Upper Bed Extension MOD w/Poll

[NorthOf50]

Much more ghetto. I have just been using a 4' cedar fence board butt-ended to the bed. It allows my pillow and such to stay up (yes it has started to slip from time to time) but it also leaves enough room to hop down in the middle of the night should someone (I'm up top with my 4 1/2 year old son) need to pee at night...also it cost approx $4 to "make"
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'84 1.9WBX Camper (Penny)
'88 2.1WBX Camper (Martin)

[pinetreeporsche]

Unless you need thee extension for both sleepers up top, why close off the whole bed width with an extension? I took a 3/8 plywood, roughly 2x2, made a cardboard model to get the first cut right. To install, I un-snap the 3 snaps on the passenger side, slide the rear edge of my board under the front edge of the upholstered foam pad of the bed, and then slide it forward at the front to the steel roof, and rest it just behind the latch. To support the front corner above the front of the slider where the roof curvature has dropped the height, I made a little block about 2 inches high to support that corner all in one plane. Throw on a piece of thin foam, then your pillow, or just use two pillows. This leaves a full half-a-bed wide opening behind the drivers seat/above the kitchen unit. So you can go down and back up without un-installing anything. Domestic tranquility! And the 3/8 ply sheet can even be stored under the foam of the seat flip-- just push it farther back and re-snap the snaps. Took well under an hour to make, and my wood scraps were free. You just have to remember to keep your head ducked when you get in, and not back up while you're using the sink.

[dustywesty]

I built the bunk extension last week and so far it seems to work really well for us. I'm 6'4 and have always wanted this, plus we have a 2 year old who will be sleeping upstairs with me while the newborn is downstairs with mom, so we wanted to make sure that there was little to no gap to fall through.

I took a 48" x 12" piece of pine and then mounted the high density foam to a second plywood board which is 46" x 17". When just using the 48" x 12" piece to create the extension like many people do, there is still a decent gap that our son could fall through so I wanted to lessen it by adding an extra 5". Plus, 17" was about the maximum we could do for this to still store behind the bunk bed with the top down .

Aside from the wood, used 2" high density foam and a few layers of 3/4" batting so that the extender could almost be used as a pillow. It's wrapped in brown fleece to keep with the poop brown theme of the van. There is also a handle on each end. Total cost was about $90 with the HDF costing about half of the total.

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'86 Westfalia Camper
Bay Area, CA

[vanagonjr]

[jimf909]

A choice is missing: Don't sleep on the top bunk
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- Jim

[pinetreeporsche]

[vanagonjr]

[Brickwerks]

What about when you need a slash at 3am and someone is asleep on the board?
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[rlamb]

I used a 48 in. x 11-1/2 in. unfinished pine tread from Home Depot (but any lumber yard should have 'em).

No need to cut anything but a could of notches to fit around the hinge bases. I used foam a little taller than the upper bunk foam, and used the coat hanger hooks to hang it on the cross bar. I had some light beige stretchy fabric lying around, and just upholstered the whole thing with the staples on the rear facing edge to be hidden. It took me an hour or less to make.

I store it up top when the pop-top is down just in front of the folded up upper bed and on the ledges that the upper bed rests on when folded out. I wedge a folded towel between top of the extension and the roof to keep it from sliding while driving. Even nasty Montana dirt roads won't shake it loose, but I should fix up a more permanent solution this spring.

I LOVE THIS SETUP!! We have little kids, and it's safer for them to be down below, and the top is wider for me and mom. I slept 3 weeks up there summer of 2012 with tons of room (I'm 6'1").

This idea was inspired by heliodon (Cris, thanks!).
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1984 Westfalia - Ford Cologne 2.8L conversion
2003 Passat GLX Wagon (4Motion)

[singler3360]

[kamzcab86]

[singler3360]

I partially answered my own question but it took awhile to find the right keywords to search. Finally, 'drafting table hinges' produced this link:
http://thatshouldhold.com/build-your-own-drafting-table/

using these hinges: http://www.rockler.com/adjustable-drafting-table-hardware

They require a 2" deep hollow base frame. I don't have my Westy to measure if the height of base frame + plywood top + foam covering would match the overall height of the upper mattress. The foam layer doesn't need to be as thick as the rest of the bed since it only supports a pillow.

For those that have built the extension and used it, what do you think?

[singler3360]

I'm thinking of how to design this board so it can angle up from 0-15-30-60-90 degrees. I want a headboard for my pillow while reading at night then lay flat for sleeping. If the van isn't quite level, then it can be elevated slightly for sleeping. Any ratcheting bracket ideas? It would still need to store in front of the bunk when the poptop is down or even on the cushion in the space to the rear.

[madspaniard]

For tall guys the cargo net just doesn't cut it. I made the bed extension/pillow board to fit in the upper bed with a bit of comfort. The cargo net would not help in my case.
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1991 Westy auto w/ Peloquin TBD

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad” - Salvador Dali

[tam_shops]

I like that net way better for the pillow and can't go wrong for that price. It's also much easier to transport, move around and put up than the board. Only drawback is my dh is tall and uses the board to sleep on...So, perhaps I'll get a hook like someone else did and see if that works...

tam

[rubbachicken]

we thought about it for lucy, and i didn't want an extension, so we found one of these at a yard sale, tailgate net it was $0.50 we got them down from a $1 brand new still in it's box, i've not fitted it yet as we are in israel, and lucy is resting in san diego
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lucy our westy

lucy's BIG adventure

meet 'burni'


markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.

619 201 0310 or 617 935 4182

[tam_shops]

Thanks! I figured you were off having fun! Did you have a nice trip?

Mine is at an I can live with it state, but needs more work...

I wound up doing it in two pieces. Top that wrapped the sides. Back w/ a simple slit and serged edges where I put the zipper in. Hind sight, I'd have rolled those edges, as it added 1 cm (3/16"). I used a scrap of soft micca I had from something (so it has some stretch), that added to the fact that I must have added more seam allowance than I used, left mine a bit baggier than I'd have liked...

I also used a smaller piece of foam than you. $4 at Joanne Fabrics. So, it'd be nice if it were bigger, but I'm good with that for the $30 difference the exact size of foam I needed was...

Finally, I like the grey you used better, mine was darker, but again $4/yard vs $20/yard. I'll call this a prototype. Add up the difference between what it cost and what doing it right will cost and at the end of the summer, will bring it along to an event and put a FS sign on it! See if I can fund the supplies for doing it right! LOL I also have enough Vinyl to sew a proper Jack bag! LOL

[kamzcab86]

[tam_shops]

Ready and trying to copy you!

How'd you finish the corners on the dark blue section w/ the foam?
Are they just tucked in/under the foam or did you go to the trouble to L shape them and then sew it together or are there 3 (or 4) separate pieces? If the later is the case, did you use one piece of fabric, or a second one on the bottom?

The picture looks like one piece of fabric, but the taughtness of it suggests it's 3 separate pieces, sewn together...top, sides and bottom!

tam

[noganav]

Nice!

I'm going to make one with foam thick enough that it would be slightly compressed by the poptop when the roof is down. That way it will block the problem of warm air getting into the little gap between the bed and the poptop, condensing, and causing mold. Right now I put a blanket across the gap, but this would be even better.