Bed in Van

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Joined
Nov 13, 2017
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Location
Kalamazoo Michigan
The inside of our van is 56 inches across Gary is having bend seat and the 2 captain chairs torn out  to have someone build a bed in there so that when he lays down his feet don't hang  off the edge.  So a regular queen mattress will not fit. So I am curious what others did for a matress.  I thought we were going to use the fold down bench seat but he is taking it out because his feet hang off the edge so it wants it longer.
 
Is that above the wheel wells? I got a Queen in my '16 Chevy Express 3500, with a few inches to spare, above the wells.
 
I bought a mattress from IKEA and cut it to size- it’s really quite comfortable! I bought the one that is just over 7” thick. The deciding factor for me was the fact I could try them out before I bought.
 
Just about any foam seller will make a mattress to the exact measurements you want - and probably make a cover for it too.

Fitted sheets will need some alterations to fit, but they are made with such deep pockets these days that I wind up altering them for my home mattress, which is a standard size but not 14" thick, so you've got plenty to work with. Or you could try something like this - http://www.rvsuperbag.com/Aboutus.asp - and never have to tuck your bottom sheets in again.
 
laurielovesGary said:
The inside of our van is 56 inches across Gary is having bend seat and the 2 captain chairs torn out  to have someone build a bed in there so that when he lays down his feet don't hang  off the edge.  So a regular queen mattress will not fit. So I am curious what others did for a matress.  I thought we were going to use the fold down bench seat but he is taking it out because his feet hang off the edge so it wants it longer.

I removed the fold down couch in my van (seats were all ready out) and bought a 6" foam mattress. My brother and I built a platform for my bed. I opened the mattress cover and cut foam to fit, I sewed cover back up by hand. Fitted sheets fit well since they are for 14" deep mattresses. I use a mattress cover on it too. The one mistake we made was not making the bed high enough for storage underneath. We had to raise the bed up six inches after my first test trip because I changed storage box sizes. Measure twice, cut once!   :)
 
I had an Amazon price watch on camelcamelcamel and bought this twin size foam mattress when the price dropped below $90:

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Fits nicely crossways across the rear of the Promaster.
 
laurielovesGary said:
The inside of our van is 56 inches across Gary is having bend seat and the 2 captain chairs torn out  to have someone build a bed in there so that when he lays down his feet don't hang  off the edge.  So a regular queen mattress will not fit. So I am curious what others did for a matress.  I thought we were going to use the fold down bench seat but he is taking it out because his feet hang off the edge so it wants it longer.

I use a recliner. Due to a painful hip (Now replaced) I found it really useful to get up in the middle of the night and then kneel (to take a whiz) till I got my meds straightened out (Benign prostate swelling) 

After I move to a new van (2500 or 3500) I'll consider a bed. But for $350 can buy a really nice recliner.....Last quite awhile too. But that's my choice.
 
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