Review of VanTred by BedRug

based on this CRVL post:

[caption id=”attachment_6084” align=”alignright” width=”218”][ VanTred mat by BedRug[/caption]

One of the first things I did in my van was put down a VanTred mat made by the BedRug people.  I am 100% pleased and would do it again.  This INTJ doesn’t say “100% pleased” very often.   

• pre-cut to fit the specific vehicle

• incredibly tough material

• legitimately comfortable to sit, crawl, or stand on for hours.  I have a bony butt and have spent much of my build time sitting down on the mat.

• only 3/4” tall, so preserves precious vertical space

• polypropylene, doesn’t absorb water

• pre-scored for floor D-rings, if your van has those

• bottom is molded to fit floor ribs.  It’s firm enough I don’t feel where the ribs are

• excellent traction

• sweeps and vacuums easily.

Caveats:

• because of the size and stiffness it will be easier with two people.  I did it myself, climbing around and figuring out where to stand next.  The floor of my van is rather large (over 70 sq feet);  smaller van floors may be trivial for one person.

• the vantred is pretty expensive to this cheapskate

• the surface is rough, so don’t slide across it.  Pick up those knees when you crawl!  I’d say it has the visual texture (but not the abrasiveness) of rough sandpaper or maybe sidewalk concrete.

• I didn’t think to cover it with a dropcloth when I started installing insulation, so I have places where I dropped adhesive on it and couldn’t get it all up.  Cosmetic issue, but easy to avoid.