29 thoughts on “Platform Bed Installation in a Camper Van Conversion”

1. Question, how do you get up onto and off of your bed? It’s tall, just like our is, and we are struggling to figure out an efficient way to get up and down.

   Thank you for your continued time and assistance…You guys are helping a heck of a lot of people. 🙂
   Korina

   • Hi! We just climb on it using the countertop. It works for us 🙂

2. Hi you two!
   Would it be okay to use any kind of wood, like solid pine, if it is the same dimensions (width, thickness) for the frames and legs? Or, does the birch plywood add a significant increase in stiffness that is necessary?
   Thanks!

   • If you use solid wood, you probably don’t want to go below 2″x3″ because it’s warped and bent when you buy it (go see for yourself at home depot). You will probably have to use different sizes to get a strong base (like 2×3 and 2×4).

     Cheers!

3. Nice van! Awesome set up. Where did you purchase the sliding hardware that allows you to pull your bikes in and out on the wood platform? Thanks for sharing your van life! Cheers, Amber

   • It’s all here: faroutride.com/slide-out-bike-rack/

     Have a good one!
     🙂

4. Hello Isabelle and Antoine,

   Amazing site and I appreciate all the hard work you put into your van and then to share it on the site. I am just wondering how tall you are? I am 6’1″ and am building out a Ram Promaster. We will be storing bikes under the bed as well and I just can’t see anyway to make it so I can sit up in bed. It sounds like you also are not able to completely sit up in bed?

   The max amount of space I see myself getting is maybe 29″ above the mattress and that is cutting it close on everything. Is it a problem not being able to sit up? I feel like it would drive me crazy.

   Thanks,

   Kevin

   • Hi Kevin,

     Not Isabelle or Antoine, but I am also 6’1″ and in the midst of a Promaster High Roof conversion. My solution to being able to sit up in bed is the Magura Vyron electronic seatpost. I hate the idea of electronics on my bike, but the wireless seatpost means that I can still have a dropper while being able to remove my seat for storage.

     With the post out, the highest point on my bike is my handlebar at about 32″ from the ground (including bike rack). This means that the bottom of the bed platform can be 34″, which hypothetically should allow me to fully sit up in bed if I use a fairly thin mattress (something like an Ikea Minnesund or Meistervik at ~4″). I did some pretty detailed figuring to flesh this out, feel free to reply if you want more info.

     I haven’t finished building the bed platform yet, but it’s the next thing in our build. If you follow up on this post in about a week, I should be able to report back.

5. What did you use to measure the holes to choose the correct, and desired Plusnut? I have a Chevrolet Express Van, and you sold me on using plusnuts, but am lost as to how to measure a hole that small to ensure I order the correct box of 100.

   Thanks ~

   • Hi Daniel,

     A vernier is probably the best tool: http://amzn.to/2idmoW2
     Or a good precise ruler (cheaper): http://amzn.to/2jHatAi

     Good luck!
     Antoine

6. Haha ok i believe you! Im curious as to why not have them reach all the way to the floor?

   • Cause we wanted to prevent squeaks (=gap) and the two bolts are doing the job. There not exactly “legs”; the reason they extend so low near the floor is because we needed a solid attachment. If there was a solid attachment higher from the floor, we would have use it.

7. i love this build journal its inspiring me for so many parts of our own bid! So you’re saying the legs aren’t touching the floor then? They look to be in the pictures.

   • Nope, they’re not touching the floor. There is a small gap, i’m positive! 🙂

     Happy conversion! 🙂

8. First thanks for the inspiration. We are ordering our Transit in October (to hopefully receive it by March). You have taken all the hard thinking down several notches for me. Which is good because we plan on building while still holding full time jobs. I plan to buy a few things off Amazon and will gladly go though your links.

   My question:
   I see some people use legs and others (like traipsingabout) just mention supports on the wall. In all your thought process why did you go the legs route?

   If you ever make it to Bozeman, MT I hope you say hello and let us show you our favorite trails.

   • Aaron,
     It’s quite simple, the Transit just don’t have support at bed level (at OUR bed level, at least); its just a thin sheet metal without any attachments points. The legs are just an extension to reach two existing holes where we inserted plusnut, they actually are not touching the floor! Having a Sprinter, we would have done like traipsing about… love their build! It’s a big inspiration for us.

     Hope that helps!
     We would love to ride your local trail, just wait for us :p

     Cheers,
     Antoine

9. Would a queen sized foam mattress fit

   • The platform is 72″ wide (a bit less after you add the wood paneling) and a queen mattress is 60″. It will fit, depending if you build a side storage like we did. After we added the storage, we can fit a 54″ mattress.

10. What’s the max amount of weight you think this could hold?

    • Good question! I’m not gonna try it :p

      • Would you say two adults totaling 350lbs?

        • We’re at about 320lbs total i think, so 350lbs should be fine!

          If you doubt, you could use 1/2″ plywood in lieu of 3/8″ (or build thicker horizontal frames).

          cheers!

11. Quick question for you, Ford says max cargo length for the LWB EL is 172″ what are they actually referring to as you said you only have 80″ for the kitchen area?

    • I don’t know how they measured 172″?! I just measured and got 162″ from the back of the driver/passenger seats to the back of the van… so 162″-76″ = 86″ remaining for kitchen/living room (there is some inches lost here and there).

      Check the “Van Comparison” table at the end of this page for real-world measures:
      https://faroutride.com/ford-transit-camper-van/conversion-planning/van-selection/

12. Man, you guys are the inspiration!

    ?: what program are you using for your solid models?

    ?: Can’t remember if it was you guys or ?, but are you not snowboarders as well? Snowboards = winter surfing = close to water surfing = my other passion (besides skiing/mountain biking.

    Sooooooooo, where are you all planning on stowing the snowboards? I am looking to do something similar to you but w. space for 3 boards (10’/9’/? for last size) along w. the bikes and skiis.

    My modus operandi is to carry all at all times. You never know when you are passing by a once-in-a-life time unknown break going off (can you say malibu @ 4′ w 4 riders…not quit unknown but the quality), or MTB trail, or epic pow day. Grab and go!

    • Grab and go… i like how you think!

      We’ll be carrying 2 snowboards and 2 splitboards; they will be located under the platform bed, on the left side of the van just beside the bikes. Not sure how the boards will be stored yet, but i don’t expect it to be very challenging to figure out. The challenging (?) part will be to think of a way to efficiently drain the water from the melting snow.
      

      You can have a better view looking at the interactive 3d model here.

      We planned for about 65-70 inches length for storage, so our layout would not work for surf boards (or skis).

      Happy shredding!

13. Looks good!

    What IKEA mattress did you get. The link doesn’t work.

    • Thanks!
      We have the MEISTERVIK foam mattress, full size. It is only 4¾” thick so it is on the (very) firm side.

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