Build a Campervan Bed
Time to create one of the most important parts of your self build campervan. The Campervan bed.
Taking into account you actually need to try to get some sleep in this converted wagon you need to plan your bed carefully and take into account 2 main factors.
- Comfort
- Practicality
Much of your campervan project planning will have already determined where the bed will go but perhaps not how the mechanism works or where the cushions are stored.
You can buy off the shelf campervan beds to fit in your conversion but they don’t always give you what you need or want. Lets take a look at the main camper bed options:
Rock n Rolla
Rock n Rolla campervan beds use a nifty mechanism to rock n roll a bench seat into a bed in a simple gliding movement. Often used in VW camper vans these can be a quick and straight forward way to fit a camper bed into your van. However they can be pricey.
A brand new Rock n Rolla bed can cost you up to £1000 depending on your requirements, e.g. leather covering, good quality foam cushions etc…
Or you could buy second hand on somewhere like ebay, Gumtree or Preloved where they can then range from £100 upward again depending on your campervan bed requirements. Take a look on our directory to find campervan bed supliers.
Note – If you are fitting a rock and rolla bed be aware that any seats which will be used as passenger seats in transit must be fitted to regulations.
Metal frame
Using metal allows flexibility of design for your campervan bed frame. But not all of us have the ability to weld and fabricate metal. If you can weld then great, you will be able to create the exact bed for your conversion. If not you could employ a welder for a little help here.
Wooden frame Campervan Bed
Wood for comfort is normally ideal but comes with its own challenges. Technical functionality is often complicated yet required to ensure strength and easy erection. Where as the Rock ‘n’ Roller beds have been specifically designed for space saving, when it comes to building a wood bed to fit in with your creative campervan design you need to have a clear idea of how to save space and at the same time create enough space for the cameprvan bed to comfortably fit at least one adult or in our case two adults over 6 foot.
The real benefit of wood is the creative designs you can make work within your conversion design. Folding panels with hinges, wooden slats for support, sliding mechanisms for extension and expansion to create space. You can both create an effective bed creation from some battens of wood and some wood screws, as well as create additional storage to hide away unsightly cables, pipes and other gubbins.
