Avan Wall Floating Shelf

Adding the classic above-the-window shelf to a 1D Avan Cruiseliner: a level oak floating shelf using Flexi Storage slotted wall strips, a pair of shelf brackets and a $20 Practa shelf, all from Bunnings for under $100.

Finished oak floating shelf mounted on the apex wall above the front window, loaded up with under-shelf wire baskets
The end result: a level oak floating shelf on the apex wall, with under-shelf baskets for extra storage.
Under $100 in parts from Bunnings, and the slotted wall strips double as a quick release, so the shelf comes down for travel and doesn't block fridge access when the roof is collapsed.

Inspiration & resources

⚠️ Don't drill through the outside of the wall. The apex panel is a thin sandwich panel and it's easy to punch the bit through the outer skin. A drilled-out oak dowel slipped over the bit acts as a depth stopper, so it only just clears the inner skin (see the video below).

Would do again?

Yes. It's one of the cheapest and most useful mods on the van, and the slotted wall strips make levelling a shelf on the angled panel almost foolproof.

Install notes

1. Cut the wall strips to size

Work backwards from the shelf's own steel mounting bracket: space the two wall strips so the shelf sits centred on the apex wall, and cut them to drop the shelf just above the curtain rail. A single 1206mm strip cuts into both short rails. Mark the lengths off the bracket and trim with a hacksaw or angle grinder.

Flexi Storage wall strips, shelf bracket and the black floating shelf mounting bar laid out to measure
Close-up of the wall strip, hook-in bracket, M4 bolt and the shelf mounting bar with its round locating pin
Holding a wall strip against the angled apex panel to mark the length and shelf position above the curtains

2. The modified bracket

In this case, because we were getting a car done at Modified Garage, they agreed to do some smaller work on our Avan and cut down the Flexi Storage shelf brackets and welded them into custom blocks with threaded mounting points, sitting the shelf a little lower. The shelf's steel mounting bar bolts straight onto the block, so the shelf mounts directly onto the bracket rather than resting on top of it, while the notched top edge still hooks into the wall strip slots.

Note that without the modified bracket, the shelf and shelf brackets would need to be permanently screwed together for this configuration, so they come off the wall as a single removable piece. This bracket would be very difficult to fabricate or reproduce yourself, but if the Avan Mods Facebook and Instagram pages get enough followers, we could potentially fabricate a large batch for sale.

Flexi Storage 350mm White Advanced Storage Double Slot Wire Shelf Bracket Cut-down Flexi Storage shelf bracket welded to a custom block with threaded mounting points and an M4 bolt

3. Fix the wall strips to the wall

There's no timber behind the panel, so each strip is fixed with two Ramset 5mm hollow wall anchors straight into the metal lined edge of the panel. In combination with the Flexistorage wall strip, M4 x 35mm bolts are the perfect size to clamp the Flexistorage straight into the ramset fitting without punching through the other side of the wall.

No Ramset setting tool is needed. Just drill, push the anchor in and splay its legs with a screwdriver (see the video below).

Both brackets hook into matching slots, so levelling is just dropping them to the same slot height. Confirm with a spirit level, then slide the shelf on.

Shelf mounting bracket levelled across the apex wall with a Trojan spirit level on top

4. Tidy up with the strip cover

Cut the 5m white wall strip cover to length and snap it over each strip. It hides the slots so the strips show as clean white trim rather than shelving track.

White Flexi Storage strip cover snapped over the wall strip, blending it into the apex wall as clean white trim

Adding under-shelf storage

Clip-on under-shelf baskets add extra storage, but watch the thickness: this oak shelf is 36mm thick, well beyond the ~18–25mm most basket clips are sized for, so a bigger clip is required, like these stackable wire baskets from Temu, whose clips fit the thicker board.

Stackable wire under-shelf baskets from Temu clipped onto the 36mm oak floating shelf

Alternatively, choose a normal-thickness shelf (18–25mm) from the start and the cheaper standard baskets clip straight on. The trade-off is purely the chunkier, more built-in look of the thick board.

Practa floating shelf packaging listing the 36mm shelf thickness and oak finish
Practa floating shelf instruction sheet showing the parts list and install steps
How to assemble the shelf each time it's put up.
Setting the Ramset hollow wall anchors and fixing the wall strips.

Parts List - Australian Retailers

Product Retailer SKU Price
Practa 1200 x 235 x 36mm Oak Floating Shelf Practa 1200 x 235 x 36mm Oak Floating Shelf
* order this first, the rest of the parts mount it
 Bunnings 0993797 19.98
Flexi Storage 1206mm White Advanced Storage Double Slot Wall Strip Flexi Storage 1206mm Double Slot Wall Strip
* one strip cuts into both short rails
 Bunnings 2660949 12.98
Flexi Storage 350mm White Advanced Storage Double Slot Wire Shelf Bracket Flexi Storage 350mm Double Slot Wire Shelf Bracket Bunnings 2660965 13.96
(2 @ 6.98)
Pinnacle M4 x 35mm Zinc Plated Round Head Bolts And Nuts 10 Pack Pinnacle M4 x 35mm Round Head Bolts & Nuts - 10 Pack Bunnings 0168401 3.92
Ramset 5mm Hollow Wall Anchor 4 Pack Ramset 5mm Hollow Wall Anchor - 4 Pack
* for fixing the strips to the thin caravan wall
 Bunnings 2265436 6.94
Optional Flexi Storage 5m White Wall Strip Cover Flexi Storage 5m White Wall Strip Cover
* optional, snaps over the slots to tidy up the exposed strips
 Bunnings 0731506 19.95
Stackable expandable under-shelf hanging wire basket Stackable Under-Shelf Hanging Storage Baskets
* optional, the shelf is 36mm thick so a bigger basket clip like this one is required (see note below)
Temu 601102107993925 31.40
Base (Parts) $57.78
Optional (Parts) $51.35
Total (Parts) $109.13