Dog Deck

Our dogs spend more time than any backseat passengers in the H3, as they did when we had the Montero. I did a rear-seat mod on it to make dog travel easier on all of us.
Having made a great improvement in traveling with the Goldens, as well as increasing storage capacity, I decided to do the same on the H3.

Rear-seat removal is straight forward, remove the bottoms from their easily accessible mounts, and then the backs. The 60/40 seat back is mounted on a sub-frame that keeps the backs aligned and rigid. With everything out, this is what's left.
I removed the seat-backs from the sub-frame and reinstalled it. There are two spring loaded doors integrated into the transition that kept debris from falling in between the seats and the cargo area. I though these might be nice to maintain an access to the underside of the platform.
I then made stanchions out of off-the-shelf fencing hardware from Lowe's, four of which were shaped to measure from the floor to just above the six-gallon water tanks that I'll be stowing beneath the deck.
Once I hammered them into the shape and length needed, I fastened them to the floor using the H3 hardware that held the seat-bottoms in place. I also determined to rotate the front stanchions 90 degrees to decrease forward flexing of the brace. 
I dog-eared a 2'X4' piece of 3/4 plywood and did a test fit once I had the rear set of stanchions installed.
With everything lined up, I marked the mounting holes on the plywood and drilled them out. 

I rounded the opposite edges on the deck and then covered it in gray interior carpeting, using Gorilla glue and a staple gun. I then installed the deck, bolting it onto the stanchions. 
 We did a test run with the girls, and they appeared to be very happy with the mod. But, they appear to be very happy with just about anything.
I'm going to add one additional stanchion at the front of the deck in the middle for more rigidity. 

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