Eyelets in ceiling for storing long items with bungees e.g. surf board
- Thread starter Zave
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- ceiling light
I used some motorsport 7/16 eye bolts in the redundant seatbelt fixings. Also with a boy racer tow strap to aid SWMBO getting in the back!!
On rivnuts, there are loads of hexagonal holes in the steelwork ideal for taking a hex rivnut!!
@Zave I have LITERALLY just done this this week for EXACTLY the same reason 
I wanted to be able to string the longboard up inside the van like I did when living in NZ for a year and tried bits of coat hangers in some of the trim holes etc but they just weren’t strong enough when the board was being held up and were a hazard!
Anyway, just before I did the final stage carpeting following sound deadening and insulation I decided to bite the bullet and install M8 rivnuts. Tried installing a few the diy method before but with poor results so I bought the cheapest rivnut gun off Amazon and it worked a treat- even came with 10 x M8 rivnuts although I still had lots of stainless ones left from last poor attempt. https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...p/B00RCPVLKE&usg=AOvVaw1MYkV9eJKe5AGl2h6hw2Qn
The mounts are brilliant. I bought stainless steel lifting eye bolts from eBay item number 201424023817 and they screw in beautifully, are easy to remove and look classy!
In fact I installed 4 extra rivnuts and use the lifting eye bolts instead of wing nuts for attaching the motexion bulkhead when we want to close off the back of the van.
My advice would be: go for it, enlarge whichever trim clip holes you want (11mm for M8 rivnuts), buy a rivnut tool complete with rivnuts for about £32 and put them all over your van!
Use pre- stretched 4mm cord instead of bungees cos if you bungee it your board will bounce around all over the place. You can figure out how to criss- cross the cord to hold up the board securely and lower it down when you need it. When you’ve got the right length then tie a permanent loop knot on one end and attach a cheap carabiner on the other so you can just clip it when your board’s raised.
N.B. Check before using a ratchet strap on them however- some areas of the sheet steel are stronger than others.
Photos attached!
I wanted to be able to string the longboard up inside the van like I did when living in NZ for a year and tried bits of coat hangers in some of the trim holes etc but they just weren’t strong enough when the board was being held up and were a hazard!
Anyway, just before I did the final stage carpeting following sound deadening and insulation I decided to bite the bullet and install M8 rivnuts. Tried installing a few the diy method before but with poor results so I bought the cheapest rivnut gun off Amazon and it worked a treat- even came with 10 x M8 rivnuts although I still had lots of stainless ones left from last poor attempt. https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...p/B00RCPVLKE&usg=AOvVaw1MYkV9eJKe5AGl2h6hw2Qn
The mounts are brilliant. I bought stainless steel lifting eye bolts from eBay item number 201424023817 and they screw in beautifully, are easy to remove and look classy!
In fact I installed 4 extra rivnuts and use the lifting eye bolts instead of wing nuts for attaching the motexion bulkhead when we want to close off the back of the van.
My advice would be: go for it, enlarge whichever trim clip holes you want (11mm for M8 rivnuts), buy a rivnut tool complete with rivnuts for about £32 and put them all over your van!
Use pre- stretched 4mm cord instead of bungees cos if you bungee it your board will bounce around all over the place. You can figure out how to criss- cross the cord to hold up the board securely and lower it down when you need it. When you’ve got the right length then tie a permanent loop knot on one end and attach a cheap carabiner on the other so you can just clip it when your board’s raised.
N.B. Check before using a ratchet strap on them however- some areas of the sheet steel are stronger than others.
Photos attached!
Last edited:
Cracking description full of detail...I'm not doing it (yet, got me thinking though) but brilliant all the same@Zave I have LITERALLY just done this this week for EXACTLY the same reason
I wanted to be able to string the longboard up inside the van like I did when living in NZ for a year and tried bits of coat hangers in some of the trim holes etc but they just weren’t strong enough when the board was being held up and were a hazard!
Anyway, just before I did the final stage carpeting following sound deadening and insulation I decided to bite the bullet and install M8 rivnuts. Tried installing a few the diy method before but with poor results so I bought the cheapest rivnut gun off Amazon and it worked a treat- even came with 10 x M8 rivnuts although I still had lots of stainless ones left from last poor attempt. https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi318WLvf74AhWZ_6QKHca7D28QFnoECAsQAQ&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rivet-Thread-Riveter-Blind-Rivnuts/dp/B00RCPVLKE&usg=AOvVaw1MYkV9eJKe5AGl2h6hw2Qn
The mounts are brilliant. I bought stainless steel lifting eye bolts from eBay item number 201424023817 and they screw in beautifully, are easy to remove and look classy!
In fact I installed 4 extra rivnuts and use the lifting eye bolts instead of wing nuts for attaching the motexion bulkhead when we want to close off the back of the van.
My advice would be: go for it, enlarge whichever trim clip holes you want (11mm for M8 rivnuts), buy a rivnut tool complete with rivnuts for about £32 and put them all over your van!
Use pre- stretched 4mm cord instead of bungees cos if you bungee it your board will bounce around all over the place. You can figure out how to criss- cross the cord to hold up the board securely and lower it down when you need it. When you’ve got the right length then tie a permanent loop knot on one end and attach a cheap carabiner on the other so you can just clip it when your board’s raised.
N.B. Check before using a ratchet strap on them however- some areas of the sheet steel are stronger than others.
Photos attached!
View attachment 165372
View attachment 165373
View attachment 165374
View attachment 165375
BY THE WAY!!!@Zave I have LITERALLY just done this this week for EXACTLY the same reason
I wanted to be able to string the longboard up inside the van like I did when living in NZ for a year and tried bits of coat hangers in some of the trim holes etc but they just weren’t strong enough when the board was being held up and were a hazard!
Anyway, just before I did the final stage carpeting following sound deadening and insulation I decided to bite the bullet and install M8 rivnuts. Tried installing a few the diy method before but with poor results so I bought the cheapest rivnut gun off Amazon and it worked a treat- even came with 10 x M8 rivnuts although I still had lots of stainless ones left from last poor attempt. https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi318WLvf74AhWZ_6QKHca7D28QFnoECAsQAQ&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rivet-Thread-Riveter-Blind-Rivnuts/dp/B00RCPVLKE&usg=AOvVaw1MYkV9eJKe5AGl2h6hw2Qn
The mounts are brilliant. I bought stainless steel lifting eye bolts from eBay item number 201424023817 and they screw in beautifully, are easy to remove and look classy!
In fact I installed 4 extra rivnuts and use the lifting eye bolts instead of wing nuts for attaching the motexion bulkhead when we want to close off the back of the van.
My advice would be: go for it, enlarge whichever trim clip holes you want (11mm for M8 rivnuts), buy a rivnut tool complete with rivnuts for about £32 and put them all over your van!
Use pre- stretched 4mm cord instead of bungees cos if you bungee it your board will bounce around all over the place. You can figure out how to criss- cross the cord to hold up the board securely and lower it down when you need it. When you’ve got the right length then tie a permanent loop knot on one end and attach a cheap carabiner on the other so you can just clip it when your board’s raised.
N.B. Check before using a ratchet strap on them however- some areas of the sheet steel are stronger than others.
Photos attached!
View attachment 165372
View attachment 165373
View attachment 165374
View attachment 165375
Be SUPER careful when drilling in case you go through the inner van skin and hit the outer!!!
Didnt happen to me but freaked me out. I used a stepped drill bit carefully up to 10mm then very carefully used an 11mm bit to finish off.
best to primer the drilled holes before installing rivnuts too…
Thanks Sparkis for the photo's and commentary. This is great. I've just got back from Screwfix and hadn't seen your post and I've already bought:
www.screwfix.com
I wasn't sure what size I'd need and couldn't visualise the sizes without feeling the nuts in my hand - snigger!
M5 nuts fit the trim clip holes slightly loosely. M6 are too big without drilling out. I've not fitted any yet but I am ready to go once this arrives:
www.screwfix.com
I'm pretty sure the eyelets screw into 5mm bolt holes. I'll wait until they arrive until i fix the rivnuts.
My carpet was done around 5 years ago with "secret" fixings. I managed to get a small amount of ceiling down and find the original trim clip holes.
I'll update the thread once I've made further progress.
Easyfix Brass Mixed Rivet Nut Handy Pack 250 Pcs - Screwfix
Order online at Screwfix.com. Zinc-plated brass rivet bushes. Widely used in steel board fixing. Pre-drilling required. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.
I wasn't sure what size I'd need and couldn't visualise the sizes without feeling the nuts in my hand - snigger!
M5 nuts fit the trim clip holes slightly loosely. M6 are too big without drilling out. I've not fitted any yet but I am ready to go once this arrives:
Van Guard Ratchet Tie-Down Straps with Hooks & Eye Bolts 2.5m x 25mm 2 Pack - Screwfix
Order online at Screwfix.com. Medium duty ratchet straps to aid with effective and safe load securing. Coupled with a pair of eyebolts designed to work in tandem with an ULTI bar. Lightweight and highly visible design. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.
I'm pretty sure the eyelets screw into 5mm bolt holes. I'll wait until they arrive until i fix the rivnuts.
My carpet was done around 5 years ago with "secret" fixings. I managed to get a small amount of ceiling down and find the original trim clip holes.
I'll update the thread once I've made further progress.
They seem to be in the wrong place for what I want to do. But for anyone who does - M6 size fit loosely, M8 too big. I imagine M7 would be perfect but don't have any to test.
M7 is a very odd / unusual thread size - maybe not much choice of fastenings!?
The reason the M6 hex rivnuts feel loose is that there are 2 sizes available. Confusingly called metric and imperial even though the thread is metric. Guess which one VW chose? That's right, the rare imperial version... Even rarer with a flange head. The flare on the 'normal' one only just grabs the edge of the hole.
I’ll Send a pic when I get a chance! You have a choice of many trim holes where the roof panel clips in- I guess it just depends how far apart you want them- my van is a LWB so I reckon with a SWB a 9’+ longboard would come in between the front seat at roof level but this wouldn’t be a problem… you could pop in a few sets along the van for different length boards…
I worked from the size of fittings I wanted…I already have installed load rails… see my posts here: Securing luggage in Kombi safety so wanted to continue with M8 fittings cos I had the 11mm bit already…. But ideally I would be wanting to drill out the VW trim holes as little as possible. Rivnuts always seem to be the “inbetween“ sizes but what can you do! A quick measure of the VW trim holes (are they 8 or 9mm?) would let you know what size of rivnut‘s gonna be easiest but you sound like you’re all sorted!Thanks Sparkis for the photo's and commentary. This is great. I've just got back from Screwfix and hadn't seen your post and I've already bought:
Easyfix Brass Mixed Rivet Nut Handy Pack 250 Pcs - Screwfix
Order online at Screwfix.com. Zinc-plated brass rivet bushes. Widely used in steel board fixing. Pre-drilling required. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.
I wasn't sure what size I'd need and couldn't visualise the sizes without feeling the nuts in my hand - snigger!
M5 nuts fit the trim clip holes slightly loosely. M6 are too big without drilling out. I've not fitted any yet but I am ready to go once this arrives:
Van Guard Ratchet Tie-Down Straps with Hooks & Eye Bolts 2.5m x 25mm 2 Pack - Screwfix
Order online at Screwfix.com. Medium duty ratchet straps to aid with effective and safe load securing. Coupled with a pair of eyebolts designed to work in tandem with an ULTI bar. Lightweight and highly visible design. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.
I'm pretty sure the eyelets screw into 5mm bolt holes. I'll wait until they arrive until i fix the rivnuts.
My carpet was done around 5 years ago with "secret" fixings. I managed to get a small amount of ceiling down and find the original trim clip holes.
I'll update the thread once I've made further progress.
just Googling…..if the eye bolts are M5 then the rivnuts to suit are 7.1mm so should be just able to wiggle into a 7mm hole- a light bit of filing would help if necessary… they must be snug in the hole rather than loose! Your nuts that isThanks Sparkis for the photo's and commentary. This is great. I've just got back from Screwfix and hadn't seen your post and I've already bought:
Easyfix Brass Mixed Rivet Nut Handy Pack 250 Pcs - Screwfix
Order online at Screwfix.com. Zinc-plated brass rivet bushes. Widely used in steel board fixing. Pre-drilling required. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.
I wasn't sure what size I'd need and couldn't visualise the sizes without feeling the nuts in my hand - snigger!
M5 nuts fit the trim clip holes slightly loosely. M6 are too big without drilling out. I've not fitted any yet but I am ready to go once this arrives:
Van Guard Ratchet Tie-Down Straps with Hooks & Eye Bolts 2.5m x 25mm 2 Pack - Screwfix
Order online at Screwfix.com. Medium duty ratchet straps to aid with effective and safe load securing. Coupled with a pair of eyebolts designed to work in tandem with an ULTI bar. Lightweight and highly visible design. FREE next day delivery available, free collection in 1 minute.
I'm pretty sure the eyelets screw into 5mm bolt holes. I'll wait until they arrive until i fix the rivnuts.
My carpet was done around 5 years ago with "secret" fixings. I managed to get a small amount of ceiling down and find the original trim clip holes.
I'll update the thread once I've made further progress.
So if the holes in the van body are 7mm you’ll be totally sorted!
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