Sleeping Platforms w/o removing backseat?

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I'm curious about the 4 gas cans under your bed. What kind are they? I've never had a 5 gal can like that one that doesnt' give off some kind of odour.
 
Finally got these built. Still need to do the drawers themselves and the sleeping half but the platform and box is all done.

WadeGreenwood: The sides of the wheel wells (at least on my cruiser) are not perfectly flat and vertical. We're talking fractions of an inch here, but the space between the two wheel wells is slightly less as you move up than it is when you measure at the base of them. Take this into account when building your box.

If only I had read that before getting started. My cruiser still had the foam covering the wheel wells when I started (gone now) and I had to take off about 1/2 an inch of the side of my finished box. Oh well, it was a good lesson in "measure twice, cut once".

Forgot to mention, I went with 3/4" sandeply. It's super stout.

Here's some pictures of what I did.
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I'm curious about the 4 gas cans under your bed. What kind are they? I've never had a 5 gal can like that one that doesnt' give off some kind of odour.

They're 5 gal Scepter military grade fuel cans. I think they're actually illegal in California because they're not vented. I was hesitant at first to have 20 gallons of gas right under my sleeping platform, but they didn't leak a drop and I never had any gasoline smell. I just googled and found this page, seems to give a good description. I bought all mine on ebay.

Scepter Military Fuel Cans - Pangaea Expeditions

I did however have a jug of gear oil crack and leak all over my cargo area, but that's another story... that smell never comes out.
 
Thanks, just solved a problem I had about extra fuel.
 
Here is what I threw together
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I did however have a jug of gear oil crack and leak all over my cargo area, but that's another story... that smell never comes out.
Chances are it seeped under the carpet. Only option is to remove the carpet and clean it all up. I used Dawn dish detergent on the oil in the carpet. My 4Runner came with an oil spill in the back. Now I no longer smell it.

I keep nearly all spillable stuff in plastic tubs. It limits the spill zone. Yeah, if my emergency oil got spilled, my tools and tool bags would be coated, but my carpet would be fine. Dealing with ATF and hydraulic/transmission oil has taught me to keep spillables like them contained before they spill.
 
In my old 80 I had gear oil spill in the back and tried everything to get it out. When it was cold weather the smell wasnt as bad but when summer came along it smelled bad again. If I had to do all over again I would have definitely taken the carpet out and chucked it. GOOD LUCK !!!
 
A few scrubbings with Dawn dish soap cleaned my carpet up and it had been soaking in the carpet for a few years. The important part was getting the detergent very well worked into the carpet. I think I was using around 10 to 1 scalding hot water to Dawn on the oily sections. Then I worked it in with a hand brush from both sides. For the padding I massaged it in with my hands. My padding was of a felt type weave so it wouldn't have handled scrubbing. Rinsing was flushing with large amounts of water while doing some scrubbing. I dried it by draping it over the hood of the truck for a couple days. It took three days to dry properly. I was figuring I either I got it clean or I pitched the carpet. Most of the stains vanished.
 
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I did however have a jug of gear oil crack and leak all over my cargo area, but that's another story... that smell never comes out.

Try Febreze. When my gas spout was backing up and leaking all down the inside of the fender and I finally got that fixed (double gaskets on the cap and switch the charcoal canister hoses) I sprayed the hell out of everything with Febreze worked great.
 
I've been thinking about this and it occurs to me that most of the engineering difficulties in building a sleeping/storage platform revolve around the back seat.

So, I says to mesel', why not just build a platform that goes up to the back of the back seat when it's in the upright postion, then fold the seat down and have another section that goes in when you're gonna need the sleeping bit?

If you needed to use the seat unexpectedly you could just pick the front bit up, set it on top of the back bit or on the roof rack did you have one and off you go.

Thoughts?
 
Yep,...
 
I've been thinking about this and it occurs to me that most of the engineering difficulties in building a sleeping/storage platform revolve around the back seat.

So, I says to mesel', why not just build a platform that goes up to the back of the back seat when it's in the upright postion, then fold the seat down and have another section that goes in when you're gonna need the sleeping bit?

If you needed to use the seat unexpectedly you could just pick the front bit up, set it on top of the back bit or on the roof rack did you have one and off you go.

Thoughts?
Look back at my posts #33 and #35
 
Just finished building one, to use the back seat you just slide the platofrm back over the rear section, remove the two legs and put the seat up, takes about 20 seconds.
I will try to post pics at some point, I realize this is useless without.
 
My solution for the sleeping extension (that goes over the folded down rear seat) was to raise the storage box enough to fit the sleeping shelf under the box.

Now it doesn't get in the way, and I don't have to have the rear clear of gear before I can set the bed up.

If you look closely at the pic you can see the sleeping extension under the box.

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Iggy - Looks really good, smart solution. I have to ask, is that a recent picture? Cause it's over 40 C here in India and next Thurs I'm going to be in Calgary, and is that still snow???
 
Thanks. Photo is about four years old. So that's not the current weather.
Now, that being said... it did snow yesterday but it's melted away already. Was nice and sunny here today. :)

Iggy - Looks really good, smart solution. I have to ask, is that a recent picture? Cause it's over 40 C here in India and next Thurs I'm going to be in Calgary, and is that still snow???
 
Iggi, can you please post a picture of the sleeping extension in place, ready for use? How does it attach? How is it supported? Thanks
 

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