built a new bed for the van today because the first one i built was too small (55" wide x 48" deep x 20" tall), the new bed is 10" wider and 18" deeper (63" wide x 66" deep x 20" tall) and hits the upholstery on both sides and is jammed between the lift control tower and the rear and the legs are screwed in to the sidewalls, it's solid as a rock and don't move, not even a millimeter, started last night and finished about 3pm today, it's already covered with plywood and has a 4" down filled mattress pad laying on it, more pictures to come..

rear


rt rr


side doors


left rr


lf frt


rt frt


since the left and right 2x4 are screwed into the front and rear 2x4 i had to open the side windows to get access to the screws and screwed it together with the drill from outside the van, total PITA but the end result was worth the trouble..

 

middle seam running front to rear, each half is 33" x 63"
you can't see it but there's a 2x4 laying sideways running front to back under the seam and supports the middle but it's not enough, the 31" gap between the middle support and each side is too much, the plywood bows so have to add 2 more supports so there will be 3 middle supports about 15" apart.







Not completely finished but ready for a roadside siesta !!
$50 invested..

 

Nice.
Where'd you get the mattress?

 

Montgomery Ward, $150..
there's going to be a 4" foam pad under the mattress pad when it's all done, 8" total padding plus blankets, and just like that I'm ready to go camping after not even a full days work..

 

here's the old bed, 48" deep x 55" wide, had a gal in the bed and it was just too cramped, new bed has plenty of room to roll around and frolick

 

ATTA BOY !!

 

http://www.newagenomad.com/p/van-dwelling-page.html?m=1

 

2 more additional braces added every 15", the bed frame is very solid now, all done

 

Very nice, i can't wait for Spring to get out and start traveling..

 

15" headboard installed, am very pleased with how it turned out, now i just need to add some paint or maybe some vinyl and cover all the exposed wood..

 

Stain your wood, you can get it tinted, I went with green, yours would be great with blue.
My 73 is 72" wide, and I made it 54 deep, Walmart sells a futon mattress, fullsize, has some coils in it, fit perfect in there, it is firm too.

 

I really like the tinted wood idea, that would be top shelf !!
Minwax has a water based wood stain in Deep Ocean Blue that fits the bill perfectly, thank you !!

My van would have room for a 72" wide bed but i have fully upholstered interior and that takes up about 4" on each side..

Unfortunately my bed size is kinda odd so no pre-built mattresses will fit but that's okay, after the mattress pad and 9 more blankets stacked on top it's pretty cozy

 

There is a guy who bought the Serta futon and removed 2 rows of coils, it has a zipped, open it up and get out the pliers. The stain gets the best look when you start covering with polyurethane, trim it out with some good wood that is sealed, no stain, I have green on the plywood and white wood, then there is sealed oak.
I've put a ceiling in since, have more to put in, have to swap out the seat base with the ricon from my other van soon. There isn't much room in it, the passenger seat had to go to get the lift in, it sits back too far in the early 70 Fords.

 

I had the ricon seat base in my 1st van which was a 2006 E-250 and hated it, both it and the 3/4 ton suspension were on my ... list, being a double amputee makes things real easy because i can park the chair behind the seats and slide forward onto a console then over into my drivers seat, i know exactly what you go through to get in and out of your drivers seat and it's a PITA..

 

Yeah, shoes grab the frame on my home made slide now, along with it being too tall, looking through the top of the glass, could cut down the swivel, but why, gonna sell the one tone, might as well relocate the base.