Hilarious video of our 2014 road trip to 22 states and 15 national parks...
Ram ProMaster RV Camper Van Conversion - Beds and Storage
This is the original conversion we did. If you are looking for the index page of this project, click here. If you want to see the new build, click here.Bed Framing
The bed on the driver's side (Jerry's bed), is 82" long and 27" wide. The distance from the floor to the platform that holds the mattress is 20". This allows sufficient room for the batteries, air conditioner and a little storage. Keeping the bed as low as possible for Jerry is a priority. He doesn't climb very well and having a lower bed makes transferring to it easier. Here are a couple of pictures of the framing for Jerry's bed. You can see A/C and the converter mounted in place. There is a divider between each end to separate the batteries from the electrical stuff.
The top of the bed is MDF board and that will serve as the the part that the mattresses sit on. On the driver's side, it is split down the middle and hinged to allow access to the items under the bed. The batteries must have their water level checked once a month so having access to that end is a must. The other end will allow us to use any free space for storage, which isn't much but every little bit counts. The A/C and converter don't require servicing unless one of them breaks, so having access for that is necessary. Here are some pictures of Jerry's bed showing the MDF board and the hinged openings.
Cynthia's bed is 72" long and 25" wide. It is 24" high to allow room for the refrigerator. She can still climb a little, so it is not a big deal for her bed to be a little higher. This side will have the refrigerator under it, a cook top and sink, and the LP tank. The LP compartment has all the seams sealed and it is coated on the inside. A 1" hole was drilled through the floor for ventilation. The access door for the LP is at the back and secured by 4 bolts with wing nuts. The trim is covered with a squishy material so the compartment will seal when the access door is on. The wing nuts make it so we can open it with out fingers and not require a wrench. Here a couple shots of the progress thus far...
Since the beds are not normal sizes, we had to buy a queen size memory foam mattress and cut it to fit each bed. Here's a shot of the exposed foam right after we cut it. As you can see, on a 6" mattress you get 2" inches of actual memory foam and 4" of plain old foam. What a ripoff, and this is supposed to be a highly rated brand of mattress! We used a very sharp 8" blade knife to cut it and it was quite easy. We found out on our first camping trip that 6" of foam isn't quite enough when placed on a hard surface. We added another 4" of actual memory foam under the mattress to make it more comfortable, so now we have 10" thick mattresses.
The picture above is the passenger side bed with the cutouts for the fridge, 2 drawers and a small door to allow access to the area under the sink. We will keep a 4 or 5 gallon fresh water container in there. I am certainly no cabinet maker and am unsure if I can make a set of drawers or not. I am going to give it a go, we'll just have to see how that turns out.