The Bed - The first order of business was to build the bed. Because I'm short, I was able to build a short bed that fits behind the seats and runs across the van. The bed base is made of 1" thick plywood in the shape of a large box with a center support down the middle; 70"L x 35"W x 15"H. The base is open at each end (head and foot) and is covered with gray indoor/outdoor carpeting. For a mattress, I bought a piece of 3" foam (35" x 70") and covered it with dark 'cotton duck' (similar to canvas, only lighter weight). The cover is edged with hook and loop along the long edge and at each end, so it goes on and off easily for washing. I use a regular twin bed mattress cover and sheet over the duck cover, so the cover doesn't need washing very often. When I'm not using the bed for sleeping, I remove the bedding. Sometimes, I also remove the entire mattress if I don't have any campouts planned for awhile.
	The base also serves as a storage area for plastic crates. The crates hold riding gear, extra riding gear, 'civies' (street clothes), winter gear, first aid items, maintenance items, tools, and miscellaneous camping stuff (pans, skillets, plates, flatwear, etc.). I designed the bed so the crates just fit into the two storage rows. If you want a lower bed, you'll have to use shorter crates. When the bed base is empty, I can slide it out the side door and tip it up against a workshop wall for storage, which I do when I have to haul a large amount of something other than bikes (not too often!).

	Bike Mounts - Directly behind the bed, I installed a large piece of 3/4" thick plywood, custom shaped on the sides to fit the van interior contours. The plywood extends back from the bed base 4'. The plywood is covered with gray indoor/outdoor carpeting and is kept in place by its contoured outline. I also installed four angle brackets that fasten to the van stringers to keep the plywood flat and quiet. These are easily removed, and the entire panel can be taken out when needed. On top of the panel, I mounted two bike shoes, which I got from Dennis Kirk for $70 each. Chaparral now sells them for the same price; they used to be $90 each. I placed the bike shoes to provide enough room between the bikes. I installed the tie-down anchors as wide as possible to maximize stability. The bike shoe securing bolts come up from the bottom. I recessed the heads into the plywood and covered them with tape, so they wouldn't rub through the van interior floor covering, which is a very nice piece of plastic backed with sound-deadening felt.
	The bike shoes are offset so that bike handlebar interference is minimized. Thus, when two bikes are loaded, the one in the furthest forward shoe gets loaded first and unloaded last. I put the rear-most shoe near the door, so I could step inside easily to get at the bikes (to shut off the gas, for instance). Even though the shoes are offset, there is usually some minor touching of bars-to-bars and bars-to-gastanks during loading and unloading. When everything is cinched down, there is usually no touching between bikes. Speaking of cinching down, I do use tie-downs in addition to the bike shoe mechanism to keep the bikes in place. If I used the bike shoes only, the handlebars would swing in a large enough arc that they'd hit the windows. Note that the tie-downs have soft-ties on the bike end - very convenient.

Shelves - I built some plain-jane shelves along the left side to allow me to stack items and leave open floor space. I use rubber stretch straps to keep large items in place.

	Loading << On the left, I've loaded only my CRF230F, so there's lots of room. On the right >>, with two bikes loaded, things get a little tighter. I think I could put a third bike backwards between the two.
	The view from the rear shows that there is plenty of room for loading. I don't have to compress the forks on any of my bikes to load them (nor any of my friends' bikes).

Gas Fumes - A nice touch to keep gas fumes in the van to a minimum is to block all bike vent hoses. I found some plastic caps that are used on the ends of wire and to cover jacks on electronic gear, and they come in several sizes. I mark the caps so it's easy to place them correctly. I clip a purple carabiner on the brake lever to remind me to take the caps off before riding. Sometimes I forget the carabiner!