43 replies to this topic

[Mark W. Ingalls]

[W]here did you get those drawer catches?

Lee Valley



Not cheap; worth it...

[SunMan]

Killer! I too wish my stove and sink were swapped, I HATE gettting up and retracting the bed to make my coffee in the morning. Sweet mod, Drawers are killer too.

[marc]

Looks Great :thumb::thumb::thumb:

marc

[davinski]

Now, there are some sweet mods you have done.
I especially like that bed. Do tell more about it and how it actually works in practice.

I assume the bed is not level with the bottom of the window ledge. More floor space saved, I assume. Also, same size cushions as before? how about storage under the bed now? I am not sure if the three floor supports are braced in any way.....are they?

Tell me all you can as I really think this might be something I try in the near future.

Dave in SEattle

[terrisjoy]

Mark, Nice clean changes. I also like those drawer catches, thanks for the info. on them. It looks like that water bladder is outside the camper against the bed of the truck, is it affected by freezing temperatures? Thanks for sharing, Terri

[Mark W. Ingalls]

I will put up some more bed photos in awhile; right now I am working on the electrical system and the extra floor space is beneficial for crap-strewing.

I roughed out the front vertical supports to be about 1/4 inch higher than the long shelf below the window and then trimmed them to exact length. After trimming, I glued and screwed the front supports to the plywood bulkheads. Next, I attached the front struts to the horizontal and vertical supports. Then I swung an arc with the rear struts in the up|bed position and located an intersecting point with the mechanism folded into the couch position. I tried doing this procedure in CAD and then laying out and drilling, but I was always off an eighth or so, which would have made the thing a kludge.

The couch sits like a big Adirondack chair, which is my favorite home-built chair. In bed position the back rest || outboard cushion rests about an inch from the window to avoid wicking up condensation and buts up snugly to the now horizontal seat || inboard cushion. I used the stock cushions and plywood.

I sized the couch so that Coleman coolers will slide right underneath the seat. Our cat-litter toilet slides under right at the door, so we can quickly access it either in the camper or in the back of the truck.

The water bladder will obviously freeze in its outside location. But it has to get very cold for a long time to freeze that much water. The real weak point is the outside pump and tubing. I used PEC tubing to connect the pump with a quick disconnect fitting. This lets me dismantle the system quickly for cleaning or thawing out, and the PEC won't crack if it freezes.

Right now I am using a cheap-oh non-priming pump because that's what I had, but in the future I want to replace it with a self-primer located inside the galley. Then, I would be able to stow the pillow tank outside in warm weather or inside in really cold weather if I wanted. But IMOHO...

My farming experiences with water systems in really cold weather tell me I would be better off without running water and drains. (Don't forget-- you have to manage freezing grey water, too.) So, if I *was* to go out camping in the 20's and below, I would probably make do with water in jugs or jerry cans.

When winter camping with plumbing, I would constantly worry about freeze-ups. So I would have to heat the space even when I am not in it. I'd personally rather not maintain all that 'convenience' when I could be out XC skiing (or what have you) all day.

[craig333]

Very nice work. Now stop giving me more ideas. I have enough to do now

[Mark W. Ingalls]

Here's hoping these photos will make the couch|bed proportions clearer. I try to design around common, ordinary objects like coolers...



...and I try to stay out of the way as much as possible...



...so that when the bed is deployed...





there is still some wiggle room to set up coffee--



Oh, and each bulkhead is screwed to the camper with three angle brackets salvaged from the tear-out. (I have at least a couple dozen left, plus about a pound of those #$%^&* hex-head screws...) If you look closely at the farthest bulkhead, you can make out one that goes into the floor.

For more on the couch idea, see this thread.

[pods8]

You have any more details on what you ended up doing to support the tilted (at least I think it is) backrest? Between the two threads I don't think I've gathered that aspect. The rest of the brackets appear to be very cleaver. :thumb:

[Mark W. Ingalls]

[Do] you have any more details on what you ended up doing to support the tilted (at least I think it is) backrest?

I short-ified the gewfy card table legs and mounted them on the wall to give a two-position backrest. (The even gewfier brackets in "couch, revision zero" ended up in the fire pit.) With the card table legs folded down, the seat back is nearly vertical; good for eating, working on gear at the table, playing cards, ... With the legs folded up, the seat back leans against the wall. Good for lounging. For travel, lay the seat back down on the seat. You can see out the window and the seat back tumbles home to the stowed position on every bump.