Club 80-90 Forums

My 1980 t25 transporter camper came with part stripped interior.
Does anyone have a drawing you can email me on how to make self build seat/bed? Or can you recommend a book I can buy? all I have is 2 holes in the floor for bolting it down + some sheets of plywood
Which I would use as a template but nothing to bolt onto the floor.

I have some plans that include a 3/4 RnR bed, you will have to buy the hinges from somewhere (e.g. Just Kampers).
If you want the plans send me an email address and I'll send you a zip file.

Cheers my man. sent you a pm
Jake

saw 3/4 RR bed (hinges and boards) for only £100 on JK website couple of days ago....

if you still have the plans titus could you send me a copy through...cheers..dave

PM sent too

There are some plans on the download section of this website.
I think there are some westfalia ones with both 3/4 and full width measurements, and some from just kampers.
I used both to make my full width bed, and hinges from marcle leisure, the jk hinges are more expensive and a bit flimsy, but they are copies of westfalia and have the section that enables you to bolt them to the body on the bulkhead. They even list all the bolts and nuts / screws etc that you need on the plans - quick trip to b&q for all of them.

I spent ages planning it and measuring all the heights etc because i wanted my bed to lay flat with the engine lid. The westy, jk hinges have the bed some 3-4 inches above the engine, meaning you have to build a box over the engine. Good for storage, but not what i wanted.

Ive ended up with something that works really nicely, and when (if) i ever get my van back from the welders i was going to upload my plans, they are a little different, having cutouts for the hinges and special shape for the marcle leisure hinges etc..would save a few hours work. But, until then, if you go down the jk road, use the plans off the site, they are exact.

Mentioned this before elsewhere but the easiest way I found was use scrap ply and create a scaled down seat/bed to get the movement correct first, then make a larger version based on that. Lets face it, for testing purposes you don't need to make one the full width required. Basically I made something similar to a buddy seat out of scrap, fitted the hinges and a small seat and back to see how the back dropped and how far forward the seat came once down, and from that was able to design a full sized version. It saves a lot of wasted wood and allows you to get it just right for your own scenario. The biggest challenge really, is making the back strong and well supported. A scaled down version really helps you get it right first time though.

Oh and getting the angle/slope right where seat contacts the slope at rear isn't too bad if you use two flat battons, bolted together at one end (like a pair of wooden scissors with no handles?). You lay it against floor and back and that gives you the rough angle to cut which you can transfer to final seat for cutting. Theres a purpose built woodworking tool (forget its name - probably 'angle finder' or something) but two sticks bolted at the end will do similar job rather than trying to guess the angle you need.

As a general rule, the seat front to back should contact rear and be just short of sliding door apertrure - that gives you that measurement. Be very careful of height though. Allow for cushion. First one I made was too high and kids couldn't climb up on to it!

buteux wrote:But, until then, if you go down the jk road, use the plans off the site, they are exact.

Problem I found was that the bolt holes in hinges did not match the plans/drawings holes. Hinge bolting plates to seat/bed back and seat were not bent properly. Very poor quality control at factory. This was over a year ago, so maybe new ones are better, but I'll never use them again.

This is why my suggestion of creating a scaled-down dummy seat is best way. You can get it just right then. Lots of ways to fit hinges.