Redoing The Bed A Third Time
Originally we installed the bed perpendicular to maximize the space in the living room of Gidget. This was never ideal as we are both pretty tall (Matt 5’11” – Tricia 5’10”), but we could have made it work. After the original install it squeaked like crazy so we even redid the whole platform.
When we installed the folding bench seat, we were left with a large gap between the bed and the seat. This created the perfect opportunity to turn the bed parallel in the van to give us more sleeping room. Third time’s a charm, right?
The bed in the original perpendicular orientation.
After installing the folding seat we realized there was a large gap between the seat and the bed.
We removed the mattress and plywood. We had to cut new pieces of plywood for the platform in order to extend the bed.
The bed/plywood now goes all the way to the slider door opening, right behind to the folding seat.
The rear corners of the platform now follow the corners of the van.
Parallel layout compared to the original perpendicular layout.
This picture is showing off the finished bed as well as the rest of build.
At 5’10”, my math suggests I’d be fine sleeping perpendicular in a Transit (but not a Sprinter). This is a huge motivator to go with the Transit… But it seems like you guys tried sleeping perpendicular and changed your minds… Can you elaborate on why? And how was it? Thanks!
I like to stretch my arm out which makes me much longer than 5’10” so for us going parallel was better.
How did you remedy the squeaking?
Used felt fabric between any where in the van where wood touches metal.
What did you use to fasten the wall panels? I see you used some sort of white cap so the fasteners are less visible.
I just spray painted the black factory clips that came with the van.