Work is underway on building out the bed structure and fixed parts of the boxes. It’s built with a combination of 18mm and 12mm birch plywood. There are fixed areas at each end of each bed where the tops will be secured down and access is via side mounted doors. The center part of both beds is a large storage compartment accessed via a lift lid under the mattresses. One bed is sized at 30×80 and the other is 30×75. The kitchen galley will join to the end of the shorter bed.
Here are some pictures of the progress.
The larger compartment will store a port-a-potty and the smaller one with outside access via the slider door will store things used outside under the awning etc. We will see how that goes, if it becomes too much of a problem accessing it I can always add a door to the other side later.
The driver side bed is the shorter one and has the electrical system & batteries located underneath one end. The square cut out is for the distribution panel / fuse box. The two holes in the rear are for 12V and 120V outlets near the rear of the van.
Here’s the battery box & electrical compartment.
Top view of the storage lockers in the passenger side.
And finally the rear view looking forward. The rear compartments are for outside kinds of things. A door will access them when the rear doors are open. Things like firewood, axes, tools, etc. Again, not sure how much of this stuff will be needed. May make one side open from the top as well.
Starting to fit the top panels to finish out the bed platforms. The wiring is done under this bed as well. It has a 110V, 12V, and USB outlet on the sidewall near the head of the bed.
Here’s the passenger side long bed completed. There’s a 48″ lid that lifts up to access the middle storage location. The back edge is a fixed 8″ panel so that the mattress has somewhere to go when you lift the lid. The board sticking up at the front end is to secure the mattress from sliding forward when driving. Not sure how much of an issue that will be, but it was easy to add now so I put it in place before securing the top.
I added some 2″ x 3/4″ re-enforcing strips to the underside of the bed compartment lid and hinge strip. 48″ is too far to span for 1/2″ plywood.
Working on the cabinet doors and counter top finishing.
I added a small nightstand that slides in place on some small rails. You can slide it out with the rear doors open. Gives you a place to put a few things at the head of the beds, but can still be removed if you need access to the walkway from the rear or to haul longer things.
The mattresses arrived with all the air sucked out of them! They fluffed up quite a bit when the covers were opened up!
