Our bed layout is pretty simple. We planned to put the bed on the passenger side of the van and put bedside storage on the drivers side of the van. The bed layout is permanent, meaning we keep our bed in bedmode 24/7. We planned to use Eric’s queen size bed in our build. We wanted to use a smaller bed, but Eric is 6’4” so a smaller bed would be hard for him to sleep on. Our bed platform is raised about 12 inches so we could put things under our bed.
To start we needed a base to support everything. On the passenger side this was very easy, we built a box around the wheel well using some 2×4 and 2×6. They are stacked on top each other with supports in the corners to hold it together as well as some plywood on the top as a cover.
On the driver side we started with a 2×4 and a 2×6 stacked again but this time it runs from the front to back the entire length of the bed so the bed can sit on it. On the inside we have supports to hold it together and to hold it up. We also put plywood on the walls to be one side of the storage. The storage is going to be broken up into three sections, one long one over the wheel well, a deeper one, and then another shallow one above the gas tank fill up. We also added plywood from the back to where the first section will go.
The frame of the bed is made up of 2x4s to make sure it is strong enough for 2 people and a large dog. Our bed is a queen size and runs front to back. With the bed frame in place we can see how much space it takes up. We framed out the first section of the storage and added the sides to it. We used the wall of the van for one side of it and built the other sides off of the base. We did this for each section with the middle one going all the way to the floor of the van. For the lid we used a shelve that Eric found at Home Depot and used hinges on the inside.
To secure everything we used L brackets. There are eight total that we used, four hold the bed frame to the base and four to hold the base to the floor. We also needed to add two legs to the bed in the corners on the side that doesn’t go the entire length of the bed. Both are in the corners, one front and one back.
