Building the bed platform

Of course the most important part of this project was building in a flat bed platform. None of the vans I looked at had seats that folded completely flat, so some sort of construction was always going to be needed to provide comfortable sleeping.

The easiest way to do this was simply to chop up a sheet of ply. With most of the vans I looked at the rear seats fold 50/50 giving me a width across one seat when folded flat of 60cm in the Voxy. However the middle seats fold 60/40 giving me a width across the front seats of 80cm. I really wanted that extra width at the top of the bed, so my platform was going to be an very interesting shape.

I wanted the platform to fit snugly against the side wall of the van, so anything that slides off the bed (phone, book, etc) didn't end up on the floor. This required a bit of extra work with a jigsaw, but well worth the effort. Although the platform is quite high off the seats at the front, this actually gives a decent amount of storage underneath it.

The Voxy that I have has a middle row of seats that rotates to face the back. This was an important feature as it allows me to sit facing into the van when not lying on the bed. This is important to add the illusion of space and reduce the chances of cabin fever if I need to spend an evening or rainy day in the van.

As I wanted the platform to be easily removed. I needed it to rest on the seats and not actually be attached to anything. This resulted in a fairly complicated structure underneath the platform to sit on the seats and give the platform strength. My plan is to cut some holes in the platform to reduce its weight.

Once the platform was finished I bought a cheap foam mattress (about 100mm thick) and cut it to the shape of the platform. It was adequate, but not really as comfortable as I was hoping to be. So a quick visit to the local mattress manufacturer, a small truck load of cash changed hands, and bingo - one custom made inner-sprung mattress in a very unusual shape.