custom bed???

Any of you kats built a custom bed / couch for your g-10 short wheelbase ?
Need some ideas ,,,pics , ??
I;m wanting a 70;s custm fill to it ,but still want to go camping and be comfortable.

chopper, I use to manage a van shop , back in the day. we use to make a bed that hinged in the middle, so it would fold up to be a couch, also you could access storage from inside and back doors, wish I had pics

I have a gen 3 chev im parting - those vans have a seat that folds into a bed too

well, I had a gen 3 before with a fold up couch bed and I liked it, and was cool, but I have had no luck finding one any how , ( kinda miss that van too, thought that would be the ''one'',but no.)
When I was growing up in the 70;s I watched my uncle build custom vans with shag carpet, hand built beds with fur and conan air brush murals all over . you guys know it man! candy apple reds with woodin bumpers and loads of hand made custom stuff ,fender flares hand made sunvisers!!! too me that's wear its at !!
Anyways ,so I wanna build a bed that's fun and functional!
Man ,I was hopping you guys would have some picturs to go by? I built a buch of custom stuff for hot rods but for some reason ive got writters block on this van and I don't wonna park it long enough to work on it!?
Also I really dig this sight ,its cool when people understand the van thing!

Hit the local junkyards. I see conversion vans in the yard near me all the time, and usually they have the folding bed/couch in the back

Check out what M1dadio put in the back of his. About third or so post on this page.

https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t31868-1st-gen-bench-seat

them are cool,but I was thinking that I saw a homemade bed on here somewhere awhile back ,mabie in spacetruckers van if I could find the post ?
still not to good at this forum stuff but I do injoy it a bunch!

thanks dix!

Maybe this is the one you saw recently.

https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t34290p90-dawgvan-a-64-a100-build-thread

No man,that's not it ,but is a very good idea for the add on behind the bed!
The storage is definatly a must have too.
My pap had a mid 70's dodge van that mom and em built a hand made bed in it ,it gave all kinds of storage space under the bed. we took it camping on fishing trips a bunch when I was a teen, man ,I really miss them days!  

Here's my bed in progress... still need to get the cushions upholstered and some brackets made for the back to fold into a benchseat but here's what I got so far....

yeah man ,that's very nice ,bet that celing was hard to do too.
what did you use for a mattress back there?
how do I find your build posts on here?

The cushions are 6inch foam.... Just have a blanket covering them for now until I get to the upholstery shop... I have more pics under members showcase....  https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t787-mo_1040-67-chevy

mo_1040 wrote:The cushions are 6inch foam.... Just have a blanket covering them for now until I get to the upholstery shop... I have more pics under members showcase....  https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t787-mo_1040-67-chevy

cool thanks man! finding foam seems to be tougher than I thought it wood be.
I just went and bought a footan mattress to use in it.

very cool ,digging the overhead speakers!

I scored a nice dinette out of a toy hauler 5th wheel travel trailer at work. the owner had us take them out. I've just got cut the width of the cushions and benches down to 48'' to fit in my shorty. and make a table out of a piece of 3/4'' plywood that fits between the two benches. simple and time tested design.

dave theory wrote:I scored a nice dinette out of a toy hauler 5th wheel travel trailer at work. the owner had us take them out. I've just got cut the width of the cushions and benches down to 48'' to fit in my shorty. and make a table out of a piece of 3/4'' plywood that fits between the two benches. simple and time tested design.

pictures?????

chopper tom, I will post them when I get them installed. I just got the van yesterday, and just picked up some materials for the interior today. however, I can take some pics tomorrow at work of some similar set ups.
I broke my back in 3 spots back in 2002, and find the folding chair beds to be very uncomfortable. but that's just my opinion.

dave theory wrote:chopper tom, I will post them when I get them installed. I just got the van yesterday, and just picked up some materials for the interior today. however, I can take some pics tomorrow at work of some similar set ups.
I broke my back in 3 spots back in 2002, and find the folding chair beds to be very uncomfortable. but that's just my opinion.

I agree,my last van had a folding bed and it wasn't as nice to sleep on as the home made ones that I have slept on too.

I finally got around to building my bed ,I just framed it upwith 1'' sqaur tubing and welded it in and bolted 1/2 '' plywood on top and I put 1 1/2'' dence foam on that, then I put the footon matress on top.
worked out really well ,got my wife to lay on it with me and it had plenty of room to stretch out and be comforttable ! thinking of building a wall now [70;s style] with a hart or oval for the opening init.
sorry I don't have the pics ready yet ,will try to get them up when the wife gets home.

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