Sleeping Platform Without Drawers - Here's What I Came Up With

[Jason Andrews]

McMaster-Carr. McMaster-Carr

It's called Quick Edge; nice stuff.

Pretty nice setup.

I want to try to use the quick edge for some homemade fender flares. To help bridge the gap of cutting the fenders and bringing the edges together to seal without welding. I wonder how well it would work/look?

 

[mmuthart]

Man, very nice work. Is that 1"x1" tubing?

I especially like the clean flush fit with the tailgate.

Thank you all for the kind words.

Yes, it's 1" square tubing except for the 2 pieces that run from side to side, they are 1/8" thick angle iron.

 

[mmuthart]

Very nice work. I really like how it's tied into the body. Thanks for the pix and write up.
Also, Costco has some memory foam mattress toppers that might work well in there.
Greg

Yeah, connecting to the body on the sides was the key to keeping the space free underneath. I pulled off those side panels looking for a solution and finally realized the welded nuts for the seat belt bolts were in the right spots and probably sturdy enough to support the platform.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Wow. That is one really clean design. This thing is awesome, really nice work...and lightweight!

 

[mmuthart]

Pretty nice setup.

I want to try to use the quick edge for some homemade fender flares. To help bridge the gap of cutting the fenders and bringing the edges together to seal without welding. I wonder how well it would work/look?

It was $2.35/ft for the 3/4" stuff. I think the min. order is 10 feet. Give it a shot!

Wow. That is one really clean design. This thing is awesome, really nice work...and lightweight!

Thanks. Yeah, I didn't weigh it but it's got to be lighter than some of the drawers out there even with all my steel. The 3/4" plywood is the heavy part.

 

[greentruck]

I really like the ingenious design and minimalism.

Now, don't get me wrong here, but it does share one feature that is common to retaining the second row seats with a full sleeper configuration. The platform ends up being at a certain height to clear the seats. This looks to be around 14-15" above the floor on yours?

This does limit the space available for sleeping. Depends on a lot of things whether this works in anyone's particular case. If the primary point is easy maximization of space and storage, a higher platform level is the way to go.

I'm old, creaky and still kind of tall, so went with a lower platform level of 10". This does cut into the storage underneath, but there are other options. In our case, the WagonGear tailgate mod looks to be a good solution for making up some of that lost storage space.

So something to think about when planning your drawer, storage or sleeper system is the deck height. The extremes are obvious, 10" is pretty low, but there's a lot of comfort to be found over the space of a few inches, depending on how you plan to use your system, and it's kind of hard to do this without mocking up a deck height, which is what I did. And there are more obvious inches you can figure in gained storage capacity, so don't go any lower than you need.

Good job and the different interpretations of the basic theme have been pretty inspirational recently in the 80 forum. It's a great base for these relatively mild expo-type mods.

 

[mmuthart]

I really like the ingenious design and minimalism.

Now, don't get me wrong here, but it does share one feature that is common to retaining the second row seats with a full sleeper configuration. The platform ends up being at a certain height to clear the seats. This looks to be around 14-15" above the floor on yours?

This does limit the space available for sleeping. Depends on a lot of things whether this works in anyone's particular case. If the primary point is easy maximization of space and storage, a higher platform level is the way to go.

I'm old, creaky and still kind of tall, so went with a lower platform level of 10". This does cut into the storage underneath, but there are other options. In our case, the WagonGear tailgate mod looks to be a good solution for making up some of that lost storage space.

So something to think about when planning your drawer, storage or sleeper system is the deck height. The extremes are obvious, 10" is pretty low, but there's a lot of comfort to be found over the space of a few inches, depending on how you plan to use your system, and it's kind of hard to do this without mocking up a deck height, which is what I did. And there are more obvious inches you can figure in gained storage capacity, so don't go any lower than you need.

Good job and the different interpretations of the basic theme have been pretty inspirational recently in the 80 forum. It's a great base for these relatively mild expo-type mods.

Thank you. The platform height is 14 9/16" from the chrome sill at the rear of the floor. Yes, the downside of this type of setup is headroom; I will be looking for the thinnest most comfortable mattress to maximize the space. With kids, removing the middle row seats was not an option in my mind. Storage was a secondary concern after an easy bed; I don't like setting up tents. If the wife and I find the sleeping quarters to tight we'll probably opt for the Kamparoo (new project, see pic.) and the 2 boys (7 and 12) can sleep very comfortably in the Cruiser. If I'm solo, the back of the cruiser will be fine.

 

[greentruck]

This sounds like exactly what you needed and that you put some thought into things. Everyone situation is different, so yours is a good example of determining your needs and building a system that maximized your options and flexibility.

Good deal and it looks like your driveway is full of projects. I'll be watching for your trailer project in the Trailer forum.

 

[harrydunn]

Great job. A very solid design.

 

[Itsky]

you are a genius.

 

[BayouFJ80]

I really like this.

 

[Tofel]

Just wanted to thank for the inspiration and share some photos of our platform. We have had it constructed a week ago in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. We didn't use hinges as that would limit the maximum length of the bed (and we didn't want the platform to fold twice). We also didn't want the platform to lay on the seats, so it has foldable legs. Which by the way are the weakest and least thought through part of the construction. Nevertheless the platform is stable and provides us with a lot of space. We are 5'2" and 5'6" high and the platform is 6' long. We can comfortably sleep on it together with our Rottweiler so I guess without the dog three persons of similar size to ours could fit and have a good sleep.

We used 3/4" plywood, but I guess one could easily get away with 1/2".

Anyways, thanks again for inspiration!

 

[Willyrig]

Both great setups. Very simple but well designed. I'll start mine tomorrow.