Thoughts and musings of an old codger.

Making the bed   - Saturday 14-8-2021

With the hob and sink filled it was time to make the storage benches and bed.

With the kitchen unit fitted I could measure the length of the offside bench. Cut to length, with the upright support fitted at the rear, and fixed to the kitchen unit at the front, I started on the nearside bench.
This was slightly longer than the offside bench due to it having to be secured to the strengthening strut in the side door pillar, I measured from the back and made the long piece with its upright legs.

Benches and bed

After that, I measured a piece of ply for the width I wanted between them and cut as precisely square as I could. I then used this as a former, made the bench crossmembers, and fixed to the van with heavey duty angle brackets.
The ply sits between these pieces as when it is a bed it will rest on the upright ply sections facing off the benches, and the lids of the benches will form the rest of the bed surface. The matress will be the seat cushions and seat uprights.

Benches and bed

With the framework basically done, I cut the upright faces of the benches, and the seats. To enable the seats to be hinged, I fixed more 4 x 2 each side of the wheel arch, and cut the (already trimmed to fit the curvature of the van body) down their length about 5 inches in from the side, hinged them together then screwed the 5 inch part to the 4 x 2.