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 One
of the dilemmas I had when deciding to buy an XJ is that the rear compartment
is awful small, even with the seat folded down. It’s too short
to sleep on comfortably, only one person fits, and you can't really
stretch your legs out even when laying diagonally. But even if I do
this, I've got to clear out ALL the gear to make space. I also take
my dog wheelin’ and camping with me, and there’s just not
enough room for people, gear, and a dog. I came up with a pretty good
solution that gives me a lot of storage, allows me to stretch out more,
and I can remove part of it to use the rear seat.
 Basically,
it’s a two-piece riser in the rear compartment with about 9.5"
of space below for storing gear. The top is completely flat and goes
over the wheel wells for more usable space. It is made in two pieces,
front and rear, so I can take the front section out and put the rear
seat up. This also makes it easy to take in and out. The top is carpeted
with padding underneath so it’s somewhat cushy to sleep on. As
you can see, I have both a spare tire and a utility box on either side
of the rear hatch, so the front section is much wider than the rear.
The reason that it’s about
9.5" tall is that the wheel wells are that height and I
wanted them to provide support for the rear of the front section.
I could’ve made it taller using some spacers, but I have
a large dog that needs to be able to stand up. The platform is
about 8 or 9 inches below the windows.
 The
front section is very straight-forward. It’s a 5/8" piece
of ply wood 51" wide by 30" long including the carpet and
padding that’s wrapped around and tacked underneath. It has another
piece of plywood 9.5" tall that’s butt-up against the bottom
rear seat when it’s folded up, and runs the width of the platform.
This provides support for the front portion of the front section. This
support needs to holds the weight of two people, so connecting the two
pieces of plywood together with screws is not sufficient. I used a 1"
X 1" block along the width of where the two pieces of plywood are
joined, and put the screws into the block. This works well. The front
section gets its rear support from sitting on top of the wheel wells.
I left the sides open for easy access underneath from either passenger
door.
 The
rear section was fabricated similar to the front, except the supports
run along its length rather than the width. There is no support from
either wheel well in my case because the spare tire and utility box
require the rear section be more narrow. I also used the 1" X 1"
blocks for the supports as I described for the front section. The plywood
just isn’t strong enough to support the screws when significant
weight is placed on top. I have the 1" X 1" blocks extending
about 6" past the front of the rear section. This helps support
the front section from sagging in the center, although in hindsight,
I’m not sure it was necessary.
I may go back at some point and
add some sort of hinge mechanism to the 9.5" plywood supports
so they fold up making the sections easier to store when not
installed. I would also make the front section a couple of inches
shorter (and the rear section a couple of inches longer) to make
it easier to take in and out. Also, when the front section is
removed and the rear seat is up, there’s a gap between the
rear section and the rear seat. That’s either a design flaw,
or a feature (because you can reach back and grab stuff), depending
on your perspective.
When cutting the carpet to size,
you want to leave about 3" or 4" around all sides so
that the carpet can be wrapped underneath and securely tacked.
I cut the padding to the size of the plywood. I also used carpet
pad glue to keep the pad from slipping. You’ll need to cut
the corners off of the carpet so you get a nice clean corner
after each side is folded over. Otherwise the folds will overlap
on top of one another. I don’t have specific measurements,
so you’ll have to experiment a little with the folds beforehand
to get it right. Practice with some paper, folding the corners
over to get them aligned after the fold. It’s not that difficult.
Materials cost about $65 or $70, and probably
half of that was for the carpet and padding. I bought the thick stuff
for comfort, and chose not to use a thinner piece that I already had
in my garage. It only took about three hours to design and build.
The length issue for sleeping wasn't really
solved, but with the increased height of the surface, I can stick my
legs or head through between the front seats since the surface is just
below the top of the rear seat when it's folded up. This works sufficiently
for me at 5’-10". Also, It's amazing how much gear I can get
underneath, and it's fairly easily accessible through the rear hatch
or doors. The only thing I really can’t fit underneath is an ice
chest. A surprise benefit is that road noise is significantly reduced
when both sections are installed. - Greg Friedman
email: gfried@earthlink.net
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