'What would have Rube done ?'
was the question I finally resorted to, trying to solve the impossible
requirements presented by the bed. His own scheme was a creative
starting point:
But it still fell short of the goal, as our bed system has to be:
- Queen size, to host 2 people and my 6'4" height
- No larger than Twin size, to accommodate a row of cabinets on the passenger side
- Shorter than Twin, to free up head space above the induction cooktop
Wait... what ? 😅
Oh, and it also has to:
- be lazy-friendly (no lengthy daily setup / breakdown, nor removing the bedding)
- provide full access to the dining area during the day
- no blocking of the windows
That
ruled out a long list of convertible bed setups seen in van
conversions: table top between benches, recliner, full or split murphy
system, foldable, inflatable, 4 corners jack posts, 4 corners ceiling
lift, etc.
Obviously, the solution was to design a 'bed that slides up and down rails on the driver side, and whose shape changes depending on its position' ! Would say someone with a few too many drinks...
Although,
once sober again, and with my Rube Goldberg glasses on, it felt that
the following thingamagic might not be too impossible to build:
 |
| Bed up - short & narrow. 2 sliding rails along the driver wall |
 |
| Bed down - Queen size width via an extension sliding out |
 |
| Queen length - Headrest extension from pivoting backrest's top |
After all, if it can be drawn on a computer, it can't be too hard to build, right ?
Those rails are why many months ago the wiring harness in the cargo area was rerouted into the wall cavities. As covered in the 'Rerouting the Wiring Harness' post, and in this video: https://youtu.be/MF9ssj5_gf4
Now,
being supported only via 2 rails on one side would make the bed bob up
and down notably with 2 people moving around on it. To transfer the load
to the bench, vertical boards flip out from under the benchtops, becoming feet for the bed:
Finally, here is the ready-to-sleep-in view, using the bench cushions to complete the base mattress. Almost Queen sized now !
No doing / undoing the bedding every day ? Check ! It stays in place on the base mattres. At night it can simply be unfolded further to wrap around the bench cushions.
The ladder in
the front is simply stored on top of the mattress when
the bed is tucked up against the ceiling.
Finally, when tucked away during the day, a couple of latches will
secure the unsupported extension side of the bed to the ceiling.
For
now, it might be a wee bit hard to visualize how all this comes
together and works. Hopefully, it'll be clearer in the next posts that cover the concept & build in detail.
Yes, Rube Goldberg would likely have been proud of such a convoluted origami contraption... 😅
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