Our Bed

After sleeping on the 42" wide rock-n-roll bed in our Eurovan, one of the highest priorities for our new van was to have a comfortable bed.  Even after we purchased a 2" memory foam topper for our VW, we weren't satisfied.  Although we have three children, they're now full grown adults, so when we go camping there are only two of us, so we don't need a rock-n-roll bed so that we could transport any additional passengers.

Which way to position our bed?
Knowing that we wanted a full size bed the next decision was which was to mount the bed, parallel to the length of the van or perpendicular?  Since the inside dimension of the Transit is only 69" wide and I'm 72" tall, and window flares were not available for the regular wheel base/low roof transit, we decided to stick with the typical Westfalia floor plan.

In order to locate the bed as close to the rear doors as possible we had to cut off a corner of the bed, and then for aesthetic reasons, we cut off the corner on the other side to make the bed symmetrical.

All of the materials for the platform bed were purchased at Home Depot and the total cost was $96 including the 2 sheets of plywood, 2'x4" x 8', carpeting, and adhesive.

For a mattress we selected  a 6" memory foam (Bob-O-Pedic).  $300

The cover on this mattress has a zipper, so it's easy to remove, and after making a simple fixture, I used an electric carving knife that I bought at Walmart to cut the two corners.

We modified the cover with some hand-stitching,

 and then used a quilt to cover the mattress, and at night we use sleeping bags on top of the quilt.

The height of the platform (11.5 inches) was designed so that we could store four 14 gallon  Rubbermaid totes underneath,

plus 2 beach chairs, a foldable table, and a 2.5 gallon water jug.