Building the convertible sofa bed involved four stages: frame, storage, cushions, and electrical. The electrical refers to our battery storage and electrical system, which are located under the left side of the couch. This will be discussed in a later article.

Note: Below this point, the frame will be depicted using three shades (silver, grey, and black) to help differentiate between each section.

Many people add a platform bed in the back of their van to maximize storage space. However, because we work out of our van and knew we would be spending a lot of time inside it, we wanted to make the space was comfortable. So, we came up with a different sofa bed design.

The design features we wanted to incorporate include:

• Open space — bed converts into a sofa
• Views out all windows — sofa is located behind driver’s seat
• Comfortable and spacious seating that reclines — quality foam cushion material and segmented into three parts

The cushions can be reclined by pulling a 1/3 of the frame out further and the sofa can be converted into a bed.

• Comfortable cushions for sleeping on — two different densities of foam for the right amount of firmness
• Cushions that don’t separate throughout the night — cushion covers that zip together
• Bed that is quick and easy to setup and put away — cushions can be folded such that they never need to be unzipped (except for transporting)
• Bed that can be setup without opening any doors — width of bed is slightly smaller than the width of the van
• Floor doesn’t need to be cleared to setup bed — frame segmented into three parts with support legs not being joined
• Queen size bed — almost, -5″ in length

Left – Cabinet support for anchoring the fridge.  | Right – Vertical, movable post.

• Leg supports that won’t wear the floor overtime — used ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW) as feet for the legs
• Easy to clean cushion covers — easily removable with zippers and being divided into three segments
• Storage underneath — compact frame allowing room for a built in drawer and long-term storage space
• Access to all storage areas — hinges in frame allowing for the top of the frame to be easily lifted

The frame consists of three movable parts, as well as, a stationary base (silver) that is anchored to the floor and wall. The top of the frame rotates on two hings, allowing access to the storage space underneath. The black section of the frame is bound between the bed slats and grey section of the frame (hard to see in the figure below) and moves in and out, forming the second 1/3 of the bed. The 3/4″ Euro Poplar sheet rotates on a piano hinge forming the third 1/3 of the bed. It rests on the section of cabinet anchoring the fridge to the van and a vertical leg.

 Click on the points to learn more about each part. | * The 1″ Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene is depicted incorrectly (as metal feet) in this model.

Most of the bed frame was built using extruded aluminum from 80/20 Inc. Not only is extruded aluminum easy to work with, but it is lightweight, very strong and easy to anchor to the van’s frame. 80/20 Inc. sells extruded aluminum at a reasonable price and provides an option to machine all of the parts for you, which will save you time.

The bed slats and bed platform were built from 3/4″ Euro Poplar to save weight. Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene was used as feet for the support legs to keep from damaging the floor.

 Click on the points to learn more about each part. | Left – long term and electrical storage. | Located underneath the sofa. | Right – drawer for storing items.

We chose to use three cushions, instead of one, so that they could be both a bed mattress and cushion with a back for the sofa. To join the cushions, three cushion covers were sewn and joined by zippers.