Well, if your lifestyle involves lots of plywood. I rarely get round to documenting projects, but I made some time to take some photos of my day van/occasional camper/all-round useful vehicle system for my Citroen Berlingo Multispace.

I’ve previously had estate cars but thought I’d give one of these a go a year or so ago. I quickly realised that although there’s more space than an average estate, because it’s higher rather than longer, it needed dividing up to make best use of it. I’d had enough of piling stuff on the back seats (which rarely get used as seats in my car) in estates. I looked at several “boot jump” type systems, but apart from being expensive, they seem somewhat limited in use and take up quite a lot of storage space. Also I like playing with tools. So I set about creating and designing (in that order) a system which would…
Allow all the space to be used safely without things having to be lashed down
Carry a large dog safely and comfortably without the back seats in
Keep a muddy bike or two separate from everything else
Occasionally give a flat base to sleep two (or one and a bike)
Be quickly and easily reconfigurable to suit all these uses
Not take up masses of room to store
Not be massively heavy
Not use lots of expensive and hard to find materials.

I wanted to make it out of 12mm ply, but when I got 4 or 5 boards worth of 9mm in serviceable condition free from Gumtree from a recently refurbished cafe, that was one design decision made for me. I tried to come up with a full design before I started, but I realised there were so many different things to consider that the best thing to do was start chopping and see what happened. It’s still a work in progess really, but I’ve got something I’m happy with for now.

It starts with a base board covering the whole flat area, providing a base for everything else. It’s attached by the four existing load lashing points (which are still there on top of the board), and a small bracket at the back that bolts into the tailgate latch. There are cut-outs for the seat hooks and feet (the base board doesn’t have to be removed to use the seats), and the spare wheel carrier thing.

A two-part divider fits lengthways into a slot in the base board. This is positioned so that it’ll go through the rear seat split if necessary (it’s a bit of a squeeze but it works). This creates a space for long stuff on the nearside (i.e. bikes).

Next a lateral divider slots into the longitdudinal divider and the base board to divide the larger space up and stop stuff moving around.

A similar board at the front stops stuff trying to get into the front seats.

The rear compartment has a third side which isn’t really necessary for enclosing that space, and is mainly there as a support for the board that will go on top.

With the front bed board on, you get an enclosed space, and a seat of sorts.

Put the back board in as well and you have two enclosed storage spaces, with space down the side for bikes. And if you take the driver’s headrest off, and wind the seat back right down, you get a reasonably comfortable bed for one (with a mat of course), with plenty of space underneath for kit, and the bike inside.

A second level of dividers gives you a space to put stuff on top of the bottom storage areas without it sliding around (though nothing too heavy).

Taking the back bed board off makes room for the dog (modelled here by Rosie).

I made a set of side panels for the nearside – again not really necessary to enclose the space, but support a third bed board.

Said bed board can be used on its own, giving a kind of bench seat, e.g. for sheltering in the van with a cuppa when the weather turns.

With all the bed boards in, you’ve got compartmentalised storage underneath and a big space above, or again, if you put the front seats back, a sleeping area for two with space for kit underneath.

With the long bed board in, it’s still possible to get a bike in with both wheels off on top, with storage space underneath.

The side panels can also be folded down flat and don’t take up much room. The long bed board can go on top, so you can carry a bike, but then use the bench when it’s out.

Similarly, the rear bed board can be carried underneath the dog, and then used with her out. This then makes a nice standing height work surface at the back, e.g. for cooking/making a brew.

The frontmost panel also folds down, which is occasionally useful to make use of the rear footwells (it might as well since it’s hinged anyway).

Most of the panel joints are made from loose pin hinges, the main attraction being they’re a qiud a pair from Toolstation, so cheap and easily replaceable. To make them easier to join and take apart, I replaced the pins (which have a sort of peened mushroom head which is impossible to remove without tools when under tension) with 3mm allen keys (£3.50 for 10, delivered from RS). I’ve cut these to length, rounded the ends on my grinder and given them a slight kink by hand with one end in a vice. This gives them just a little bit of tension even if the hinges are perfectly aligned (which most aren’t), enough that they don’t rattle or fall out, but not so much that they can’t be pushed in and pulled out by hand.

The bed boards all have Keku fittings to hold them in place. These can take a bit of loading, but there are thin strips of ply on the dividing panels which are the main load bearers. I’m quite impressed with these. They hold together quite nicely, are surprisingly robust, and pull apart reasonably easily. Inevitably due to the way they stick out when apart, I have broken one however. Ultimately I’d like to come up with a better solution.

I can probably put the whole lot (apart from the base board) in and out in 10 minutes (and most of that is working out which bit goes where – I haven’t come up with a marking scheme to help with this yet). When it’s out, you have a stack of vertical panels and the three bed boards, so it’s fairly easy to store.

Some things I might change or add in future are the Keku fittings (as I mentioned before); hatches, or possibly splits and hinges, in the bed boards to give access to the stuff below without pulling the whole board off; a way of dividing the bike space up better when it’s not being used for bikes; a table arrangement for the side “bench”. There’s lots of stuff I could do, but I could end up spending more time working on it than using it.

👍 Like!

Friend of mine is looking for a new motor. I’ve recommended the Berlingo and this might be enough to convince him.

Nice job!

Done something similar with my old Berlingo, except I just had a fixed single plywood bunk down the passenger side fixed to a plywood and floored base. Got a childs mattress from Ikea which was a perfect size and it came with two additional bits of mattress that you use to extend as your child gets bigger.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/childrens-ikea-products/children-3-7/childrens-mattresses/vimsig-foam-mattress-for-extendable-bed-art-00348576/

The main part of the mattress fitted the bunk perfectly and the two extended bits acted as back cushions and also to go on top of the folded flat passenger seat to tun it into a full size single bed. Had to lift up the mattress to get into storage underneath. Bike or dog went done the drivers side. It’s amazing how much you can get into what looks like a small space.

Do post some action shots when you are away in it.

Gotta love the berlingo. Went to coed y brenin yesterday and had 4 grown men and four full suss bikes and all our kit inside it with no leg room taken.

Don’t now about the older one but the interior roof bars you can get for the newer shape ones are ace. Can hold a wheel set easy.

Nice work.  I love projects like these!

Very clever that. Well done, Amazingly versatile vehicles to convert the Berlingo. My 84 yo mother had one until she launched it off a sea wall, landed on the beach 20 ft below and carried on down the beach until it came to halt in the sea. Fortunately the weight of the conversion meant it landed nicely on 4 wheels..

Very nice but how small are the bikes you are carrying?

Shonky af 🙂

Nice dog too 🙂

Cancel my question…reread post and got the answer.

Thanks all.

It’s a really versatile vehicle the Berlingo. Admittedly you have to think more about fitting bikes in, but they’ll go. I can get my full-sus in whole, albeit at a weird angle, or with the front wheel off and loads of other space. I presume the poster above with 4 bikes, people and kit had the bikes on the roof/tailgate?!

Will try and remember to take some pics when it’s in use. In May me and my gf (and the dog, and all her stuff) went for a long weekend with friends, then a week car camping in Wales with all the gear that entails, my full-sus (on the roof) and a packraft and biking andpaddling gear. Then went straight up to the Lakes and I camped in it at jennride. It was worth it just for that one trip.

The practicality of these vehicles is excellent, its the looks I can’t deal with! (same argument for an MPV)

Good job on the woodwork front, looks like a fun project. Haven’t you just made it a van with storage now though?

Was going to do something similar to my dad’s Berlingo before he wrote it off, good work!

benp1 – the beauty is that you can take it all out (minus the base board, clever thinking on that bit), put the seats back in and you have it back to standard.  Two vehicles in one.

I think this car is probably all us outdoorsy types ever need. For some reason the MPV version doesn’t look nearly as good as the van,  but I do occasionally need to carry passengers….

The upcoming model might fix things- looking forward to seeing  one in flesh…

Upcoming focus sw 1.5t in 180hp guide is a strong contender; looks nice,  supposed to drive well and combines adequate performance with decent economy.

Choices, choices….

For mattresses, the IKEA kids foam ones would be ideal.  You can unzip the cover, and cut the foam with a knife.

Have you considered putting straps or webbing across the top of one of the bed boards? It’s how they make sofas, and it provides a bit of give.

Haven’t you just made it a van with storage now though?

Yes.

the beauty is that you can take it all out

The other good thing about this is that French cars are essentially disposable. I swapped my previous one with a dodgy gearbox for my current one – 30 min job to swap this into the new one and put the old one back to standard.

I think this car is probably all us outdoorsy types ever need. For some reason the MPV version doesn’t look nearly as good as the van,  but I do occasionally need to carry passengers….

Largely agree, in that I think a Transit/Transporter size van is a bit overkill (let’s not start that argument here though). I reckon the perfect vehicle would be slightly longer though, but the only options I’ve seen are the Ford Tourneo Connect (not many about, expensive, can’t work out how to pronounce) and the VW Caddy Maxi (expensiver, scene tax, sounds like a tampon). Shame they’ve never done a LWB Berlingo/Partner. The newer Berlingos also look even more “granny” and like they’d have less useful space (too much rounded bodywork) – could be wrong.

Have you considered putting straps or webbing across the top of one of the bed boards? It’s how they make sofas, and it provides a bit of give.

Not sure what you mean?

You to run a router with a half round bit over all those edges!

Nice project.

Nice building. I like the idea of the pin hinges so you can dismantle easily.

The Berlingo is such a great car. I’ve been on 3 Euro roadtrips in mine now, each time building the back out slightly differently to accommodate all the bikes and people and kit.

Andorra on the first road trip. False floor and pull out shelf for cutting baguettes on with cooking stuff underneath.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/29dVKo8]packed[/url] by ., on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/288D9ff]Andorra[/url] by ., on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/288D96C]table slide[/url] by ., on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/29dVKit]pull out table[/url] by ., on Flickr

.[url=https://flic.kr/p/288D93m]folding table[/url] by [/url], on Flickr

[img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1823/42749651604_2e477851b0_b.jpg[/img][url=https://flic.kr/p/288D93G]3 bikes in the Blingo[/url] by o, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/288D979]Tignes[/url] by ., on Flickr

Next time I went I upgraded my system a bit. I had to fit 3 bikes in and 3 people and kit. Built a false floor and a pull-out folding table which also housed the stove and plates and shit. I separated off a section to keep the tents away from pedals etc. It worked really well. The Blingo is the king! 🙂

[url=https://flic.kr/p/288D93G]3 bikes in the Blingo[/url] by o, on Flickr

Great cars.  We bought a bootjump as we don’t have the time or skills to do a DIY version but it’s been well worth the money – we’ve done 2 week trips to Ireland, Belgium and the Alps in it, and we’re off to Northern Spain this year.  We use it with a bike rack rather than trying to get the bikes inside on the longer trips – although they do fit in for weekends it’s a bit more faffy and cramped.  We’re onto our 2nd (although technically the new one is a Partner) and everything could just be transferred to the new one with no fuss.

Kayak, I might have known

a) you’d have a Berlingo (they seem to appeal to a certain mindset which we may share)

b) you’d have done a better job than me!

(PS I think it was you that pointed me to the Keku fittings on another thread ages ago)

Some sort of pull out arrangement for baguette-slicing (:-D) was part of my original plan, but haven’t got round to it – in part because it would have to take up space currently occupied by either the dog (takes up so much bloody floor space + wasted room above!) or the bike, both of which are fairly non-negotiable. I may yet come up with something.

I forgot to mention I’ve also made a fully enclosed tailgate awning that hangs from the tailgate and is pegged/weighted to the ground. A couple of straps and magnets for quickly putting up when it’s raining and windy and you need to get changed. It’s not finished though – I say fully enclosed, currently it only has sides.

I reckon the perfect vehicle would be slightly longer though, but the only options I’ve seen are the Ford Tourneo Connect (not many about, expensive, can’t work out how to pronounce) and the VW Caddy Maxi (expensiver, scene tax, sounds like a tampon). Shame they’ve never done a LWB Berlingo/Partner.

There is a L2 Berlingo, may only be in van format though.

Others missing from your list are the Toyota Hi/Pro ace, Peugeot/Citroen Expert/Dispatch and the one I have Nissan NV200. Not the most dynamic of vans but fits a medium 27.5 and 29er length wise, a mates XL 29er needed a bit of a turn to the front wheel but still fitted in whole with my bike and would probably have managed another full bike in there. Did a lot of shopping around with a bike to make sure it was the right length but not as much wasted space as my old Transit crew cab. Getting over 40mpg without hanging around (as much as 85bhp can be pushed along!).

Someone turned up to the trails in a newish Proace with an open upwards rear door at the weekend, got total van envy when I saw it. They’ve come a long way from the Hiace.

Drove a Caddy back to back with the NV200 and the engine noise, rattles and driving experience were a long way from the car like experience I was expecting from VW, it felt pretty similar to my Transit which was twice as old as it. May be better options up the spec but for a 6 year old one I was very disappointed. NV wasn’t amazing (was better though) but there also wasn’t the same level of expectation from the Nissan.

EDIT – just realised you meant multi-seat options, the NV200 has a multi seat option and there are new Peugeot/Citroen options (Traveller?) that would fit the bill too. Mercs have one the right size too but the same age as the Berlingo it’ll be rusty. Looks like the Proace is available in crew but rare.

Option of rear seats, rear windows, and car V5 status are musts for me, even if I use it like a van most of the time.

Toyota Proace is a good shout. I’ve seen a few of those NV200s around too, including the electric ones, which are interesting (I’m an electrical engineer) but don’t really fit my use.

The Merc you mention is Citan I think. I’ve seen them at a dealership I pass occasionally. May be one for the future if they don’t rust as you say (surely they’ve dealt with that issue now), but I’m down the bangernomics end of the market so it’ll be a while (same goes for the Tourneo Connect).