East West Queen Size Sliding Bed

[giscus[bot]]

East West Queen Size Sliding Bed

We don’t have an extended length van so we need to maximize space usage. We will have a ~38" deep garage with facing 24" bench seats next to it. The sliding bed covers the garage during the daytime and slides out at night to cover both the garage and bench seats which we don’t need while sleeping. I am 5'9" and Helen is 5'6" so E/W should work no problem.

https://carryonrtw.com/van-life/east-west-sliding-bed/

[RoninTech]

Hi,

thank you for your great ideas and effort to share them. I have a few questions please. Do you think 1/2" plywood will work as wall panels and >support for 1/2" aluminum rail? Also, how did you remove the plastic cover next to the sliding door? It is in the way of the right-hand panel and I >don't want to damage anything during removal.

Jacek

Hi Jacek. I have a set of "trim tools" that I picked up off Amazon that make it easy to pop off bits of trim like this.

For the side panels that support the bed. I think I would do 3/4" again and not take a chance with 1/2". I don't have any scientific data to back that up, just a general feeling. The full weight of the bed and it's occupants is on those 2 rails so for a little bit of extra weight I'd still use 3/4" plywood capped with aluminum.

Hope that helps.

[RoninTech]

Thanks for the quick reply, Paul. Can't find any specifics on the covert removal on the Ford Transit forum. Can you provide some - how did you go about "sinking" the trim removal tools in between the cover and the metal? What holds the cover in place and from which direction should I start?

Thanks again,

Jacek

t just pops off. I didn't know how either so I just took my time and used one of the trim tools to pry between the metal and plastic and then popped it off.

I've attached a pic of the rear of the piece showing the attachment points. It would easily press back on if you needed to put it back.

Paul

[RoninTech]

Great picture, thank you.

On the plywood. Baltic Birch provides best structural stability and strength, but it's expensive and hard to get. What did you use?

Jacek

Baltic Birch 😃

[RoninTech]

Hi again,

what kind of paint did you use on the walls supporting the bed? We were originally intending to use epoxy, but it is not readily available at the moment.

Thank you,

Jacek

I honestly don't remember the details Jacek. I just went into (Canadian) Home Depot, explained what I was painting and the person pointed me in the right direction.

I do remember that it was Behr brand, anti microbial and mildew resistant.

Hope that helps,
Paul

[RoninTech]

Hi Paul,

another question, if you don't mind: you have a gap in slats at each end in the closed position. Why is that?

Thank you,

Jacek

Hey Jacek,

Each wooden slider block is bolted to the skorva with 2" bolts. The heads of these bolts prevent a slat from being at those positions so the last slats are moved past the bolt heads, creating a gap.

Something else that comes to mind is that to reduce binding and the squeaking caused by slats touching each other, I would probably increase the gap between slats from 1/8" to 3/16". I created this gap using a fender washer which just happened to be 1/8" thick. On warm days we would notice more squeaking when the bed was closed up so increasing that gap slightly would take care of this.

When do I get to see some photos of your bed? 🙂

Hope that helps,
Paul

[RoninTech]

Paul,

we recently came back from a trip to the Mount Rainier NP, and the Oregon coast (beautiful!). I took a few pictures of my version of Skorva bed in our van, based on your design. Your pictures and videos helped a lot, so thank you! My wife needs a lot more comfortable mattress than the inflatable Thermarest ones that we used on the trip, so now I am researching what would work for best for her. I also ordered 60 LF of Thinsulate and hopefully I will have a few warm enough days to install it. At the same time, I am starting to research a final version of an electrical system.

Thank you again,

Jacek

PS: please see the attached pictures of our bed.

[RoninTech]

Thanks for the photos Jacek and nice work! Have you figured out a way to lock the bed in place?

Was there anything I forgot to mention in the article that I should update for others?

Cheers,
Paul

[RoninTech]

Hi Paul,

my way of locking the bed in place uses wing nuts. We rarely spend time in the van other then when we sleep at night or rest on the bed during the day (rarely), or when the weather forces us inside. We like to be outdoors as much as possible, and don't like to make any changes to the bed during the day. So wing nuts are ok for now.

I think your description of your bed design and construction is very accurate. One mistake I made was that I had drilled holes in the aluminum angle before I tightened all the slats. I was then surprised that the holes in the beams and the aluminum angle no longer aligned. No big deal as I drilled new holes. Lesson learned. I have attached a couple of pictures.

Thank you for your documentation of the bed design and install, which encouraged me to emulate your simple and cost-effective solution.

Jacek