Awhile back I embarked on an effort to make my rear cargo space more functional. This thread, amoung many others and a ton of time obsessing resulted in something that I'm fairly happy with. I wanted a balance of function with some form and used some of the dimensions of specific things to keep it all relatively simple; to that end here's what I ended up doing in what I'd call my Disco's rear cargo 1.0:
-The rear door I posted awhile back as I got it done. Alum diamond plate painted tan with the Krylon 'Camo' color you can get from Advance/Walmart/etc. It's flat tan, somewhat durable, and matches the interior well. I put a fire extinguisher, aluminum fold down tray (off ebay from "Pit Posse") and a basket that holds a first aid kit & a bag of rachet straps. I think in retrospect I'd probably mess this up by trying to hang more stuff on there...since it's held on with a boat load of self-tapping screws the cost/benifit ratio of doing a 2.0 is to high right now.
-The rear cargo space itself was designed principally around the idea that I wanted something of a relative height so that with the seats folded there would be a straight surface that someone could lay on, larger cargo could be placed on, etc. That height restriction, a width determined by the desire to have a powertank on one side and H20 can on the other, and length dictated by the desire to be able to fold the seats cleanly as well as shut the door (with all the crap hanging on it) came together with what's there.
-The flooring I decided on is just sealed plywood with bedliner that's been painted with the same tan. I cut out the portion that would be needed to get to the fuel pump (knock on wood/shake the voodoo stick about that) and made it long enough to tuck around the seat bases forward & then bolted it down in the back.
-The shelf is plywood as well, sealed and then covered with marine grade tan carpet.
-The shelf is held up with steel angle with reinforcing angles placed on the sides and on the forward end.
-Under the shelf, forward on the passenger side, is a small safe bolted to the floor to hold valuables on longer trips. The safe has a keypad and a key override. It's not fort knox, but it's inconspicuous and it's better than nothing. The safe was also chosen b/c it's height was the same as the interior dimensions so it acts as a further support to weight on the shelf.
The sides were made out of diamond plate as well, trimmed to fit each side (the passenger side sticks out more b/c of the fuel filling pipe-sorry for the incorrect terminology). The sills for the windows are the same, with wood underneath for support. Tie downs were bolted through the wood and the metal of the body on the sill. I also choose to install 12v outlets just behind each seat belt for coolers, kids dvd players, etc.
The powertank is on the driver's side along with cased items like the air rachet/impact wrench and the tire repair kit; forward along the wheel arch I built a small box with a lid to hold items like chem lights, batteries, etc-when I go to revamp this at some point this is going away as it hasn't stood up well all things considered.
On the passenger side I used a mil surplus water/fuel can holder to retain the H20 5 gallon jug, there's little space behind it before the side panel that I put a ground sheet in for flat vertical stowage. Forward along the wheel well there are wheel chocks and then on top of that (awaiting a better strapping system) is a secondary first aid kit.
Under the shelf I went with a series of gatemouth bags-the black outer one's hold tools, one of the inner tan holds recovery gear, the other has a jet boil and other survival/cooking gear. On the forward side underneath there is a bag with spares, the aforementioned safe, and then the bottle jack is also strapped in. On the driver's side/40% seat side I have a series of fluids (oil, brake, power steering) since I rarely fold that side forward for anything (it effectively prevents the folding by using the space).
All told I'm pretty happy-improvements could be made and I think version 2.0 will have a more refined shelf, perhaps slightly wider and slightly higher-along with potentially a different material. I should have put tie downs on the shelf too-those can be retro-fitted fairly easily though...
Still, for simple and effective while preventing tools and stuff from flying all over the place; all while still giving a shelf big enough for a trip to the grocery store or place bags and such for longer voyages, this is working out well.
Thanks to all for the help-intentional or otherwise! Sorry for the novel, I've wanted to post on this for awhile but hadn't sat down till this afternoon amidst the rain in NoVA and a few Yeunglings.
Cheers-
Ray