How is the ovano stuff holding up ? Is that the full system that works as a bulkhead / bed etc ?
Price is a bit speedy , but from the videos I have seen it looks well made.
Cheers
I picked up a MK4 RAV4 at the start of the year. Currently averaging 45mpg, but had seen 50 on a motorway run.
Loads of rear leg room. Massive boot. Very comfortable car to drive.
So far, and it's early days still, the Ovano seems really good!
I didn't want to fit anything into my van that was not either easily removable nor prevented me from using the van as an, er, van to move big stuff. The Ovano simply bolts down in just four places to the original loadbed tie down points, so is easy to remove if required. The top deck offers un-interupted full width space right up the back of the front seats, which in my LWB is a very decent amount of space. In fact, because the top deck plate now folds down over the mid row of seats, there is potentially more useable flat space than before. if you have a SWB this could be a really big gain in carriage capability for bulky items.
I went for the full width drawer option and it's brilliant for causually throwing in my bike when i just want to nip out for a quick ride somewhere. With the drawer sides and a soft grippy base mat, i just slide open the drawer, chuck in bike with just front wheel off (my XC bike goes in with both wheels on, my XXL Mondraker needs front wheel off to make it easy), slide it shut and drive off. Bike doesn't rattle, and can't really go anywhere.
The drawer is also really good when used as a day van, for example all my scuba stuff simply loads easily ie no reaching / leaning over with heavy kit, and you can get to everything, even the stuff that went in first at the back, without having to take everything out first! Compared to diving out of my old estate car, this is a godsend 🙂
It also seems to make the van a little less boomy on the m/way (i have large AT tyres on mine which whir along a bit.....) especially with the bulkhead in the fully up position
We are off for a few days riding / camping to the Peaks next week, so will report back on how it works as a weekend van, sleeping on the top deck. We have bought a nice new self inflating matress that is a good fit, and should be able to keep everything camping wise in the drawer although we also have the full length Front Runner roof rack for really grand days out, but i haven't sorted out proper ladder access yet (the rear sportline spoiler prevents easy ladder on tailgate solution). Not sure if our bikes will simply go across the back on my towbar rack, or if we don't take the middle row of seats, bikes can actually go across inside instead.
I guess we do need to mention the cost, and no, the Ovano system is not cheap, but i think you get what you pay for when it comes to Transporter accessories, with the really nice stuff costing decent money, but also being worth decent money secondhand. It certainly doesn't feel in anyway like a product designed down to a cost, and whilst no, some marine ply isn't a very expensive base material i know there has been a lot of design,test and redesign that has gone into it to make it as useable and durable possible. Yes, you could make something similar yourself for less money, but by the time you consider your time, you'd probably not save much, nor have as good a system.
I also really like the people at Ovano, its a very small company, run by people who really seem to care about their product and making it as good as possible. They made us very welcome when we had the unit fitted into my van at their Portishead HQ, which thanks to my vans unique build spec gave them a couple of headaches for the fitting (They needed to make a couple of feat spacers due to the non standard additional seat fixing points in the rear load bed). We even found time to discuss some future product ideas around demountable camper units for cooking etc 🙂
So if you have a T5/T6 and are looking for rear load bed options then definately give them a call
https://www.ovano.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/ovanouk/