[AudeKhatru]

Well, this thread is a partial attempt at indexing by job.

-Wall Panels

Now, we need...

-Floors
-Cabinets
-Beds
-Swivel Seats
-Electrical

No, I am not volunteering.

 

[CTown Transit]

So, after a year of ownership I finally got a chance to build out the van the way I wanted it.
The temporary original shelves.

This was serviceable and quick.

Had an opportunity last week with a few days off to build this. Maple this time around.

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[danketchpel]

Here's another supplier that I just saw somebody else post in another thread. They look pretty good.

Bodyguard Liners.

 

[justcallben]

Is that a stripper pole? >

 

[swellguy]

Here's another supplier that I just saw somebody else post in another thread. They look pretty good.

Bodyguard Liners.

Thanks, Dan. I am also curious if anyone installs either these or the Hammer units. Both look very nicely executed.

 

[swellguy]

I called up the Bodyguard Liners folks to get a quote. FWIW, here's pricing on it with shipping to California. It's also pretty slick that you can get an E-track kit for the walls with a reinforcement plate for an extra $150.

Ford Transit 148 WB, Mid Roof:

Wall Liners in grey $1213.45 US
Ceiling Kit in white $266.40 US
Partition in grey $701.68 US
Exact cost for shipping $292.85 US

Given that it's molded to our vans, it looks like a pretty slick setup to me. For example, I like that the windows are cut-out, it is hard to do that with a DIY job. It would save a lot of work off custom fab if you have the $$ and can't or don't want to spend the time.

 

[DrJean]

Thanks swellguy... I had seen those photos by that guy but when I went to the site couldn't figure out what they would cost me.

It does look nice. I would like to use some of the space behind the walls though...after insulating (and for interior ding-protection) but I think nicely cutting through the professional liners would still be better all-around than DIY in my case.

Are you buying them?
Any idea on time frame of receiving them?

I have a set budget in mind on my cargo area build and won't really be able to finish figuring until I actually SEE my van! Would be great if this fits the budget.

Oh snap! Never mind---- I recall why I took them off list... I have a HR coming.

 

[unclebob]

The picture above shows it installed in a HR. It'll be a little more expensive but probably not much.

???

 

[Munchkin]

Any idea about how hard installation would be?

 

[dustboy]

Those plastic liners look like a good fit but they also look very institutional. More school bus or paddy wagon than camper. Easy to wipe down any, uh... unintended biological events.


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