This cargo platform has been an addition that has enhanced the use of our Things. First things first – if you are carrying 4 people in your Thing, ALWAYS use the seat belts and have the rear seats in the upright position .
If you are only carrying two people, the factory option is to flip the rear seat-backs down and use the provided support struts under the front edge. The main disadvantage to this procedure is the gaps on both sides and the narrow one in the middle. This allows the items to shift easily, and often they end up on the floor. Our chocolate lab, Bisja rode back there on the platform for many years. You can also carry a lot of items for home & garden projects. Using the platform, we were able to carry a ton (almost literally, after being the one to load it) of stuff for our yearly rallies to various destinations . Coolers, parts, & tools, along with baggage for some 9 day trips made the platform invaluable .
Here’s how we made ours: Start with a 38inch x 48inch piece of 3/4 in plywood.
We don’t use OSB because it flexes and tends to deteriorate in the weather over time. When you have the rough shape, you can cut off the sharp corners to make the corners smoother.
Decide what covering you want to use, if any. We went with outdoor carpet to keep our stuff (dog included) from sliding so easily.
Here you can see Doug & Craig stretch the carpet over the plywood.
We put an eye bolt through the corners to hook bungees to keep everything in place.
For better restraint of larger items, and a nice finished look, we place an oak 1×2 strip along the front edge. Looks good and works.
Questions ? Shoot me an email. Mike “at” vwthing.us
