ZZzz... WAKE UP! The Bed is Done!

Again, two blog posts in one day!

Remember this?

This is the beginnings of our bed. We opted for a queen sized bed. A bit heavier and space wasting than a double but really, what do you do most of inside your motorhome? Sleep of course! You might as well be nice and comfy, right?

We are hoping to do most of our cooking/camp living outside and relax under the awning so it was important to us to have a comfy queen bed. We sacrificed some bathroom and kitchen space to put it in. We measured the brand new queen mattress in my step-son's room and planned around those dimensions. I don't like seeing doonas and pillows above the window of motorhomes so hubby even accounted for the depth of the mattress just for me!

To begin with, hubby used some MDF to make those side cupboards (see previous post) and the bedhead. The frame is bolted to the floor and walls with rivnuts, 3mm steel 'L' shaped angles and M8 bolts.
Next a piece of 3mm steel tubing (rectangular, 50mmx25mm) was attached to run down the centre and support the weight of us, the mattress and bed frame.

  Using 3mm steel box, he made the bed frame in 2 parts. He has also welded some 'platforms' for the hinges (see at the top of the frame?) Half of the bed will be bolted down. This end can be accessed from the boot. Half will lift on struts. The photo above is after painting.

Next he put them in the hole, bolted the boot end to the frame and welded the hinges on (again, 3mm steel ones from Mitre10).

The slats are pine and have been routed so the edges don't dig and rub into the mattress. The handle is brushed metal (Bunnings). We tried to select a shape which wouldn't snag on clothing or bedding, in that position.

We bought two of these struts from the CaravansPlus website (click for link) and installed them using the directions on the website and four of these little brackets: http://caravansplus.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=9130 

They seem excessively powerful when just on the empty bed frame! The struts are advertised especially for beds in vans so we took their word for it and bought them anyway.

Luckily we were able to get the exact same mattress as the one we measured earlier. It was heavily discounted, being a slightly older model but at $400 and super comfy, I'm not complaining about having last season's mattress! Thank goodness for slow sales at rural furniture stores!

We squeezed the mattress through the door and got quite a fright when we wangled it almost into position... it seemed about 20cm too big! Thankfully it was just skewed and with a bit of a bump, it slid perfectly into place.

The struts work perfectly, even with the heavy mattress on top.

And that's the end of the story.