Homemade bedboards and platform removal

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idetika
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by idetika » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:42 pm

hembramacho wrote:
Alison01326 wrote:I do mean the AFT fabric. Obviously, it's only while they are in transit, and not in use as bed boards. I suppose I should try and stop them from sliding about (which is, I imagine, what they have been doing) or wrap them in a blanket or something so that. I'm reasonably sure that it's probably the way I have put them up there (piled on top of each other at the front) that is the reason, but I can't think of a better way of doing it. They aren't doing any harm downstairs, as we stuff plenty of other things up in the AFT while we are driving.

Any suggestions?

Actually, I am thinking of starting a new thread on "how do you pack your Bongo?"
Good idea on the packing thread.
It was chipvan's roof I was wondering about the fabric.
Just for info, 2 of the 3 boards we've got have been upholstered and in transit one is at the front and one is at the back, so the sunroof can still be used. The smaller one sits on top of the upholstered one at the back, so the material helps it not to move, and I also stuff the girls' sleeping bags around it so it doesn't budge at all. Also the front one has 2 'dowels' sticking into the 2 holes in the metalwork that the original AFT floor sits in, and the back one I have drilled a small hole on either side which enable it to 'sit' in 2 of the original gas strut bolts I have left in place. These help them not to move also. I planned all along to carry them up in the roof space as we have a side conversion and nowhere else really to store them, so tried to think of the best way to do it. Works for us! :D
Andrew
We've had the boards in the roof for 12 months with absolutely no damge to the AFT fabric.
Ours are also secured using the gas strut bolt and never move.
We also sit on one on top of the other to keep the sunroof visible, and keep the silver window screens up there as well.
:D :D
(Am liking the sound of a 'how do you pack your Bongo' thread!! :wink: )
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by hembramacho » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:49 pm

idetika wrote:We've had the boards in the roof for 12 months with absolutely no damge to the AFT fabric.
Ours are also secured using the gas strut bolt and never move.
We also sit on one on top of the other to keep the sunroof visible, and keep the silver window screens up there as well.
Forgot to add we also keep the silver screen up top at the front - cheers idetika for reminding me. I actually got a lot of ideas from you when I was making mine, including securing them with the bolts, etc., so thanks for that! :D

Andrew
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by chipvan » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:52 pm

FANTASTIC!!!

I ve cracked it,gone with a slightly different idea...

right ,i put back in all the standard bits,ie front panel and lit up roof board,and going along the same idea as before ive found by leaving the origional front board in place you only need one extra board.

the height between the two will need to be made up on the wood extra sleeping board.

Then we will have a standard van and just throw in one extra board for the kids,as the grow a bit we can extend a bit more as well,at that point we may have 2 verry small boards..




verry happy now!!!




=D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>
One more for you,,
is it worth fixing up the standard roof boards some how just incase that it falls down in sleeping aera??
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by B*Witched Blingo » Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:57 am

What a good read this thread has become and I'm sure there are many of us out there with the issues of accessing the roof space when a body is asleep up there.

My issues are that I usually have a teenager up there that seems to sleep forever and very deeply and the second problem being that I usually go to bed after she does. This means I have to tap/bang on the roof to get her to roll over for me to open the hatch. I have taken to the idea of sleeping downstairs on one half of the seats flattened and the other remains upright for the pooch to sleep.

I like the idea of leaving downside set up as a lounge so that I have somewhere to sit and make a coffee early in the morning leaving the teenager to sleep.

I'd like to just throw an idea into the pot. If you keep the original roof with light attached in and lift you have the original grey board over the cab. Now, we have a reasonably thick mattress up there all season and it is quite bulky to store anywhere else. So If you made another board to a length that allows access at the bottom as a lot of you have done and match the height of the original with pegs, could you store it on the the back door on hooks? There is a good deal of flat space there. I would also think that a selection of holes would give good ventilation to stop the condensation build up on the Varnished or Painted wood section. Also with a good sized circle hole appropriatley placed you could then still access the emergency tailgate handle.

Has anyone thought of using PVC Barge board material instead of Plywood?


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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by mobilecat » Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:29 am

The ideas on this thread are starting to make my little bed board arrangement rather primitive - but for anyone that wants to have a go - it works perfectly.

I have two boards only. They are thick enough to be the right height next to the cab piece that is already there. They but up to this piece at one end, to each other in the middle and almost to the struts at the other end. The are heavy enough to stay in place with nothing holding them to each other or to anything else. We have never had a problem with them moving or with them falling or slipping. Each has a very thin yoga mat stuck to it just to make it less hard and to avoid the need to sand or paint the top. The end where minimc climbs up and down has a plastic sheath over it, the sort you use on cupboards and bookcase (cost about £1). Its glued on and it has never moved - so he can slide on his tummy over it nicely. We haven't removed anything - roof, bolts etc. I did paint the bottom of them.

When we don't take him with us we don't take the boards either but if we do, they sit above the cab nicely with no problems.

They are starting to feel a little low tech!
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by chipvan » Wed Apr 07, 2010 1:11 pm

by leaving the panel at6 the fron in place(grey)we fing we only need one board now,

so the bed goes from the standard bit onto the new bit of ply,

found that the sponge camping roll bed cut into 2 srrips pack out the height from the wood to be flush with the standard bit.

also wont scratch pain either.

so we are leavingthe whole lot standard and sliding in one bit when making up bed,the ply is not big so cab stash it ok some where in the bongo
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by Alison01326 » Thu Apr 08, 2010 1:08 am

mobilecat wrote:They are starting to feel a little low tech!
Fear not, ours are even lower tech!! We didn't make ours - I acquired them from forum member Jolly Rogers when he sold his Bongo, and I wasn't sure whether Isaac would take to them as he had managed before with the trap door (it was me who unhappy with the access).

Anyway, we have two boards which are made of MDF so really rather heavy, one slightly larger than the other. They are not covered or painted or varnished, so definitely as low tech as they get!! :wink: The larger one fits against the grey bit at the front and we leave a bit of a gap for more heat to get up so the other one is against the struts which hold the floor up. The gap isn't big enough to cause a problem, and as Isaac sleeps on a Ready Bed he can't feel the gap. The boards are an interference fit so don't shift without a bit of effort. When he goes up to bed, the smaller board sits on the larger board and his bed is folded up on the grey bit. He sits and waits on the grey bit while I move the board and then he sorts his bed out after that. In the morning the proces is reversed - he folds his bed back onto the grey bit and waits for me to move the board so he can come down. Bit of a faff but it works for us.

I have wondered about using those foam floor tiles that fit together like jigsaws as a bit of extra something on the floor up there as we sometimes take a few with us for the awning, if we have room (this sort of thing http://www.amazon.co.uk/Premium-Andrew- ... 27&sr=8-10 I have never actually tried them for size, though.

Some pics ....

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Staying out of the way

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Making a move

Image
Lining up for the drop zone! He has got hold of the trap door hole of the standard floor because he wants me to put the camera down and get ready to catch him :roll:

Incidentally, the Ready Bed is the "Rest & Relax" sort which folds into a chair.
Alison

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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by mobilecat » Thu Apr 08, 2010 6:34 pm

Alison - you need one small fix and yours are perfect and low tech like mine.

If you do something to the 'up and over' end, then he can climb up on his own. I used a plastic strip.

I sit on the back seat. Judah stands on my lap, then climbs onto my shoulders, then climbs up. This means I can put it out and ready while he changes for bed and then he just gets up. COming down, he just needs someone to catch him :)
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by Scigsy » Fri May 07, 2010 9:54 am

Any chance northerntaff's helpful notes and pictures can be made into a fact sheet? I'm not very DIY savvy so thought I'd print off all the advice, but its not proving easy! It's obviously a hot topic with many parents interested in adapting their roof access to make it more child-friendly (and consequently adult friendly!).

We had our first weekend away and had difficulty getting two sleepy, upset 4 year olds to obey commands from below to move out of the way so the hatch could be lifted and cuddles dispensed.

Thanks, Scigsy
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by mobilecat » Fri May 07, 2010 10:26 am

Scigsy wrote:Any chance northerntaff's helpful notes and pictures can be made into a fact sheet? I'm not very DIY savvy so thought I'd print off all the advice, but its not proving easy! It's obviously a hot topic with many parents interested in adapting their roof access to make it more child-friendly (and consequently adult friendly!).

We had our first weekend away and had difficulty getting two sleepy, upset 4 year olds to obey commands from below to move out of the way so the hatch could be lifted and cuddles dispensed.

Thanks, Scigsy
Hi and welcome to the forum. If you pop your location in your profile you will be awarded with more local advice and assistance - invaluable.
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by umbongocat » Sat May 22, 2010 7:45 pm

northerntaff wrote:A few weeks ago, I had a PM from new forum member Mrs Muffinhead. She was asking about how we'd made the Bongo more usable for a family of four, considering the potential difficulties the roof hatch can cause with communication and checking on kids whilst sleeping etc.

I promised to take some photos for her, and now I have I thought I'd put them up as a post so that the info's there for anyone else to use.

Please note this was not my idea originally I've just copied from someone else on here...I'm good at that :roll: :lol:

We made the bed boards last year from 18mm plywood. They're obviously strong enough for the kids, but they're fine for me too (6' and more than 13st :oops: ). They are in three sections all 1100mm wide. Two the same depth 580mm (to go at the front and middle) and then a smaller one at the back 420mm.

Image

I removed the original panel above the cab to ensure the boards all lay down together smoothly, and as you can see the first board is notched at the top to go around the tent support arm thingies. (note - when the boards are in storage in the roof space and not is use this board has to be slid back to allow these arms to fold down).

Image

Each board is drilled in the edge to allow the next piece to fit together with dowells. I also added little self adhesive rubber pads on the edges of the Bongo roof floor (!) so that the boards weren't resting on the metal or trim.

Image

Once the boards are in I use a little wedge to stop them moving...

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Then it's mattresses on top

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Having used these in the past by storing them in the roof whilst going away it has limited using the roof space for other things - i.e. sleeping bags, pillows, duvet, and of course it takes a bit of time to set up. So last weekend I decided to take the platform out such that the boards and beds, sleeping bags and pillows can be left up there ready. All I have to do is slide the whole thing back around 6" to allow the front tent supports to go down flat. It was easy to take the platform out, and of course can be put back in easily, so it's not a permanent thing.

Remove the grab washer and pin...

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Take out the gas strut bolts (sorry about the pic quality)

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Unclip the light plug (sorry about the pic quality again :roll: )

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The result is suprisingly a lot more room to get up and down, less hassle on set up and a nice little shelf area!

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We have got soooooo many ideas through bongofury and yours is one we're using. I didn't like the idea of our 3 year old up there and potentially blocking the trap door, so we've gone out and bought some plywood and plan to change things around in the roof :) I couldn't get hold of 18mm plywood but got 13mm. Think this should do for her for now and we'll look in the future for some thicker plywood for us :) Thanks for the wonderful idea!
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by emmakayak » Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:42 pm

Help Needed.... My lovely Father in Law has made us some fab bedboards but we have just tried to remove the platform and cant work out how to remove the pimch washer on the pin at the back? Any suggestions greatfully received! :D

Cheers, Emma
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by hembramacho » Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:53 pm

emmakayak wrote:Help Needed.... My lovely Father in Law has made us some fab bedboards but we have just tried to remove the platform and cant work out how to remove the pimch washer on the pin at the back? Any suggestions greatfully received! :D

Cheers, Emma
They are tricky aren't they!
In the end I got a thin-edged screwdriver and hammered it under the washer (pimch - is that what they're called? - cool!). Then when enough was under levered it off. Wrecked the washer, but I figured I could get replacements if I really needed to.

Hope that helps

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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by umbongocat » Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:39 pm

They're tricky and bed boards are quite heavy. Umbongochris came up with the idea of cutting the original roof and 321 Away went with the idea. It's fab and no need for heavy ply wood :)

Check out the pics of what we've done to our roof, it works perfectly for kids and adults :)

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 7&start=15
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by emmakayak » Tue Jul 05, 2011 9:09 am

Thanks for the tip.... Pimch was a typo.... I think it's a "pinch" rivot (which explains why its so flipping difficult to remove!!).

Emma
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