VannaBelle...under construction..

1993 Chevrolet G20  205,000 miles.

She's a retired small family owned medical supply company van, meticulously maintained I have the records, runs like new!

5.7L, 4L60E, power steering and brakes.  Manual everything else.

I'm going to start with flooring, walls and a Murphy bed/desk (if I can pull it off) then spend some time camping in it, getting some experience and figuring out what I need to full time and how I want to set it up. 

Here's the bed/desk I have in mind:

http://www.bookofjoe.com/2008/03/computer-bed.html

I'm not fond of cold weather so I'm not heavily insulating.  1" polystyrene on walls is done.  Will do same on ceiling.  The floor is 3/4 tounge and groove plywood glued (construction adhesive) and bolted down.

I found 1/4 inch Baltic Birch prefinished.  Looks nice and saved enough labor to be worth every bit of the $53/sheet price.  I've screwed this into the vertical ribs using 1" self drillers.

The flooring is floating vinyl plank of the snap together variety.  I did NOT enjoy installing this stuff!  I found it very difficult to get properly aligned and snapped together properly.  It does look nice.

Bed frame frame-up complete.  Plywood and 1x4.  My first time using pocket holes.  Fun stuff! 

Photos are one of many adjustments figuring out positioning of the swivel mount in an attempt to achieve 90 degree vertical in the 'stowed' position.  As you can see, I'm not quite there yet.  Trial and error......more like error and error!  But...one more lowering and I think I can move on to the trials of getting the desk portion to function!

Mobile Mike Sutton I wanted to compliment you on your build it sure looks like it will be awesome not sure why others havent commented but please let us know your progress and of course MORE PIC"S!
Peace & Blessings!
MikesgonenoMAD

Thank you MikesGonenoMAD! 

Long way to go yet, but I'll be camping soon.  Spent most of the day tinkering and fine tuning the Murphy bed.  Getting closer to having that completed.  Spare tire carrier arrived today so I took a break and installed it.   It's nice to have the spare out of my future living space!

Cheers!

Mobile Mike Sutton said:

Here's the bed/desk I have in mind:  http://www.bookofjoe.com/2008/03/computer-bed.html

Click to expand...

The Murphy is great.  Such an arrangement would force me to keep the desktop free of anything Sophia (5 lb dog) could chew, like the $50 bill she managed to chew away the serial # on.

If I can't find a reasonable van/MH to replace Greybeard, I would consider a hightop to be built with just such a Murphy bed-Desk combo.

Keep the photos coming, and any hints or problems you solved during your build  

Thanks max+sophia!

The Murphy is a XL Twin because I'm 6'3".  I can't sleep crosswise so this is my solution.  I can't find any free plans for the Murphy Bed/desk combo which I deemed necessary for the space lost by having a bed lengthwise.  The desk will also serve as kitchen counter.  Anyway, no plans just means I look at a bunch of pictures and spend time figuring it out.  Yesterday I finally succeeded in finding the magic location to place the pivot so the bed can fold straight up and not hit the ceiling and still clear the wheel well.  I've cut the parts for the desk/counter and this week if the rain holds off I'll do a temp assemble and begin trying to figure out how to hinge it so it stays parallel to the floor and supports the bed in the down position.  There is probably some mathematical formula for these things but darned if I am bright enough to discover it.

I will be stealth camping in this low top while I continue working until I bank a pre determined wad of cash to keep me comfy until I can draw retirement funds.  Thus I chose a low top.  What I really would like is a 12' cutaway box truck.  Nice and square to build, wide enough to sleep across, and more than enough space.  I  couldn't afford the more than 10K going rate and going into debt didn't make sense.  I may learn that I can be comfortable in my current build.  If not, well, I'll figure out how to upgrade!

I hope you find an adequate replacement for Greybeard!

Michael

Mobile Mike Sutton said:

Thanks max+sophia!  I may learn that I can be comfortable in my current build.  If not, well, I'll figure out how to upgrade!

Click to expand...

 
Michael,  Since you will be putting so much time and effort into your current build (name?), you may want to consider adding a hitop rather than starting all over with a new unit.  I believe there's a video that shows such an addition.

As I see the Murphy lowered to the bed, it seems a heavy cloth attached to the front bed board might be a good idea to keep dust from settling on the desktop and perhaps infiltrating electronic gear.  Cloth flips over mattress + bedding before closing the unit, then when the bed it raised exposing the desk, the cloth flips down neatly covering the entire lower area.  Good idea or no?  Max