Packing / storage behind the 3 seater Beach bench

[roquito]

Hi! We are newly proud owners of a VW California beach and are planning a bit of a road trip in the summer. I've been trying to work out the most efficient ways of packing all the stuff we will need. Ideally I'd lioke to be able to sleep in the van without having to unpack the whole thing every time! There are five of us and we just about fit 2 in the pop up and three on the back bed. I'm looking at ways to use this with the seats folded forwards so that the space between the bed and the multiflex board (we have this shelf with a single depth slide out drawer underneath) can be packed permanently and accessed from the front over the folded seats. Obvs to use the bed here we would need some kind of shelf above the packing to support the middle of the bed.

I was wondering what everyone else does here? How do you set up your packing / access etc on longer trips. As there are five of us we will have a fair amount of stuff with us for a three week trip!

Thank you so much!

 

[Perfectos]

A pair of Vanessa window bags for clothes , packing cubes to identify whose bag / clothes etc.
Really useful boxes packed with everything you need stored under the multiflex board height, seat in bed position (slid forward in the position required to make the bed up) multiflex board in the fully open position.
Make as good a use as possible of the space under the seats , towels , duvets etc on the rear seat, sit the kids on the soft material stuff

 

[Kayleigh]

Hi! We are newly proud owners of a VW California beach and are planning a bit of a road trip in the summer. I've been trying to work out the most efficient ways of packing all the stuff we will need. Ideally I'd lioke to be able to sleep in the van without having to unpack the whole thing every time! There are five of us and we just about fit 2 in the pop up and three on the back bed. I'm looking at ways to use this with the seats folded forwards so that the space between the bed and the multiflex board (we have this shelf with a single depth slide out drawer underneath) can be packed permanently and accessed from the front over the folded seats. Obvs to use the bed here we would need some kind of shelf above the packing to support the middle of the bed.

I was wondering what everyone else does here? How do you set up your packing / access etc on longer trips. As there are five of us we will have a fair amount of stuff with us for a three week trip!

Thank you so much!

You definitely need the Vanessa window bags. No brainer in the Beach! You say a road trip. Do you plan to stay in new places each night or stay on one site? If lots of stops I would try and pack as light as you can. If staying on one site, a gazebo or pop up tent like the Cinch it very useful for storing items. Also look at seat back bags for the front seats. Sounds like you have a pull out tray. Really useful boxes are good for that, or Euro crates. I find larger crates more useful than small ones.

 

[secret lemonade drinker]

When you fold the 3 seater bench back it raises up and moves forward so the stuff packed behind stays there, keep the bedding on top.
Vanessa Window Bags are a must and pack breakfasty stuff including cool box in drivers footwell and on drivers seat.
I would investigate a slidepod kitchen for back instead of drawer

 

[roquito]

We have some vanessa window bags already! Haven't used them yet though! We have a fridge on the slide out drawer in the boot already which the previous owner installed. Just looking for solutions to the gap behind the draw/MFB and the seat in the forward position so that we could just fold the bench seat forwards rather than rocking it back. Thanks all for your helpo and replies!

 

[Amy&Mark]

Hey Roquito,
We have a board with legs to fill the gap and a deeper rear drawer 1m ... could you modify yours to be deeper? Maybe with a board on top or replace the tray bit?
Also… We normally use seat folded forwards but it does make the resulting bed a bit shorter ... probably worth a dry run at home to make sure your happy with it?
Mark

 

[jepotherepo]

I think you’ve got yourself quite a task there. 5 people with all the necessary kit and clothing for a road trip. I’d say what you need is an awning. With a little practice it only takes 5-10min to have an air beam awning pumped up and attached. Chuck all unnecessary baggage in there (alongside the 5th person! )

 

[veedoubleyougolf]

I’ve got a similar setup to you, 3 seat beach with fridge on pullout shelf in the rear.

We’re off to France and Italy in the summer for 3 weeks and having practiced on some weekend trips it’s very difficult to sleep in the van without putting stuff outside.

I’ve concluded that for us there’s not enough room so I’ve invested in a rear bike rack and storage box which sits on it.

I didn’t want a box on the roof as it’s hard to access, weight on pop up roof although I think this would be okay for most use cases, and the higher mpg.

When all packed we should be able to just move the bed back without unloading anything, which makes the one night stops along the way more manageable and less stressful.

 

[Phil Dub]

Hi! We are newly proud owners of a VW California beach and are planning a bit of a road trip in the summer. I've been trying to work out the most efficient ways of packing all the stuff we will need. Ideally I'd lioke to be able to sleep in the van without having to unpack the whole thing every time! There are five of us and we just about fit 2 in the pop up and three on the back bed. I'm looking at ways to use this with the seats folded forwards so that the space between the bed and the multiflex board (we have this shelf with a single depth slide out drawer underneath) can be packed permanently and accessed from the front over the folded seats. Obvs to use the bed here we would need some kind of shelf above the packing to support the middle of the bed.

I was wondering what everyone else does here? How do you set up your packing / access etc on longer trips. As there are five of us we will have a fair amount of stuff with us for a three week trip!

Thank you so much!

I still have my aluminium bar shelf that goes across the back. I used to use on my T6 Beach for that very reason and it worked really well, also it’s expandable.
I can sell it to you if you want it as I have a GC now.

 

[coordinated]

Welcome to the 3-seat bench T6 Beach club, @roquito I'm also trying to create as much usable storage as possible. There does seem to be an awful lot of wasted space, with a lot of oddly-shaped, curved trim panels, which might look nice in a Caravelle but aren't that helpful in a camper.

In case this is helpful to you, I've just created a bit more usable space in the ~160mm gap between the back of the bench seat and the 800mm slide-out boot tray by bolting a large shelving bracket* to each rail with rail fixing screws and then lacing 5m of 4mm bungee cord through the brackets and bolt eyes.

This has created a narrow structured storage area for heavier tools – and should stop them frustratingly toppling over when the tray is slid out or the bench is pulled forward. It makes good use of the triangular void behind the seat back and the tray.

Like you, we keep the bench seat quite far forward to maximise the boot storage area and to make the cabin area feel a bit cosier (and so that my new little shoe-rack/phone charging table doesn't get in the way). It also means that we don't have to pull the bench seat forward much to rock the bed down.

* Annoyingly, the brackets only have two holes per side, not the three pictured - but it still works ok. The photo shows one bolt per bracket; I'm waiting for another four bolts to arrive before finishing it. Note that the shelving brackets have ~M6 holes, so you'll need to slowly drill out the two holes on each short side to 8mm to accept the rail fixing screws.

 

[coordinated]

In case this is helpful to you, I've just created a bit more usable space in the ~160mm gap between the back of the bench seat and the 800mm slide-out boot tray by bolting a large shelving bracket* to each rail with rail fixing screws and then lacing 5m of 4mm bungee cord through the brackets and bolt eyes.

I may have maxed out the number of links per post! Re-added ^^^

 

[Archie]

If the 3 in the bottom bed are kids and not too small, put them in a tent outside, much more fun for all concerned! Most sites only charge a few pounds at most for a Pup tent.