The Bed

What would a camper be without a bed?! You should know that while Aaron and I are both campers at heart our level of devotion is quite different. Aaron can sleep under the worst of circumstances. Good pad - bad pad - hot - cold - loud - quiet - it doesn't matter! He displayed this recently in Moab when we pulled into a parking lot and tried to sleep (tent style) while our fellow outdoor enthusiasts were SUPER loud for like an hour. I have never wanted to punch someone in the throat so bad and all this time Aaron was slumbering soundly next to me. I sleep at like 50% when we are tent camping anyway so add some annoying drunk guys and lets say I never wanted to go camping again. This is one of the reasons that we decided on a camper van. We can get a decent pad ($50 memory/regular foam pad), regulate our temperature ($10 space heater) & it will hopefully be quieter. After looking at several beds from conversion vans online we decided to go with a bench/bed combo and we knew the perfect guy to pull it off - This guy...

Aaron's brother Brian is great at making - well - anything. He built a "speaker box" for the frame out of 2x4's.



The baby blue is precious huh?


We then mounted the bed to the frame of the van. Note the strip of 2x4 on the opposite side, this is essential for the "fold-able" part of the bed. 

When we were thinking about bed options we wanted a bed that was functional and not always in the way.  We decided to go with a bed that could also function as a bench.  By hinging two pieces of plywood together we are able to fold the bed into a bench when it is not in use; plus it allows us to access all the storage underneath. When it is "unfolded" into the bed, I sleep on the side that is only resting on the strip of 2x4 since I weigh less than Aaron. 

For the mattress we found a mattress topper on KSL.com for $50.  It has 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of regular tough camping foam.  I love it!