What do you guys do to hold down a box in a hatchback?

[NightScreams 10+ year member]

It's not going to be feasible to use bolts inside of my box and bolt it down to the bottom floor cause the fuel tank is right there.

What do you hatch owners do to prevent both thieves from easily stealing the box and auto accidents from turning a sub box into death box?

I had the idea to use a U-bolt on the back of the box and use a Bicycle Lock run through that and around the bracket where the back seats bolt down. Would that be an ok idea or do you guys have a better one?

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[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

L brackets

 

[yogegoy]

I use turnbuckles held down using trunk cargo hooks.

 

[I'mPoor:(]

Heavy Duty Velcro all on the under side of box. Trust me with enough velcro it would be impossible for a theif to just rip it out.

 

[big scott]

use L brackets . your tank is not bolted to your floor. there a gap . you need to see how much gap and get screws that will not go throw your tank. i have a s10 blazer, my tank it right under my box. i used L-brackets with 2-1/2" screws. but with my truck i have like 5-6" gap from floor to tank.

 

[Umbra]

I second the Velcro option. Some heavy duty Velco brand. I've got two strips at the edges a foot or so long and a couple inches wide. That grips the carpeting in the trunk and I have problems getting it out in my driveway. That's just two tiny strips. Throw more on there since it's a hatchback and it's not going anywhere. Use some carpet tacks to hold the strips to the box better. It shouldn't budge, but that with a thick chain should make it a ***** to steal.

Use hex bolts or something more uncommon, like squares or stars so it'd be difficult to just take out the subs for added protection.

 

[NightScreams 10+ year member]

Wouldn't L brackets and velcro be rather ugly? I know only I will likely see it but it is a hatch and I use it often, would prefer a clean look that matches the interior. Also wouldn't a thief just unwrap the velcro? Usually thieves just beat, rip or tear with everything they got, probably wouldn't be hard to break L brackets with a pry bar. I use a small pry bar to rip out lags and straps off of telephone poles at work.

I was thinking of a clean look option. Not sure if I want to use bolts in a leased vehicle, it has a floor and ABS plastic as well so I'd have to go through those to get bolts to the actual metal floor under it.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Mine are on the side and back covered up

 

[big scott]

maybe you should have said all that first. if you have plastic floor your screw anyway. and it being leased dont know what to say.

 

[big scott]

Mine are on the side and back covered up

thats what i have done except i wanted to paint them black . because it will be coming out very soon... lol

also anything can be stolen if they want it bad enough. so do what you can to make it harder.

2 subs going in .... soon.

 

[supra1987]

Just throwing this out there.make a template of the entire cargo area floor,cut a one inch or half board of whatever,put that down maybe you can tuck it under existing side panels or double sided tape to floor.carpet it or paint to match interior.then just screw the subbox from the inside to the new subfloor.still removable but would take some time.and could look very clean.

 

[gstokes]

Step 1 is 2-way paging alarm, any lock can be defeated but it does prevent them from "ripping" it out, when it becomes too hard to steal they move on to a different target and if it look's like it will be more than a 15 second operation chances are they will move on so make the lock visible from the outside.

or,

buy a cheap sub that's easily replaced.

Computer Locks, Desktop Security Cables, Flat Screen Monitor Security

 

[Blue Fury 10+ year member]

Trunk monkey

 

[NightScreams 10+ year member]

maybe you should have said all that first. if you have plastic floor your screw anyway. and it being leased dont know what to say.

lol, then I guess i'd say my idea is the best solution. Just thought I would ask for other possible solutions is all. But I'm pretty sure most newer hatchbacks have false floors with plastics/cardboard covered with carpeting so the whole bolting through the floor thing is a bit destructive regardless.