Van Payload: How Lighter Floors and Linings Win Back Kilos

Payload is what your van can carry once the driver, fuel and everything fitted in the back are counted. Every kilo you add to the cargo area as floor, lining or racking comes straight off what’s left for tools, stock and parcels.

That makes the upfit one of the easiest places for a fleet to win weight back. Change the materials once, and every van that follows carries more.

Close-up of a LEGEND Eclipse floor and yellow sill in a Car & Commercial van conversion.

Where the weight goes in a van upfit

Most traditional builds start with plywood: a ply floor, and often ply on the walls and bulkheads too. It does the job, but it’s heavy. UK converter Car & Commercial had been using “heavy 18mm components” for years, which added weight and took a long time to fit.

THE FLOOR

The biggest single surface in the van, and usually the heaviest part of a ply upfit.

WALLS AND DOORS

Lining every panel adds up quickly, especially on long-wheelbase vans.

CEILING AND EXTRAS

Ceiling liners, racking and accessories all count towards the total too.

Lighter options from LEGEND

Floors

Eclipse is a one-piece composite floor, 53% lighter than plywood. It’s impact resilient, chemical resistant, moisture resistant and anti-slip.

BaseAir is a lightweight one-piece floor that unboxes and installs in under 5 minutes, with C-channel aluminium sills included.

Linings

Econolite is a simple upgrade from factory liners, built to protect the metal walls.

Duratherm is a 6mm insulated liner for walls, doors and ceilings, for vans that also need to control temperature and condensation.

Real fleet results

CAR & COMMERCIAL: ALMOST 180KG SAVED PER VAN

Car & Commercial replaced its previous conversion with a LEGEND kit of Eclipse flooring and EconoLite liners.

  • About 195kg: what the complete conversion weighs now.

  • Almost 180kg: the weight saved on every van.

  • About 10 hours: saved per build, from around 32 labour hours to about 22.

    “We’ve got a massive saving, and it means it’s an extra vehicle a week.” Car & Commercial

A finished Car & Commercial crew van conversion with a LEGEND Eclipse floor.

Read the full Car & Commercial story.

RIVERFORD: MORE PRODUCE ON EVERY DELIVERY

Riverford Organic Farmers delivers organic produce to tens of thousands of UK homes every week. When it upfitted its electric vans with LEGEND floors and linings, the lighter build saved over 75kg on each vehicle.

“Because of the lightweight nature of the Eclipse flooring, we can carry around 35 kilos more payload for every delivery trip.” James Welton, Fleet Manager, Riverford

Read the Riverford case study.

Lighter doesn’t have to mean weaker

The worry with any lightweight floor is that it won’t stand up to a working van. Eclipse combines the heavy-duty properties of StabiliGrip with a lightweight core, and has a coefficient of friction of 0.8 when wet (what that means). We professionally crash tested it to prove it can withstand even the most extreme circumstances.

How to win back payload in 5 steps

  1. Ask your upfitter what your current floor, linings and racking weigh.

  2. Swap the plywood floor for Eclipse or BaseAir.

  3. Swap ply or factory liners for EconoLite or DuraTherm.

  4. Trial one van and compare the payload you get back.

  5. Roll out across the fleet, and use the ROI calculator to show the saving.

Or find a LEGEND upfitter near your depot.

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