Building The Bed

As I may have already mentioned (half a dozen times) my budget for this is as low as I can possibly keep it, so I have shopped around and considered a number of different options for the actual build itself. I was initially considering MDF, but having not worked with this before, I'm not awfully confident about screwing hinges in and expecting them to bear weight. I looked at ply, which I figured would be stronger, but even so, was not confident that the build would be strong enough. I eventually settled on making a batten frame and used two sheets of laminate for the bed support. 

I found the laminate in the offcut bin at B and Q and was expecting to pay a few pounds for them, but by the time a staff member came over to price them up, he was so fed up with constantly being dragged away from what he was doing, he just wrote 50p on each. I bought three sheets of wood for £1.50.

The battens were around £8.50 for eight lengths and I opted for what the shop called construction quality which apparently means that you aren't too bothered about appearance, as long as it does the job. As far as I can tell this wood looks just as good as the other wood they were selling, but was about a third of the price.

Wood, screws and hinges bought, it was time to get the tools out and have a go at putting something together. I wasn't expecting miracles, because my skills are just not that great, but I was hoping to get something at the end of it that did what I needed it to do.

It was a hot and sunny day, so the parasol was absolutely essential. The wheelchair in the image is mine and I had to stop and sit every few minutes just to avoid being crippled for days. You can just see in the back of the van the two sides for the rear box. I made these first as I knew the red plastic tote had to fit through them. 

Once I had joined these two frames with lengths of batten, I cut a piece of laminate to size and screwed it to the top of the box frame. Then I had to mark and cut the back edge to fit around the door.

You can see in this image that I used an offcut of wood, drilled a hole for a pencil in the right place to rest on the edge of the laminate, then simply ran along the edge of the back door to create the right cutting line. A couple of minutes with a jigsaw and it was done. This little piece of wood saved me a lot of time and is an idea I will definitely be using in the future.

Here is the finished bed, opened out and butting up against the back of the front seat. The plastic totes slide out from underneath and when the front seat is tipped forward, the front support moves forward to create a longer bed. This leaves a small gap between the two laminates, but this is not big enough to cause any problems.

Any craftsmen looking at this construction will probably have their heads in their hands at the dreadful job I have done. I look at it myself and know that sooner or later I am going to have to address this - and probably rebuild it completely - but for now, it does what I need it to do so I am pushing on with the rest.

By the way, this is a good picture to see the different materials I have used for the rear windows - the cardboard on the rear doors and the picket-line signs for the side windows. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the GMB who chose to just drop these signs on the pavement and walk away rather than taking their rubbish home with them.

Once again I invite advice and suggestions, either by comment or by email to myredvan@outlook.com.

Designing The Bed

I have looked at several Kangoo conversions on the internet (the best place to find them is YouTube), including some which create a bed space large enough for two. In fact, I have seen some that are large enough to accommodate a double air mattress, fully inflated. 

The trouble with this is that the bed then inevitably has to be put away if you want to do anything else at all in the back. A double bed is fine if you are a couple - perhaps even with an awning to cook and sit in - but for a single chap like me, a single bed is more appropriate.

The design of the bed had to accommodate some very specific factors, including the ability to quickly return the van to a five-seater in case someone needed to sit in the back. This meant that the design has to work around the back seats staying in (it would have been much easier to build if the back seats were taken out and stored somewhere until needed).

So the bed has to work around the seats when they are folded down and it has to fit in the space behind the back seats when they are folded up again. 

I measured and measured and drew a variety of different designs before finally deciding on the final design - I even used a 3D modelling program to make sure everything fit where it was supposed to.

The box at the back of the van needs to be large enough so I can access the plastic tote stored underneath without having to get out of the van. The section that folds out over the folded back seat needs to be the right shape and size to sit neatly on top of the rear section when the bed is put away. The support leg is longer than the height of the back box because of the drop in the floor where the back seat passengers feet go.

Of course, with my limited woodworking skills and budget, there is no way the finished product is going to look as neat and well-built as these images, but this gives me something to aim for.

Rattling Mirror.

The van rattled incredibly when I first bought it. The back end was quickly fixed with liberal applications of WD40, but that left the driver's mirror. At speed or when idling in traffic, the mirror cover resonated and vibrated so loudly, I often resorted to grabbing it with my hand just to stop the noise.

When I popped the cover off I noticed that a plastic retaining tab had snapped off and there was a small crack in the cover. I briefly (five seconds) considered buying a new mirror cover, then decided that there was probably a quicker and much cheaper option.

In the image below you can see the careful application of material specially chosen for its sound deadening and vibration absorbing properties. Carefully removed from the end of a car wash sponge with a pair of scissors, trimmed to exacting specifications and held in place with cyanoacrylate (super glue), this material proved the perfect substance for the job. The effect was instant and complete.

Now that the mirror cover is snapped back into place, it is almost impossible to see the crack and completely impossible to see the sponge - and no more rattle!

Cleaning Out

Until today I have had a problem with the back seat. Although it would fold forward, one of the catches was stuck so it would not flip up and sit at the back of the front seats as it is supposed to do. However, with a bit of WD40 and, after Googling, some carefully-applied brute force, the seat now flips up.

Once I had released the seat I was disgusted at the mess I found beneath. I can only assume that the previous owner used it to carry building supplies because there was sand, gravel and dust all over. When I started to sweep it up I could see that it was jammed underneath the plastic trim in the back so there was only one way to get it clean, I had to take the plastic out.

In the picture below you can see the sort of muck I had to deal with. It was like this through the whole back of the van. Once I had finished, though, it was nice and clean (next picture).

Dirty :-(

Clean :-)

As I had the plastic trim out, it made sense to give it a clean before putting it back. The side trims are held in with three clips each and the back edge trim is held down by torx screws. With these removed, the liner just lifts out. Putting it all back together was just as simple.

I forgot to take a picture of the empty van with the plastic refitted because I was so excited by the extra space in the back. The before and after pictures below clearly show the difference flipping up the seat has made to the space in the back.

Before - No Space :-(

After - Lots of Space :-)

Bike Carrier

My mother has a new electric bike but because we live on a hill she has not had much practice with. I decided it would be a great idea to pop it in the back of the van and take her to the park, where she could ride around on the flat.

I had to flip up the small back seat but the larger seat won't flip up because one of the catches is jammed. However, there was just enough room for the bike with the front wheel turned sideways and pushed up against the inside of the sliding door.

There are plenty of tie-down points in the back so it was a simple job to secure the bike and stop it moving. The route we took to the park is up and down some very steep hills and along some very windy roads, but the bike didn't move an inch.

One minor hiccup was that once we had unloaded the bike at the other end we realised that neither of us had picked up the keys, so we had to put it back in the van and come home again. By that time mother had had enough, so in the end she didn't even get to ride it.

Still, it was fun for me.

First Cup of Coffee

I have been collecting gear in my little red box ready for when Tyrion is ready for his first night out. Recently I was looking at kettles and almost bought a 12v kettle from Halfords. I'm glad I read the small print because the time to boil on a 12v system was given as 18 minutes.

I settled on a single-burner stove and a whistling kettle. The two of them and a gas cannister for the stove cost less than the 12v kettle and when I tested them the kettle boiled in just 3 minutes. I'm happy with that.