Rear shelf in Traveller

Post by **stuart_k** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:53 pm

First newbie question. We saw a few examples of these last year at Stamford Hall. They look like a good idea especially if parked up and there are items you would prefer not to be on display to the casual thief. Are these shelves made by the owners or are are they an optional extra? If home fabricated does anyone have a few photos of how they are fixed in? I'm thinking I will perhaps fabricate some sort of free standing box that can be lifted out when not in use. I don't really want to start fixing things to the internal wood but would love to see examples of what other people have done. I'm reasonably handy with wood so don't mind a bit of carpentry. Hopefully pic uploaded to illustrate what I am talking about.<br>

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Post by **mike.perry** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:46 pm

Definately home made but I'm sure that if a trader produced them at a reasonable cost they would sell well.
Only snag is if the Traveller is fitted with rear seat belts

Post by **8009STEVE** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:52 am

I think I might need an 8 x 4 sheet to start with

Post by **stuart_k** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:54 pm

Yes we'll have rear belts but I think I can work around that. I'll be looking for a nice piece or two of ash for the top section but may use the 8x4 plywood for the bits underneath

Post by **MarkyB** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:09 am

A quick search suggests you can get ash faced ply which should do the trick.

Post by **mike.perry** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:49 pm

If the rear seat belts are not being used they can be tucked down the sides of the seat. I could not see a way of fitting the cover when the belts were being used. I have a cover made from varnished ply, I have not worked out the best way of securing it yet.
I have also seen covers made from window roller blinds

Post by **Mike Shipman** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:52 pm

Hi - I made a fold up cover for my old 58 traveller out of 4" tognue and groove, heres hoW:
- screw two small battens down the side of the waistrail to act like "shelf supports" (best to have them below the waistrail the width of the t+g so the finished boards are level with the top of the waistrail)
- get around 6 lengths of 4" pine tongue and groove long enough to span the car from side to side
- plane off the tongues
- cut them lengthways to sit across across the rear of the car, on the battens and flush with the waistrails
- place them from the rear seat back towards the rear doors (you can notch out a space if you have rear seat belts
- cut the final one widthways to fit up as close to the rear doors as possible
then the clever bit...
- get a couple of lengths of webbing, 20mm wide is plenty, remove the t+g slats from the back of the car in order, place them upside down and staple the webbing at 90 degrees to the slats (a few inches from each end) joining them all together
- turn them back over and put back in place and varnish / colour as yoiu wish (mine turned out to be very close in colur to the ash frame)
You can then "concertina" the t+g slats up from the rear doors to the seat in order to get access to the load area. It worked a treat and is a mod that I will get around to on Benny when time allows.
Sorry I haveny got any pictures, I realise that a wordy description is not always easy to conceptualise.
Cheers, Mike.

Post by **Kevin** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:48 am

Well that sounds quite a clever reasonably easy to do solution.

Post by **stuart_k** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:13 am

Nice idea. I saw another example in the summer. Very simple. Two lengths of dowel one forward and one at the rear held on the waist rails using a clip-in socket thingy that I have yet to source which allows them to be held firmly but they can be popped out easily. Join the two dowels with a length of material of your choice and you have a cover to obscure the contents of your luggage bay. Nothing to stop you having a third dowel for support in the middle. Couldn't be used as a shelf to carry anything substantial but then who would want to do that as it would be a hazard when braking. The advantage of this system is that you can use pretty much any pattern of material you like to match your own interior and it can be washed and replaced very easily.