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Whatever works for you.
Climb/Ski/Surf Bum Rig - Vandemic Style
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I think ts just a good quality hardwood plywood with plastic layered onto it.
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My 136 had an area on the roof where a 14x14 ish max fan or commercial unit goes and lays flat without any furring needed. The cooktop it right underneath it .It is the most moisture generating item that you have .You can also put small USB fans on the rear flow through vents
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Bed:
This step honestly took a lot longer than I was anticipating, but I suppose that's how things go...and since I've got nothing but time on my hands due to COVID, I'll take the scenic route. The thought process behind the design is this: when my gf is with me, a full size bed would be great, but I'll be doing a good bit of solo travel, so a full is really just wasting space the majority of the time. A twin bed will be more than enough when it's just me, and in the 136wb the van "feels" much larger when the bed is that size. Flexibility is key, so I knew I wanted some form of adjustable bed depending on the situation. I want to give credit when credit is due and recognize DollyTheRambler, which I ripped their design almost in it's entirety. They were incredibly informative, and even fellow Georgia Tech grads....Go Jackets! If you went to UGA, you are from this point on no longer allowed to read my thread
The foundation of the bed is Unistrut. I attached the strut with 5/16" bolts to the vertical van ribs, sitting 36" off the ground. This is so the bed will sit just on top of the countertop. I'll have galley cabinets on both sides. Drivers side will go from the wheel well to 18" behind the drivers seat, and the passenger side will go from wheel well to ~1/4 of the sliding door opening. When the bed is in twin size, I gain 18" of countertop space. I used a 1x2 furring strip to even up the rear vertical rib with the middle, larger, rib. I'm using 1x6 T&G around the van, so I slapped one behind the Unistrut so it'll be flush. I was initially thinking I'd just do T&G all the way up and down, I'm now leaning towards creating a "pop-out" at the head and foot of the bed so I gain a couple more precious inches for the mattress. One last callout is headspace above the bed. There isn't a ton. By no means is it claustrophobic, but you can't sit straight up on a 4in mattress, but you can rest against the wall and read like you normally would in a bed. If a sloucher to begin with, you'll never know the difference. But for you perfect posture folks, you've been warned. I made the conscious decision to value storage space under the bed over headroom, just wanted to make others aware of this.
![62798]()
The two unistrut side beams are then attached to a center unistrut channel. I used slotted strut for the center rail, then solid strut for the head and foot rails.
![62799]()
Next is the wood slats, which took a while to do simply because there were a lot of them. I used 1x3 planks. Sanding and finishing took time, but I think it was worth it. I dry fit them with 1/4" tile spacers, and ripped the end piece to size.
![62801]()
I used doug fir 2x4 for the side bed rails. Cut a 1/2" dato then slotted a 1x3 in there. The 1x3 is what connects the support planks to the 2x4 side rails. I made all these connections with tee nuts, which I think was a great call. The entire frame is bomber. Initially I was thinking I made need unistrut for all the rails, but the 2x4 is more than sufficient and looks significantly nicer. Below is a picture of the 2x4 to 1x3 connection for future interested parties. I used wood glue in the dato, then a 1.25" screw every 6 inches. Certainly overkill,
![62802]()
And here's the finished product:
A strip of aluminum is Gorilla Glue'd to the sliding planks. This is so then don't fall downwards when you slide the bed in. The permeant planks are bolted to the center slotted strut rail and to the 1x3 plank in the rear. The first and last (head and foot) planks are bolted to the solid strut rails.
![62803]()
Below is the bed at twin width. Really still have a lot of room in the van.
![62804]()
And here it is at full width. This takes up 1/2 of the cargo area in a 136wb.
![62805]()
This step honestly took a lot longer than I was anticipating, but I suppose that's how things go...and since I've got nothing but time on my hands due to COVID, I'll take the scenic route. The thought process behind the design is this: when my gf is with me, a full size bed would be great, but I'll be doing a good bit of solo travel, so a full is really just wasting space the majority of the time. A twin bed will be more than enough when it's just me, and in the 136wb the van "feels" much larger when the bed is that size. Flexibility is key, so I knew I wanted some form of adjustable bed depending on the situation. I want to give credit when credit is due and recognize DollyTheRambler, which I ripped their design almost in it's entirety. They were incredibly informative, and even fellow Georgia Tech grads....Go Jackets! If you went to UGA, you are from this point on no longer allowed to read my thread
The foundation of the bed is Unistrut. I attached the strut with 5/16" bolts to the vertical van ribs, sitting 36" off the ground. This is so the bed will sit just on top of the countertop. I'll have galley cabinets on both sides. Drivers side will go from the wheel well to 18" behind the drivers seat, and the passenger side will go from wheel well to ~1/4 of the sliding door opening. When the bed is in twin size, I gain 18" of countertop space. I used a 1x2 furring strip to even up the rear vertical rib with the middle, larger, rib. I'm using 1x6 T&G around the van, so I slapped one behind the Unistrut so it'll be flush. I was initially thinking I'd just do T&G all the way up and down, I'm now leaning towards creating a "pop-out" at the head and foot of the bed so I gain a couple more precious inches for the mattress. One last callout is headspace above the bed. There isn't a ton. By no means is it claustrophobic, but you can't sit straight up on a 4in mattress, but you can rest against the wall and read like you normally would in a bed. If a sloucher to begin with, you'll never know the difference. But for you perfect posture folks, you've been warned. I made the conscious decision to value storage space under the bed over headroom, just wanted to make others aware of this.
The two unistrut side beams are then attached to a center unistrut channel. I used slotted strut for the center rail, then solid strut for the head and foot rails.
Next is the wood slats, which took a while to do simply because there were a lot of them. I used 1x3 planks. Sanding and finishing took time, but I think it was worth it. I dry fit them with 1/4" tile spacers, and ripped the end piece to size.
I used doug fir 2x4 for the side bed rails. Cut a 1/2" dato then slotted a 1x3 in there. The 1x3 is what connects the support planks to the 2x4 side rails. I made all these connections with tee nuts, which I think was a great call. The entire frame is bomber. Initially I was thinking I made need unistrut for all the rails, but the 2x4 is more than sufficient and looks significantly nicer. Below is a picture of the 2x4 to 1x3 connection for future interested parties. I used wood glue in the dato, then a 1.25" screw every 6 inches. Certainly overkill,
And here's the finished product:
A strip of aluminum is Gorilla Glue'd to the sliding planks. This is so then don't fall downwards when you slide the bed in. The permeant planks are bolted to the center slotted strut rail and to the 1x3 plank in the rear. The first and last (head and foot) planks are bolted to the solid strut rails.
Below is the bed at twin width. Really still have a lot of room in the van.
And here it is at full width. This takes up 1/2 of the cargo area in a 136wb.
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38 Posts
Hangboard Install:
So the goal here was to install a Beastmaker 1000 over the sliding door of my Ram Promaster. Location fully inspired by the Honnold Van video we all saw, but the internet was surprisingly sparse with build writeups of how to do it or even finished pics. So I had to reinvent the wheel, and I'm tryna get that karma and help someone out in the future when they're frantically googling on how to mount something flat to something that is anything but square.
The first thing I did was drill 5/16" holes straight through the horizontal rib. The bottom edge is square, but the top is not, so just be careful that your bit doesn't jog back into a location you don't want. To prevent this, I ripped my bottom wood bracket first, then drill holes in the locations I wanted. I clamped this wood piece to the metal rib first, then drilled through the metal. I then used carriage bolts to temporarily bolt it on and move to my next piece. Notice there are washers on the head of the carriage bolts right now. This is just to hold the bottom piece, when you go to install it don’t use the washer and the carriage bolt head will do its job.
![]()
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Next, I cut a wood piece like below to make my flush mounting surface. Notice it tapers at the top. This is because the metal rib begins to curve on the left side when looking at it. Angles are tricky! This could be avoided by simply moving the hangboard to the right, making it more in the middle of the door. I couldn’t do this as I have a cabinet you would intersect with.
![]()
![]()
Last was this piece and this was a pain. There are two things going on here. The first is cutouts for those vertical carriage bolts I put on earlier (which are routed out to make room for the nuts), the second are holes for bolts going front to back of this piece. It was tricky to get the angle right for these bolts, but some 9th-grade geometry will get you there. You can see the holes where those bolts thread through in the below picture. Without these bolts, the force from the hangboard would just rip this top piece off. Then I countersank those bolts so now there’s a flush, 90 degree, mounting surface for the hangboard!
![]()
![]()
![]()
Woohoo, looking good!
![]()
The next step was gluing the ever-living **** out of it. I used Gorilla Glue Construction Adhesive.
![]()
![]()
Also, I drove in some screws from the top down into the metal rib for that top wood piece. And straight in the middle wood piece. This was definitely overkill, but it was a reason to buy a swanky 90-degree impact attachment, and why pass the opportunity for new tools up?!
Finally, glue and screw the hangboard to the wood mount you just made. This part is messy, so put something on the ground for all the wood glue that will drip.
We did it! Good job team. Time for a beer and once again blow off hangboarding.
![]()
So the goal here was to install a Beastmaker 1000 over the sliding door of my Ram Promaster. Location fully inspired by the Honnold Van video we all saw, but the internet was surprisingly sparse with build writeups of how to do it or even finished pics. So I had to reinvent the wheel, and I'm tryna get that karma and help someone out in the future when they're frantically googling on how to mount something flat to something that is anything but square.
The first thing I did was drill 5/16" holes straight through the horizontal rib. The bottom edge is square, but the top is not, so just be careful that your bit doesn't jog back into a location you don't want. To prevent this, I ripped my bottom wood bracket first, then drill holes in the locations I wanted. I clamped this wood piece to the metal rib first, then drilled through the metal. I then used carriage bolts to temporarily bolt it on and move to my next piece. Notice there are washers on the head of the carriage bolts right now. This is just to hold the bottom piece, when you go to install it don’t use the washer and the carriage bolt head will do its job.
Next, I cut a wood piece like below to make my flush mounting surface. Notice it tapers at the top. This is because the metal rib begins to curve on the left side when looking at it. Angles are tricky! This could be avoided by simply moving the hangboard to the right, making it more in the middle of the door. I couldn’t do this as I have a cabinet you would intersect with.
Last was this piece and this was a pain. There are two things going on here. The first is cutouts for those vertical carriage bolts I put on earlier (which are routed out to make room for the nuts), the second are holes for bolts going front to back of this piece. It was tricky to get the angle right for these bolts, but some 9th-grade geometry will get you there. You can see the holes where those bolts thread through in the below picture. Without these bolts, the force from the hangboard would just rip this top piece off. Then I countersank those bolts so now there’s a flush, 90 degree, mounting surface for the hangboard!
Woohoo, looking good!
The next step was gluing the ever-living **** out of it. I used Gorilla Glue Construction Adhesive.
Also, I drove in some screws from the top down into the metal rib for that top wood piece. And straight in the middle wood piece. This was definitely overkill, but it was a reason to buy a swanky 90-degree impact attachment, and why pass the opportunity for new tools up?!
Finally, glue and screw the hangboard to the wood mount you just made. This part is messy, so put something on the ground for all the wood glue that will drip.
We did it! Good job team. Time for a beer and once again blow off hangboarding.
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91 Posts
I’m super impressed with your hangboard solution. I tried a bit to figure out how to do it (same inspiration, same board) but abandoned the effort...it’s now hanging in my garage. But thanks to you, I’ve got the plans for doing this in the future. Thanks!
Also, I like your alternating slat design (particularly the piece across the top that keeps all the moving slats from falling). I’m planning on doing the same thing while also allowing the rear part to move forward. This is really nice work.
Also, I like your alternating slat design (particularly the piece across the top that keeps all the moving slats from falling). I’m planning on doing the same thing while also allowing the rear part to move forward. This is really nice work.
Nice work on the van so far! Have you been getting out in it during the last few months? How is the bed holding up?
On another note it seems like there are quite a few climbers building vans on here. Someday we should have a climbing meet up 👍🏻. The wife and I spend most of our summer weekends in the Voo if anyone wants to hang and get slapped on some wide.
On another note it seems like there are quite a few climbers building vans on here. Someday we should have a climbing meet up 👍🏻. The wife and I spend most of our summer weekends in the Voo if anyone wants to hang and get slapped on some wide.
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828 Posts
Did u carve or rout the hanging board or is that store bought?...it looks very helpful to train but do not see any vertical cracks like in the movie...what kind of wood is it made from.....hickory/ash/oakHangboard Install:
So the goal here was to install a Beastmaker 1000 over the sliding door of my Ram Promaster. Location fully inspired by the Honnold Van video we all saw, but the internet was surprisingly sparse with build writeups of how to do it or even finished pics. So I had to reinvent the wheel, and I'm tryna get that karma and help someone out in the future when they're frantically googling on how to mount something flat to something that is anything but square.
The first thing I did was drill 5/16" holes straight through the horizontal rib. The bottom edge is square, but the top is not, so just be careful that your bit doesn't jog back into a location you don't want. To prevent this, I ripped my bottom wood bracket first, then drill holes in the locations I wanted. I clamped this wood piece to the metal rib first, then drilled through the metal. I then used carriage bolts to temporarily bolt it on and move to my next piece. Notice there are washers on the head of the carriage bolts right now. This is just to hold the bottom piece, when you go to install it don’t use the washer and the carriage bolt head will do its job.
![]()
![]()
Next, I cut a wood piece like below to make my flush mounting surface. Notice it tapers at the top. This is because the metal rib begins to curve on the left side when looking at it. Angles are tricky! This could be avoided by simply moving the hangboard to the right, making it more in the middle of the door. I couldn’t do this as I have a cabinet you would intersect with.
![]()
![]()
Last was this piece and this was a pain. There are two things going on here. The first is cutouts for those vertical carriage bolts I put on earlier (which are routed out to make room for the nuts), the second are holes for bolts going front to back of this piece. It was tricky to get the angle right for these bolts, but some 9th-grade geometry will get you there. You can see the holes where those bolts thread through in the below picture. Without these bolts, the force from the hangboard would just rip this top piece off. Then I countersank those bolts so now there’s a flush, 90 degree, mounting surface for the hangboard!
![]()
![]()
![]()
Woohoo, looking good!
![]()
The next step was gluing the ever-living **** out of it. I used Gorilla Glue Construction Adhesive.
![]()
![]()
Also, I drove in some screws from the top down into the metal rib for that top wood piece. And straight in the middle wood piece. This was definitely overkill, but it was a reason to buy a swanky 90-degree impact attachment, and why pass the opportunity for new tools up?!
Finally, glue and screw the hangboard to the wood mount you just made. This part is messy, so put something on the ground for all the wood glue that will drip.
We did it! Good job team. Time for a beer and once again blow off hangboarding.
![]()
no sapwood....looks all heartwood with no pith
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My assumption wat that the hangboard itself is a store bought product, mounted to the ridiculously strong backing.
@juddnelson why the long break?
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38 Posts
Thanks! I really haven't been using it too much last few months, an occasional weekend trip. But the bed is still bomber, so issues at all with it.
I'm a Yosemite bum but have been known to get crushed on some wide stuff, I'm definitely down to check out the Voo in the future!
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38 Posts
The hangboard is store bought, though it's certainly a design one could replicate. I actually don't know what type of wood it is but it's from the U.K. so maybe timber? (bad joke) Hangboards are used in climbing to specifically strengthen finger tendons, so its purpose is a bit different than a crack machine to train "jamming" for vertical cracks in the movies.
While it would be awesome, a crack trainer would be a tough fit in the van....see below
DIY Crack Machines
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38 Posts
Well, I started 2020 by quitting my job to build the van and climb for a year. Needless to say, things didn't go as planned, so I went back to work and things have progressed muuuuch slower. That being said I neglected to continue with updates to my build thread though I have been making other progress. The hangboard I actually finished in October. I'm almost done with the electrical and I'll make that post imminently.
We built one on the ceiling in the garage! I like to call it the gobie machine...
Excited to see the electrical
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828 Posts
yeah...i was thinking using vertical cracks to climb upwards.....did not think of climbing parallel hanging underneath.....saw video of underneath loft bed.....technique was inspired for a non climber to view.....good luck and strong rock
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828 Posts
a hanging board maybe built from
Green hickory or green pecan....probably want to shape rout carve while green because when dry like concrete.
additional English yew on east coast because of its tight grain even though it's a vine.....i have heard of Pacific yew but I have never worked with any...on Amazon the specs list Boxwood that's a bush so I guess they take the roots and put them through a tree cutters shredder let the mulch dry and mix with yellow glue and put in some type of mold. Make a wire shape form like the put in pouring concrete for strength. The mold could be for finnal shape or just sized for length and width. Then route or drill holes and carve . it's seem to be a growing sport.
Woodturners like English Boxwood over American Boxwood roots because of tighter grain and it does not move. to be clear woodturner are not any type of carpenter...we of the round....carpenter of the flat.
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Green hickory or green pecan....probably want to shape rout carve while green because when dry like concrete.
additional English yew on east coast because of its tight grain even though it's a vine.....i have heard of Pacific yew but I have never worked with any...on Amazon the specs list Boxwood that's a bush so I guess they take the roots and put them through a tree cutters shredder let the mulch dry and mix with yellow glue and put in some type of mold. Make a wire shape form like the put in pouring concrete for strength. The mold could be for finnal shape or just sized for length and width. Then route or drill holes and carve . it's seem to be a growing sport.
Woodturners like English Boxwood over American Boxwood roots because of tighter grain and it does not move. to be clear woodturner are not any type of carpenter...we of the round....carpenter of the flat.
Sent from my LG-H871 using Tapatalk
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