Club 80-90 Forums

I am looking at replacing my bed to a metal framed ROCK N ROLL bed and I have seen this at Volkswares who are knocking 25 quid off plus giving free delivery if ordered before 14th January. Has anyone fitted one and are they any good?

http://www.volkswares.co.uk/#/rock-n-ro ... 4539955580

I believe others have fitted these and they're arguably more secure (providing properly fitted) than cheap MDF or chipboard makeshift jobs as supplied by others. The Bluebird is the most highly prized, plus theres the DIY steel seat conversion I added to WIKI a while back. Like all seats though, they're only as good as their anchor points so always take a belt n' braces approach to fitting any rear seat. As I've often said, if two strong blokes can rip out a rear seat with their bare hands, its a pretty poor seat, particularly where children are concerned but for any passenger to be honest.

Yes the Bluebird looks a little more robust ... would be nice to see some pics of one in a van. My current set up is MDF rubbish. Does the Bluebird accommodate to seat-belts?

Can't help on specifics of the bluebird but I'm fairly sure seat belts mount to any existing seat belt points on the body and just feed through. When I built my rear seat I actually beefed up the belt mountings with big spreader plates on the other side of the body, likewise with the seat itself:

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ca ... build_beds

If you look carefully at pics of interior with just seat frame, belts are hanging down. At some point I'll replace the outside ones with 3-point types. I gather not all vans/campers have the mounting points but not too difficult to make if missing.

Looks like a very neat job .... bit beyond my abilities so will be buying one ready made. Thanks very much for the advice will post back when I have it all installed

Kind regards Keith

BTW Your van is very similar colour to mine

I used Busfreeze to get up close and personal with the Volkwares bed and the Bluebird beds on their stands and the volkswares bed was poor in comparison to the bluebird bed. It had flimsy mesh stretched over the frame and the way it sat on two legs when put in the seat position was flimsy looking too. I didn't like the way you had to convert it into a bed either. Whereas the bluebird bed now has metal seat bases on the frame rather than boards, and a far more rubust way of converting the seat to a bed and back again.

I will be going for a bluebird bed in the spring. You can use a 3 point seatbelt with no problems too.

Thanks that's very useful. Bluebird seems to be the one to go for then. Is it correct that I will need to raise the height of the engine bay cover in order that it be the same level as the bed when folded down?

I'd assume so. My current leisuredrive bed has a small wooden piece at the rear with foam attatched that needs pulling out to access the engine

Wavehead wrote:Thanks that's very useful. Bluebird seems to be the one to go for then. Is it correct that I will need to raise the height of the engine bay cover in order that it be the same level as the bed when folded down?

Depends. Almost anything can be modded and its not always a case of welding - sometimes its a case of cutting a piece off. Would agree on the Bluebird for a ready-made job. Once the Summer comes, we're planning on putting together some custom beds for the T25 to replace existing wooden ones.

Our's is an old Bluebird RnR and there's a platform which you can buy from Just Kampers to make the rear deck the correct height.