Intro


As seen in my motorhome page, I want to make my own motorhome.
The main aspects are described in the this page: bedding, toilet, cooking.
This page documents the couch/bed building.
Concerning the size: You probably need to adjust to your own need.
The reason I am using the dimensions I do come from my very specific constraints:
  • I want a removeable system; at the beginning I was not even sure I would buy a van, I thought I might just rent one once in a while (*). Therefore the length has to accomodate even the smallest van. I figured 160 was the smallest I could go with. With the matrass poking out on each side, you can still easily have a 180 bed, which is standart.(*) This is not practical because rental van have no windows at the back and it is not fun.
  • The width: 60 is a lot, because the final couch is 65 (I'll let you figure out why), which is quite large as far as camping beds go. But that was the only way to have a decent 2 people bed once extended (117). Even that is a lot, because on small van, you don't have that much width and it collides with the shelf. (I know).
  • The heigth (50): here again, I have very specific reason to make it that high. A standard chair is around 43/44, so you probably can easily get away with 35, which will give you 40 (the lower,the more stable). I wanted to be higher because
    • I have a knee problem and I can't sit very long if my knee is cramped, and
    • I wanted to be able to store things below the bed, and amongst those things there is the toilet, which is 43.
    So it had to be 45 minimum. The risk is of course that you head bangs on the ceiling, but I figured if that was a problem I could always shave off a couple of centimeters later.

The reason for using hinges is similarly two fold:
  • Legs can be folded for easier storage when not in use
  • If one of the leg collides with the wheel at the back of the van, all I need to do is to remove 2 screw and move the leg somewhere else.
This means concretely that if you are on a permanent basis, it is probably better to cut the legs at 35-40, and to have them permanently fixed with some kind of shelf brackets.

What I used:


screw60 screw 3.5X40
wood 0117 24X48X200 wood
wood 02Cut as: 2X160
2X150
29X60
11X50
screw44 screw 35X20
hinge11 hinges
hooks11 hooks

A piece of rope as handle to pull the frame out, and of course a drill/electric screwdriver

How:


wood 01Make two frames :
160X60
150X60
wood 02Use the leftover wood to make a 90deg guide for easier drilling.
hingePut the small one in the big one
hingeThen screw the rest, stagering them
hingeleave 3-4 mm in between for easy gliding
hingeopen.




That's all there is to it, really. This is a half day job. You can of course put some finishing touches like varnish or paint, but make sure the structure still glides easily (you may want to soap the parts that need to move).


legs 01Emplacement of the legs
hinge 01putting the hinges
hinge 02More hinges.
bed 1Slowly
bed 1Getting there


bed 1Even more hinges
bed 1Locking with the hooks
bed 1The bed as sofa
bed 2Then bed for 2 people

Again if you are looking at a permanent install, there are more stable ways to do it, for example with solid side panels instead of legs.
Legs support mostly the head of the bed because that is where I sit when in sofa mode, but also because that's where most of the weight is when you sleep. One of the back leg is not at the end to allow for the wheel case. If you have a permanent install you can put it as far as it will go.
Use ziplocks (plastic ties) to make sure the bed is stable against the casing of the van, and use cardboard if necesssary :-)