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.