Bed help needed

walkingsoul

Hi everyone,

I am fitting out a small swb Vw transporter and need help on how to best make a light weight bed frame.
I want it to be L shaped as a seat that slides into a bed.
What wood is best to make the frame?
If anyone has any pics of examples that would be very helpfull.
I am thinking about using hardboard covered with lining carpet to face it off.
Where can I get foam from thats comfortable?

Many thanks.
 

herbenny

I am sure n,brown will be able to help you with that, he's very knowlegable in fact keep meaning to pick his brains about roof lights. I am sure he will be on line soon enough. :wave:
 

walkingsoul

Hi no I cant weld unfortunately so I was thinking of wood.
Why do you mention welding?
thanks.
 

whitevanwoman

Following this with interest as I'm currently using a sunlounger (z-bed type) with a memory foam mattress which doubles up as a seat during the day or can be packed away completely, but it's sagging quite a bit and I was wondering about making some foldaway support boards for it but maybe I'll just make a completely new foldaway bed...

Ideas and comments welcome
 
n brown

n brown

Forum Member
the easiest,neatest and strongest way would be to make a tubular metal frame.lets see if i can explain a wooden bed.i would start by making a ply box for the seat going across the van which would make the width of the bed say 54 inches by24,this is just a simple top opening lockerusually divided in 2 and can be made of 6mm ply with batten say 3/4 inch square glued and screwed in every corner.put a 9mm top on it.the bit of bed that goes along the wall is also 54 inches,to make it 78 overall or less if you want,but the depth needs to be 27inches. get some 4inch by 1 inch pine slats.make the height of this box the thickness of the slats lower than the other box. fix 27 inch slats across the top with 4 1/4 inch gaps . now cut more slats to 29inches and lay them between the fixed slats. get a 54 inch length of 2x2inch and glue and screw under the protruding slats. get a bit of thin ply about 2 inch wide and fix to the top of these 29inch slats at the back of the bed you should now be able to slde this tray back and forth easily.cut a bit of 9mm ply to the height of the bed 54 inches long and glue and screw to the front of the tray.with a jigsaw you can cut holes in this and corresponding ones in the box for access
 

walkingsoul

Many thanks for the instructions I kind of get the idea but a picture or two would speak a thousand words so to speak.
Sorry to be a pain.
 

Firefox

n brown said:
the easiest,neatest and strongest way would be to make a tubular metal frame.lets see if i can explain a wooden bed.i would start by making a ply box for the seat going across the van which would make the width of the bed say 54 inches by24,this is just a simple top opening lockerusually divided in 2 and can be made of 6mm ply with batten say 3/4 inch square glued and screwed in every corner.put a 9mm top on it.the bit of bed that goes along the wall is also 54 inches,to make it 78 overall or less if you want,but the depth needs to be 27inches. get some 4inch by 1 inch pine slats.make the height of this box the thickness of the slats lower than the other box. fix 27 inch slats across the top with 4 1/4 inch gaps . now cut more slats to 29inches and lay them between the fixed slats. get a 54 inch length of 2x2inch and glue and screw under the protruding slats. get a bit of thin ply about 2 inch wide and fix to the top of these 29inch slats at the back of the bed you should now be able to slde this tray back and forth easily.cut a bit of 9mm ply to the height of the bed 54 inches long and glue and screw to the front of the tray.with a jigsaw you can cut holes in this and corresponding ones in the box for access
Click to expand...

Sounds good :) But a sketch would help as even I'm struggling to visualise... and I work in 3D and concept designs all day long.


WVW, I think you already have the best solution, given your racking down one side and your units on other, you don't really have the space to do much else unless you totally rework your van, but I think you have the right idea to modify what you have... maybe stitch in some canvas or webbing to improve your sunlounger?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

walkingsoul

Excellent thank you this is exactly what I am looking for.
thanks.
 

Andrew Davies

A cheap option I have seen today (Buyer collecting eBay sink) in a VW, was the guts of a steel sofabed/futon. £10 on Gumtree and that was with the mattress(s). Worked a treat, but a little welding was still required.
 

Merlin59

Try this

I made a pull-out bed from timber and fitted it to my Convoy. It doubles as a bench seat. I posted a series of pics on campervanlife.com (truant's LDV Convoy) which might be of some use to you. If you're not a confident chippy you could probably adapt/simplify some of my work to suit your needs. Hope that helps.
 
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