Collapsible Removable Platform and Drawers

hey i'm matt and after a year with this suv camper bed i rebuilt it from scratch it still collapses in the trunk when you're not using it and still has a pull out table but this new table doubles as a drawer and the actual sleeping platform is way more comfortable and it even has a secret compartment for hiding your valuables i'll show you how i made it and why i changed the things that i did the bed consists of three parts the base the sliding platform and the drawer but before i start building i'll show you how i measured the cargo area finding the length and width is easy but the trunk isn't level which makes finding the height of your base a little bit tricky to solve this i place one end of this 2x2 where the sliding platform will rest when it's fully extended then i raise the end i was holding until the 2x2 was level from there i measured from the floor of the trunk up to the 2x2 which gave me the dimensions i needed to make the sleeping platform level i cut all the pieces of the base out of 3 4 inch plywood and was ready to start the assembly the base consists of four parts the two legs the back panel and the top plate i joined the two legs of the base with the back panel held together with glue and pocket hole screws if you don't have a pocket hole jig their only 20 bucks are really easy to use and they're going to help make your platform super solid with the base upside down i slid the top panel under the legs used a piece of three quarter inch ply as a spacer for the future drawer face and glued and screwed the legs to the top quick side note if you want to avoid splintering in your plywood like this don't be sheep like me and buy yourself a fine-tooth finishing saw blade as i flip it over you'll notice there's this gap at the back of the base here's the sketchup model to show you why that's there the sliding platform slides off the base and rests on that gap as i swing around the back side you can see the guides that help it slide on and off and this back block that's going to keep the platform from sliding too far forward when you collapse the base that sliding platform is made of six three-quarter inch plywood parts the four guides and one back block attached to the bottom of the top platform i set the top platform on the base and marked where the guides would go next i glued on the back block and added the guides there won't be a ton of stress on these pieces so i figured glue would be good enough to hold them together when those dried the base and sliding platform were complete and i was ready to move on to the drawer i recommend putting in a drawer if your suv has a lip that makes it hard to slide things out of the trunk and because reaching something in the back of the trunk space can be awkward or even impossible for some people the drawer is built in two stages first two rails and a face plate are added to the base for the drawer to slide on then the drawer itself is made of a center frame a bottom piece of plywood this little top plate and two table toppers i started by gluing on the rails for the drawer to slide on then the faceplate the drawer will slide on this too and it's going to help keep the drawer from pulling all the way out i'll talk more about that after i construct the frame of the drawer which consists of a front piece three middle pieces and a back piece glued and screwed together to attach the bottom of the drawer i spread some glue dropped on a half inch piece of plywood and nailed it on to keep it from pulling all the way out of the base i drilled two holes and stuck two of these free allen wrenches i know we all have into the holes these will stick out underneath the drawer and hit the face plate i added earlier which will keep the drawer from pulling all the way out of the base when you don't want it to and since the drawer won't pull all the way out i'm adding a thin strip of half inch plywood to the part of the drawer that will stay in the base that's so these table top panels can be removed without part of them being stuck in the base that piece is glued and nailed on just like the bottom was the table top panels are also half inch plywood and nests perfectly on top of the drawer to keep them from sliding around i put a hole in each corner and popped in a piece of dowel rod these hit the side walls of the drawer and lock the table toppers in place instead of drawer pulls i'm just chamfering the edge of the drawer face i'll grip the chamfer on both sides and slide the drawer out if i were to remake this i'd cut this 45 degree angle with my saw before assembling so i added that to the sketchup model on the previous version i didn't add any kind of stain or finish to the plywood which meant it got pretty dingy pretty fast so to finish this one i plugged my pocket holes sanded spelled subscribe wrong twice painted the edges and table components black and applied some satin polyurethane this older version was slightly cheaper to make and had about six more inches of platform length so you might still prefer it however this new design is four inches lower which means i can put a four inch foam mattress on it without feeling like my face is up against the ceiling while i'm sleeping now that we have more headroom i bought this four inch foam folding mattress but it didn't exactly fit i pulled the foam out of the fabric housing traced the shape of the wheel wells and cut the mattress to shape with what i'm calling the shear the sheep method i stuffed them back in and tried to do a quick product review you did me you're trying to do me dirty she likes it okay so i'm six one if i lay down with my legs straight in the bed i do have to have my head propped up a little bit and then when i go to sleep i'm a side sleeper i've bend my legs a little bit so if you're over 68 inches tall and you sleep on your back or on your stomach this might be a little too short for you personally for me i think it's great and i'll show you how it all sets up i put the base in first then the drawer and the allen wrenches drop right in there to lock it into place the table toppers sit on top and the whole thing slides in the top plate slides on real easy and nests on the base to make the bed just fold the seats down slide the top platform back and allow it to drop perfectly into place the mattress unfolds super easy now and the drawer pulls out surprisingly smooth these table toppers are easily removed for drawer access and if you want to fully remove the drawer to set on a picnic table or to access your secret stash just pull these little guys out one last minute update i made to the sliding platform was adding some loops from an old backpack strap to make it easier to pull forward i'd love to know which of these ideas you're going to use in your build and also check out the links in the description for all the things i used and the free 3d sketchup model

Channel: Matt The Designer

Views: 100,226

Keywords: Car Camping, SUV Bed, SUV Leveling Platform, SUV Camper Bed, Camp in an SUV

Id: JqAcYAiIaXg

Length: 8min 19sec (499 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 12 2022