What are your slats made of?

[Misty Meg]

I want to make up some slats to do across the centre for when I make up the bed across the whole width. I've bought some wood but wondered what other people have used, beaing in mind weight and how the store away when not in use?

[txfsealord]

Hi Meg,

I've used 3 pieces of good-quality planed softwood, they are about 5" wide by 3/4" thick & an easy fit across the footwell rebates (van's folded at the moment otherwise I'd measure them exactly). They pack tidily away in the locker next to the n/s wheelarch, with other interior-structure parts. Softwood is reasonably light, very rigid & not expensive.

We found when making up the double bed, we were very short of room; not unusual in these vans I know, but bed-assembly is worst-case in my opinion. It's helpful to be able to add or take out the planks one at a time when working, so I haven't linked them together in any way, they're simply loose planks.

Steve Lord

[Admin]

I bought a cheap set of pine single bed slats from eBay, measured the gap between the lockers and cut each slat in turn to fit. Sanded down the corners so they sit nicely on the edge of the lockers, then stapled some bed slat ribbon to hold them at the correct spacing when they're put in place. I then got some thin (4-5mm) ply, and cut that into three pieces to lay over the slats so you don't feel the slats through the cushions.

The size of the ply boards means they store perfectly into the bay window at the front of the Portafold; and they hold the slats in place behind them.

Before I stapled the ribbon to them:

With the boards laid on top: