Camping Interior self build beds
Cushions and foam
Cushions - 80-90 Wiki Suppliers links
Pluss Organisation Exeter make-up cushions. See 80-90 thread Here are some pictures of cushions made-up for club80-90 members from that thread:
Bed plans/designs (esp. R&R beds)
www.keithandsylvia.co.uk Rock and Roll bed plans
Steel-frame R&R bed base
And added here by Covkid for anyone who does not want a chipboard or ply rock n roll bed base. Its only a design brief and you'll need to do your own measurements but construction pics should help. Seat base and back can be ply but seat back will need strengthening. I got a sheet metal guy to bend a low profile piece of steel in 6mm thickness in a folder to create rigidity to back but you could use narrow angle iron I guess. Up to you how you finish it but base is here for reference. Apologies for disjointed description but I've been asked about this design a great deal so had to get it on quickly.
I'll add absolute dimensions ASAP but if you look at construction you should be able to calculate sizes. Besides, campers vary depending on internal trim, cupboards etc and this design will work for ANY width - just cut to suit. The slope of van sides gives the room needed for hinges to move freely.
I removed the rock n roll hinges from the existing MDF seat, threw the MDF in the bin and set about welding together a strong seat base that is bolted through the floor and rear bulkhead with chunky spreader plates. When making the seat base and back, I designed it so that with the seat base down, I can be sure it won't move an inch and locks into place firmly. I'm very happy with the result and it strengthened the bed base in the process. I feel that the rear seat now far exceeds safety requirements and has provided extra strength across the width of the van without compromising storage space in any way.
Horizontal bars don't bend (even with my weight) as they're heavy guage box steel (had to compromise weight to get required strength) but the rest is angle iron - all galvanised as thats all I had to hand and orginal hinges from my old MDF bed.
It bolts down to bulkhead with spreader plates on reverse so won't be going anywhere and because its full width, gives added protection to passengers in a side swipe (those horizontal box bars are SERIOUSLY heavyweight). You could use lighter guage steel for those if you added support struts but I have tank underneath so wanted space clear. If you have no tank, you gain a lot of storage space with this design!
Note: leaving back open makes it much easier to fit than a wooden one which has to be cut to fit exactly. You can take the whole seat further back, simply by grinding the ends off the angle iron at rear and repositioning hinges. This one sits an inch back from sliding door opening - ample.
Hinges vary. These are Marcle Leisure hinges, For that reason it pays to clamp or tack-weld them on until you've found the best position for seat up/down movement then fix them permanently with bolts. I ground what appeared to be a stop pin ofF the Marcle ones - not needed on a steel seat base. Will post more as I have it....
I built two wooden rear bed/seats which whilst serving their purpose had inherent weaknesses and even if a seat belt fixing is sound, if the seat can give way under serious deceleration, you introduce a whole new set of problems, more so when the vehicle is loaded with stuff above the engine that can push on the back of the seat. Hence my solution.
Various ideas and designs have appeared over the years for more robust rear bed/seats but at the end of the day its about having a seat that is firmly fixed (when in the seat position), and properly anchored with chunky bolts and spreader plates and belts also properly anchored. Thats as much as you can reasonably aim for. I chose to build my own, and one that I felt would absolutely meet those requirements, even if it meant a weight increase. In materials it cost well under £100 and I don't see how I could possibly improve upon it. I'm 17 stone (ish) and I can jump on that rear seat, and three hefty blokes couldn't tear it out with their bare hands (a good acid test for wooden seats). I am very happy to seat three children on it and it simply will not move. The rear bulkhead and floor offer good places to create fixings. The seat should end up level (without boards or cushions) with the rear enging hatch level. The frame is very easy to make and hinges can be mounted or even welded to the sides of the frame as appropriate.
The front of the seat can be infilled with a board or made into a cupboard with doors for storage. I just happen to have a tank under mine. The front horizontal was set back on mine so I could just screw in a framed board.
A final note about base and back (in case you're wondering). Seat base is easy - a thickish ply board screwed to seat part of hinge is fine and a thin strip of wood screwed to underneath (hard against one of the steel horizontals) enables me to lock it so it can't move forward when in seat position. The back shouldn't flex, so what I did was have a friend put a lenth of wide flat steel into a folder to give it strength along the length but not so it ended up too thick in profile and this became a stengthening rib for the back as opposed to bendy ply on its own. It works well and as soon as I have pics of this I'll add them but noted it here as a solution. You may come up with a better one!
Bed bases
jed the spread Caravelle bed base. The front portion of the bed is made up by folding the standard rear Caravelle seats forward.
Bed plans/designs (esp. R&R beds)
www.keithandsylvia.co.uk Rock and Roll bed plans
Bed bases
jed the spread Caravelle bed base. The front portion of the bed is made up by folding the standard rear Caravelle seats forward.
Hammocks / Bunks
Hacksawbob Cab Hammock: Argos campbed £19.99
I have adapted the above camp bed to fit in the van. Basically I have removed the two legs from either end and shortened both poles at one end to fit in the vans width. Chop the ends which will be on the passenger side as otherwise the center leg will collide with the handbrake. When you shorten the long poles measure it in situ as one pole will be slightly longer than the other as the door is tapered towards the front of the van. Also make sure you allow for the plastic lugs that fasten the stretchers in place on either end as these will need to be replaced once the legs are shortened, if it is too tight a fit you will have it pressing against the glass.
I left the middle leg in place and used one of the legs that I cut off in the end to act as a stretcher. I fabricated one end with a U braket to lock it in place. The other end already has a braket from where it was attatched originally. This rests on the spare gas bottle (now we use the yellow steering lock you can see in one of the pictures) to force the centre to be stretched tight when weight is on the bed. The only down side I would say is that it has caused some light scratching on the shoulder of the door but I suppose i could have wrapped the ends in gaffer tape or similar to prevent this. Apart from that this is a very sturdy bed that has had 4 children playing in it at the same time without a problem I'm sure it would take the weight of anyone whos was short enough to to fit the van widthwise (probably about 5' 3") its light (aluminium) and will fold up neatly (in half) into the bag it was supplied with to stow.
