Now that I had the sub-flooring complete and a mostly blank canvas, it was time to think about what I considered to be the most important part…the bed. If your bed is as uncomfortable and small as a squirrel’s sleeping bag then you’re to have to learn to fold yourself into positions not found in any yoga manual and your overall camping experience is going to massively suffer. What I didn’t want to do was design and build everything only to find that I had made the bed area too small. You can fit other things around the bed, but you can’t do it in reverse. To solve this equation, I enlisted the help of my trusted female assistant. We laid down on the floor and with some shuffling, and rolling about we found what we believed to be the narrowest space where one of us rolling over in the night wouldn’t result in an elbow in the eye or a knee in the tender bits for the other.
The result was a mattress space requirement of 48 inches across and 70 inches long. The available space in the van, window-to-window was 75 inches, and with myself at a very average 5’9” (69 inches)and my gf even less blessed in the height department we had plenty of leg room. In reality it would turn out to be slightly less than 75” due to how I framed the windows but still within space needs. I got hold of a 6″ foam mattress that I cut to size with my bandsaw. A lot of people use an electric carving knife but you use what you have….in my case, that was a bandsaw. Has to be said, was awkward to do and didn’t do a great job, but it worked and once wrapped with a sheet you can’t see the edge that looks like crumbling seaside cliffs.
Normally (I say that like I do van conversions every day!) I would consider the height of the bed taking into account the roof space available, but I had a plan in this area.
A popular bed frame method involves using the Skorva beam from Ikea. This is an adjustable-length center beam that provides support for the slats. for me, I went a different way. The height from the floor to the windows was 18”. I purchased two 8’ x 16” pine boards to make the two sides of the frame. I made a template for the curvature of the van walls and cut the ends of the boards to suit. Then screwed two batons along the top of each on which the bed slats would lay. These were slightly below the top so that the mattress would be held in place by the edges of the frame.
I then made two cut-outs in the side of the frame that faced the rear of the van. These were made into hinged doors. One of which would house a slide-out storage tote, and the other would store camping chairs. I made a cut-out in the side that faced the van interior and this would be another storage area. This will be painted so ignore the scuff marks in the primer!!
And the final result looks like this…
But, I can hear you thinking, none of that would negate the use of the Skorva beam…allow me to explain…we haven’t yet talked about electrics and I planned to house the electrics inside the bed frame (a common practice), but still make it accessible for maintenance, upgrades etc….for that story, see https://dodgevanconversion.com/with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility/
