That looks very good! Nice job. I am pm'ing about your third row

 

Still would like to purchase a set of 3rd row seats that someone has removed.

 

@Carl Dali - How deep is the new storage area? I have been playing around with trying to do that but most everyone had it wide open that have done it before. You're is the first MHEV (like mine), so I'm inspired. Post more pics of your pillars if you have them! Thanks. I've already made a bunch of "pilars" to put around to stabilize and hold up the bottom. Did you attach them to the bottom of the Defender? If so how? Or did you just attach them to the bottom of the plywood and they might float a little? Also, how many did you go with? I think I may have started with too many. Finally, did you try to water proof all of that? I've seen a thread where someone's gallon of paint burst open and poured down there, killing the electronics. I'm thinking of sealing mine up somewhat if I custom fab my own.

Thanks for any response to all the Q's.

 

I can't, for the life of me, figure out why a flood of paint would be a problem in here.

 

I couldn't find the pics, but it seems that it all flowed down there and coated all the electronics. Latex or oil and covered all the controllers, converters, batteries, wiring harnesses, etc. and shorted thing(s) out. Think of pouring a gallon of fluid in there. Not sure if the owner tried to clean it up asap or thought, what the hey it pours out somewhere. Anyway, the story I read had the owner file an insurance claim and it was "totaled".

EDIT: Found it. Not totaled, just uninsured for $10k of repairs.

 

@_Allegedly - Well, I finally read all the comments! Perhaps nothing happened other than the owner wanted it cleaned out. I need to reassess! Earlier in the thread the picture was after clean up. This makes me think they filed a claim to have it all replaced/cleaned up so that they could ensure it would be warranted! WTF?! Perhaps a UK thing. Reading it, it doesn't seem like anything actually failed. The thread owner closed the thread for comments so I can't ask if it truly failed or if it was preventative.

 

It does look ike a reasonable amount of water would drain or, worst case, a module could short out but, yeah, colored glue is a whole other banana.

​​​​​​My Ford dealer just casually total they had to total a new Bronco for a stuck coolant valve. A $15 part that's been unavailable for months. Apparently it's headed to Copart soon.

 

After cutting the deck from a template, I found that I had to split the plywood just about down the middle in order to get it into the exact position that it needed to be in. It was impossible to finagle the whole piece into position. I didn't take pictures of this, but I believe I used 4 wooden blocks and I only used them directly under the seam. They were floating blocks, not attached to the bottom of the vehicle. The perimeter of the deck actually uses the edges of the car's metal structure as support. If you make a cardboard template first you can get this exactly right. After the deck was in and screwed to the blocks, I used 3" Flex-Seal tape on the seam, then painted the plywood with flex-seal paint. On top of that I installed black marine carpet that has a rubber backing. Now that I see the paint spill issue, I believe I have vulnerability at the edges. I'll probably just use the Flex-Seal tape for that too. I did need to slightly reposition and resecure some of the larger wires, but not by much and that was not a big deal. Hope this helps.

 

It's amazing at the human ingenuity here. This is an option that JLR should have incorporated into the new Defender from the start for those who don't want or need the third row. Well done and congrats.

 

Carl, did you ever get a chance to post that video ?