DIY Camper Van Bed Converts Into a Couch | Genius Bed Design for Vanlife

[Music] hello world laura and lewis here in this video we'll show you how we built this sofa that slides out into a bed [Music] a quick disclaimer before we get into the build we didn't take the time to properly design the bed before the project started we knew that we generally wanted it to serve two functions by folding it into a sofa and extending out into a bed so we kind of made it up as we went so to help make the video a little easier to follow we made a 3d model to help illustrate the order of operations and we'll tuck it away right down here where it'll pop up from time to time now to start the build the walls of the van are curved which requires one side of the furniture to be equally curved in order to sit flush against the wall i simply taped two wide pencils together to use as a spacer to trace the arc of the wall onto a scrap piece of wood then i used that as a template to cut the side pieces of the bed frame out of 12 millimeter baltic birch plywood the overall dimension of the bed frame is 75 inches long 25 inches deep and 16 inches high we also made a template with the cutout for the wheel well this piece will support the middle of the bed so we doubled up for extra thickness since we used pre-finished plywood we have to sand down the faces so the wood glue can properly adhere after sanding we spread the glue all over one face and clamp the two pieces together then we cut three inch strips to act as horizontal stretchers that connect the side panels creating the general structure of the bed frame we made sure to place the supports that will sit against the wall of the van at the height of the batten behind the walls so that we could screw directly into them we connected everything using pocket holes and one inch screws one thing to note when using pocket holes is to have the holes facing outside of the joint that way the screws fasten away from the edge and doesn't blow out like it did here with the general frame completed we brought the bed into the van to test fit one thing we regret is screwing the frame into the wall battens on the van at this point doing this caused the frame to become out of square and threw off the rest of the build and we suffered it would have been much better to assemble the rest of the bed in our garage on a level surface and then address the mating inconsistencies on the van with shims there's an old korean saying that goes something like if you don't use your brain your hands and feet suffer but i digress [Music] next we worked on installing the drawer slides we cut a piece that positions the slide at the height that we needed and then screwed it into the side panels since these are 500 pound drawer slides we wanted to make sure there's enough vertical support for the slide and that they're not relying only on the mounting screws of course layla had to make sure we were doing everything correctly and once the drawer slides were in we added three inch wide stretchers just below the sliders you'll notice that we're installing them differently than the 3d model shows right now we corrected it later on because we found out that it doesn't support the bed platform in the current position starting from the back support we anchored the hinges for one section of the bed platform which also serves as part of the couch backrest we used long piano hinges and cut them to size because we felt that a long continuous hinge wasn't necessary and we could also save a minuscule amount of weight now that we have one section of the platform we have a reference to secure the supporting piece for the main platform onto the sliders after drilling pocket holes onto a 24 by 3 inch piece we used our go-to trick to help keep it in place while we fastened the screws to secure it onto the slider in full disclosure starbond sent us a few of their ca glues to try out and this was a perfect time to use them we just added a few dabs of glue onto the support spray the activator on the slider then press them together for a few seconds for a super strong bond we use this trick a lot because it's a real time saver and you don't need an extra person to hold things up if you want to scoop some up for yourself you could use the coupon code amy made for 10 off we'll leave a link down in the description for more info next we brought over the main platform which will serve as the main seating portion at 19 inches deep we attached it using the pocket holes on the support we thought we could get away with using a slider on each end but the length of the platform caused it to bow in the middle so we added another 500 pound slider on the center support like before we used starbond to hold the support in place while we pre-drilled and screwed everything in [Music] then we added the last piece of the platform with piano hinges we extended the bed out then traced and cut off any overlap so all the pieces can lay flat in bed mode the last and trickiest part was connecting the two backrest pieces we initially used piano hinges but it didn't have enough give to flex with the back and forth movement after mulling it over we remembered a laura comp project where she used ratchet straps as hinges so we dug up an old strap and got to work we cut the strap to size burned the edges to seal the fibers then screwed it onto the backrest piece with a washer in between it worked much better than the stiff piano hinges and remember when we said we'd fix the position of the stretcher well here we are after removing the stretchers we cut off an inch so we can salvage some usable space underneath for storage and reattach it properly [Music] then we added the center supports that will keep the middle of the platforms from bowing when we sit or lay on them now that we have the main mechanics of the bed done we moved on to making the pull down drawer faces for the storage area we use this handy kreg jig tool to drill a hole for the door hinges to mount we used half inch plywood so we needed to add a scrap piece of eighth inch plywood where the hinges sit so we don't drill through the face then we popped on the hinge and screwed it in place we brought the doors over to attach onto the base of the bed [Music] and to finish out the face of the couch we added a strip of wood to mount on the main platform this will be the main part we'll use to pull out into bed mode so we cut out a hand hold we drilled two one inch holes a few inches apart and then jigsaw the edges of the hole together easy peasy then we secured it in place with a handful of l brackets [Music] next we drilled holes on the door faces to attach leather pull straps that we've pre-fabricated we scooped up a thin sheet of leather on amazon and then cut them in strips to create simple cheap and beautiful door pulls then we made a stopper for the bed to keep it in place while we're driving around we drilled a small pilot hole through both the side wall of the bed and the platform support attached to the slider then we drilled a three-quarter inch hole with a forstner bit to make the actual stopper we drilled a three-quarter inch hole part way through a piece of scrap wood so we can fit a dowel snugly in with wood glue to make sure that it's extra secure we drove a screw in from the top down to keep it in place [Music] and after sanding down and shaping the handle we had a quick and easy stopper [Music] once the details were complete we laid on the cushion we ordered a full-size japanese shiggi bhutan it's only about two inches thick but it's so much more comfortable for us than those foamy plush mattresses that just suck you in we happen to have a fluffy duvet cover at home that fit over the futon perfectly and with that we have a fully functioning bed and couch we can convert from couch to bed pretty quickly by removing the stopper sliding it out and flattening out the futon we'll store the blanket and pillows in the overhead storage above the driver's seat so it'll be out of sight during the day and then pull them out when we're ready to go to bed for the night although we struggled a bit through the build we love how everything came together in the end having a space that's multifunctional is so important when living in a small area we are so glad we were able to make a convertible living and sleeping space if you enjoyed this build please give us a like and leave a comment we already have plans to rebuild this bed in the near future so we'd love to hear suggestions for minimizing plywood and maximizing space thanks for watching you

Channel: IMEE MADE

Views: 594,921

Keywords: diy, howto, build, camper van bed, van conversion, custom van, van bed, conversion van, van build, van tour, living in a van, van life, sprinter van, how to build a bed in a van, bed in van, diy van, camper van, van bed ideas, van bed build, van bed platform, van bed couch, van build out, van bedroom, van build camper, camper van bed build, bed in van ideas, singletrack sampler, vanlife, sprinter van conversion, sprinter van camper, diy bed, pull out bed couch, sofa bed

Id: 0zA76yDXBUo

Length: 11min 6sec (666 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 08 2021