MicroCamper - Winter project

[DannyC]

As always juggling the available space !

Copied from someone else , I was going to make a wooden vertical tab and slot till I realised it would be hard to make as the angles needed did not suit thick plywood and the loads involved.

Now what do you make of this ?

It is exactly the same vehicle as mine and has exactly 40" across the back door opening ?
I get
Bed 27" and walkway 13" just wider than my shoes are long
They get
Bed 24" and walkway ? and kitchen unit with a sink and cooker in it ?

Oh well .....

Paul

Their version of the vehicle has the "TARDIS" feature on the build spec?

 

[stormbird]

Their version of the vehicle has the "TARDIS" feature on the build spec?

Luckily I can live without the sink unit , I would rather have the wider bed.

They have a longer bed by swapping the passenger seat for a ' fold flat ' seat , however I saw a review that said they were very very uncomfortable and I don't think they have the side airbags either so although I have seen one for sale for £75 I think I will leave that can of worms well alone

Paul

 

[undertoad]

I was going to ask about the passenger seat, in that spiffy looking version

 

[stormbird]

Got a chance to use the grinder today , and the brackets were trimmed down to allow them to be mounted as high as possible , this puts the beams underneath the slats at a suitable height [ I hope ] :-

They are currently bolted to a beam that is the full width of the bed and I am hoping that can be screwed through the bed base back wall [ 10mm plywood ] and so will support 2 beams that head forwards towards the passenger seat. I think for ease of construction it maybe in one piece.

Won't know till I can get it all back inside the car for a gander.

I was much concerned that the bed-base had to be billiard table level over it's whole length , then I though we are putting a 6" memory foam mattress on it ! it ain't going to be bothered about slight undulations especially as the mattress will be in 3 or 4 pieces.

Paul

 

[undertoad]

I was much concerned that the bed-base had to be billiard table level over it's whole length

As long as your head is level with, or above your feet.
If your head is lower, even a little, you'll know it, and it will feel strange - I save that for my inversion table

 

[stormbird]

So the plan in #84 failed miserably as the beam interfered with the inboard rear seat pivot and a part of the inner wheel arch trim , so on to plan B

Screw them directly to the box [ it is plenty strong enough [ I hope ]] the bit on the very top is the actual slat width and they will overlap the box slightly to give a bed of 28" width [ 72 cm ].

I have given it 3 coats inside and out of some Ronseal one coat [ really ? ] fence paint , this will allow food/liquids to be wiped from it easier without getting in the wood grain , NO PAINT was a reminder to not paint there in case I needed to glue a plank across to hold the hinges.

So on here we have an upper piece @ slat height heading to the front of the car the vertical green/black lines are the front edge of the folded rear seat and the seat back approximately fills the hatched area. the vertical part needs cutting to lay on the seat back [ which is soft ] however the edge of the seat is hard where the 2 lines meet so will have to take the weight. Beyond that will be another piece , fastened to this somehow to fill the gap to the back of the front passenger seat.

Paul

 

[Trickytrike]

Great progress, resting on the folded seat back is not easy to have a neat fit. I ended up suspending my bed frame from the front seatbelt mounts, good anchorage but may not be allowed so i dont drive like that

 

[stormbird]

Yes I can see how hard it will be , however if you can pull it off it has some advantages ?

This is some ones and it is in it's second position where the part that is normally on the rear passenger floor is actually now on the top of the front seat and part of it is located through the head rest.

This allows you to sit up comfortably and read , do crossword , eat etc etc so it is desirable even if it slightly complicates this part of the build ?

Commercial one

Paul

 

[stormbird]

So slat cutting for beginners ?
Stop at far end , one clamp and all end up the same length !

Bit of hard work as the saw is made for picture framing and so is a very fine blade , however this results very little tearing and a nice square cut that only needs a wipe over with a sanding block to be usable , luckily the wood is very soft pine.

As you can see there are also some spacers I cut on the same set up , however it dawned on me they are not needed in the final build so more airflow less to glue and paint [ shame I have already cut about 50 ]

So one of today's quandaries ?
a) do I screw the slats in - a lot of screws - a lot of work drilling pilot holes and screwing in by hand [ old school ! ] however it will come apart
b) nail and glue - quicker - cheaper - irreversible

The second quandary ?
As well as not using the spacers the position of the hinge post is causing some head scratching , I think I have the box not quite high enough and so this shows the seat end [ on the right will come to a point [ yes I have it on upside down and seat back slope is below the hatching ] so there is no material to screw/nail that end slat to and also no material to fasten the next hinges to ?

It may work if the hinges are rotated 90' and that plank sits horizontal , only way to find out is to try it in the car , hopefully today if the weather holds.

I am sure an answer will come , if not I can spend my time slat cutting I am still about 9 short

Paul

 

[stormbird]

Try it in the car time !

and as predicted the box is actually to low and the 2 pieces of timber heading forwards are sitting on the top of the seat back at it's highest point and so if they were slats there would be no support at all under the slats DOH !

raising the box by 1 slat fixes that and allows a piece coming off the hinge to go under the slat

Now I can see the headrests mounting rods could be useful ?

As I want another hinged part on this end it makes sense to build down to the headrest rods and support the slats at this end AND give somewhere to mount another pair of hinges - win - win me thinks.

Paul