Storage in/on your Niva

[JamesLaugesen]

Howdy, my niva is more of a tourer than a weekend mud toy, so I've been putting a lot of thought into minimalistic storage 'solutions' which suit my needs.

I'm interested in how the rest of you store your bits 'n pieces; like recovery gear, tools, spares, water, food, fuel, camping gear, communications, etc, for some inspiration (I've run out of photos to study in Baxters gallery haha).

Personally I hate stuff rattling and vibrating (asside from the transfer case ), so I try to use soft bags, rubbery plastic containers, foam & tie-down straps, rather than hard containers, shelves, brackets, etc.
I'm trying to avoid adding significant structures solely for the purpose of storage (ie shelving, drawers, cages, etc), and also trying to keep weight relatively low (ie, not on roof racks).
Ease-of-access is my biggest sacrifice, but I'm rarely in a hurry so that's ok for me.
I was previously trying to keep all my gear easily exchangeable between the lada and another (bigger) 4wd, but I've given up that idea and now designing things "permanently" into the lada.

I'll post up some photos tomorrow (phone playing up today).
Cheers

[Giovanni]

I removed the entire rear seat.
For security from evil eyes I prefer to store all things inside the vehicle.
I have yet to place some tie down points in the rear cargo area.
Not the safest thing to do,I have things loose in a plastic stacker crate i.e. Hi Viz vest,hand cleaner,toilet paper,flash light,First Aid medical kit,rain coat,tow rope,overalls,spare clothing and shoes and then a medium sized plastic tool box which has jumper leads,10m snatch strap,fold up shovel,toma-hawk,fold up prunning saw,basic car tools.
On the floor just inside the rear hatch running left to right all strapped together are an axe,crank handle,Hi Lift jack,foot square by 25mm? marine plywood base for jack,spade.
For safety reasons I now need to pin these tools to the floor with some long bolts.
Two fire extinguishers are afixed to each side at the rear seat belt higher anchor points.
I do have fitted a sturdy galvernised and powercoated heavy steel roof rack for transporting ladders,poles and anything that does not fit inside.
For my other hobbie I have mounted to the roof rack 4 antenna for HF CB,UHF CB plus VHF and UHF amateur radio and VHF marine. The four coaxial cables run inside via the rear vents both sides.
The radios are mounted on a rack which is bolted to the dashboard cross member up front in place of the centre switch,radio consol.
Behind the drivers seat is a small gas jerry can and behind the passengers seat is the twin pump air compressor with holding tank and a hand held spot light.
One HF radio 25mm coaxial cable has been plumbed into the cabin from the front nudge bar Terlin HF antenna mount.
Not much room for two to sleep in.
I had a comfortable sleep in the truck with all the gear pushed over to the drivers side,the front seats pushed all the way forward and folded flat.
I slept on a thick roll out foam mattress.

[Rotordogg]

Do you still have back seat in your niva? If you don't there's planty of spare for tool box's to bolt down for things to go in, If you still have it in there's still a few options:
Seat's can be changed for one's that have pocket's in the back of them, or you could make a car seat cover with a pocket in the back for some things, you can hang jumperleads or ropes from a short metal loop attached to the side somewhere, small tool box can be bolted to floor behind drivers seat depending on how often you have 4 people in vehicle.

In my niva with back seat long gone, here is my storage: front floor infront of passanger's seat, fire extinguisher in cradle and bungy cord (held down with electrical p-clips) to hold snatch strap.
Rear compartment, removable toolbox for other ropes's, shackles, tool's etc. Shovel's cliped on with proper shovel clips, Mine's held to cage, but can be held onto floor or wall under boot opening.
I normally have a soft bag or 2 tucked behind the seats with lunch and spare cloth's in them.
I don't like things floating round the truck not secured properly, It's dangerous, not just if you roll, but if you come to a sudden holt (like when you hit a tree!) things can go flying, or slide forward and under your feet...
If you don't like things ratteling in tool box's, then pack it all in tight, put a old towel on the bottom, and ropes on top, then tool's or other metal things won't rattle...

I do somewhat cheat, I normally have a van and trailer with me, so van's full of tool's and spare's!! But that doesn't suit touring style so much!!
Phil.

[nivapulledout]

this is my wagon when I go camping, I have 4 red stackable boxes that I have all cooking gear ,pots pans,lanterns etc. they go in the middle stacked two high then inbehind them I have two chillies(one for food the other for ****) then have my tent (4man) inbehind the pax seat as my missus legs are short, gazebo goes down the side above the rh rear wheel arch as to the two camp chairs but on the right. I have a small canvas bag with snatch block ,shackles and gloves that sits inbehind my seat. water jerry goes inbehind the left wheel arch next to chilly. and I have the stock tool roll with extras in the spare wheel holder and also put a snatch strop and tree trunk protector in there as well. High lift goes across the back inbetween the chillys and the hatch.
still heaps of room for all the other **** we take and still keep a good view from the mirror.
If I do go to the 31" tyres this is going to all have to change as spare will have to go in back somewhere. ******!!!! however I will make a custom tool box/recovery box in the space left where the spare used to be so that will free up a bit of space.

[Guest]

I'd like to see the photos of the eventual arrangement. I could do with ideas for mine.
Regards,

[JamesLaugesen]

Here's snaps of what I've been mucking around with so far.

Just toying with ideas to allow the boot area to stay clear & flat, so I can leave a cut-to-shape matress in there for my dog, or maybe me to sleep, or strap stuff down onto for longer trips.

Roof rack just has rails for bikes (which are strapped down like motos on a trailer). When touring I've strapped two spare tyres (without the rims) onto the rails.


My favourite mod by far, rubbery bathroom mat glued to the gear lever surround thing, with heaps of velcro straps fed through it. Nothing worse than a phone or knife or something bouncing under your feet mid-corner.

I've been sketching up some ideas for a 'centre console' between the two seats behind/around the handbrake. For long trips I reeally want arm-rests!

Tools squashed behind passenger seat, I really need to force the seat back down, so they can't move around at all. In there is; tyre levers/breaker & repair kit, almost complete toolkit to rebuild practically anything & separate "heavy" tool bag with hammer, bolt cutters, axe, small slide-hammer, etc.


Behind drivers seat is a tray of handy stuff like connectors, fuse wire, heatshrink, batteries, etc, big first aid kit & random stuff like that.


Atm in the rear I have three raised bars, which I chucked in quickly before a trip to strap down a lot of fuel and water. I think these will be replaced with something which allows a mattress or something to lay flat with straps passed through it, but without any protruding stuff for my dog to whack herself on.


I have fuel/water and also camping/cooking gear packed up like this, which I then strap down using the bars.

I find it's good to have everything strapped doubley; like everything strapped into the boxes, and then the entire box strapped as a single unit into the car. Keeps everything really tight, although a bit of a pain to unpack haha.
Even a small amount of movement can turn into a big problem after 2000km of corrugated roads. Some people wrap the fuel containers in a protective 'sock', but I find that annoying (soaking up fuel spills, harder to spot damage, etc).

Air compressor & fuse box are mounted along the passenger side roof/side. Compressor hangs from the rear passenger grab handle thing, with bars to the window to stop it from swinging. The flat bar holding the fuse box will also hold relays and the odd electric stuff.



On the roof at the rear is a rechargeable worklight, magnetic'd & velcro'd to a flat bar, and plugged into that fuse box for charging. There'a also another one've these under the bonnet. I'll probably attach some other stuff to that bar, since those bolts can take some weight.


Recovery gear & spare parts are in soft bags strapped to each side above wheel arches.


For small outings the dog usually finds a seat in the back. But I want to make it more comfortable for her, right now she hates the lada and loves the jackeroo .
- edit, too many photos maybe? -

I'm considering making a false floor which can easily slide out in two pieces like huge shelves, with a 2nd stock niva tank, tools & spare parts underneath. Leaving behind the front seats free for two water containers (generally I need to carry 40L of water).
The floor could be doubled with a section to slide forward over the folded front seats, with a mattress on top.
The issue atm is weather Doughnut (the dog) will have enough room left under the roof.

Oh also I pack food & clothes as an after-thought, usually ends up behind the front seats. I don't use an esky or fridge or anything (not much point when ice here almost skips the liquid phase entirely ) so food doesn't take much space.

Thanks for the posts and photos, good to get more ideas

Edit; forgot to finished the bbcode haha.

[JamesLaugesen]

Photo which didn't seem to work in other post:

[nivapulledout]

looks like you dont need any tips you seem to have it sorted. Love the dog is it a bull mastiff? I want one.

[JamesLaugesen]

[baxter]

[JamesLaugesen]

[Guest]

Nothing compulsive about the packing. EVERYTHING in mine is strapped down! I don't fancy something heavy smacking me in the back of the head if it all goes pear-shaped!
Regards,

[Grendy]

Do you any picture? i also want to see it!

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