How tall a bed?

[ganchan]

I'm trying to figure out how tall a bed I can manage to fit into a Toyota Sienna minivan (circa 2005-ish). I only have specs for the current model year, which indicate that the 2nd-row head room is 39.7 inches. I'm about 5'11" and I'd like to be able to (a) sit on the bed and (b) have room underneath to stash supplies....

A 10-inch platform bed + 5" foam mattress = 15" off the ground. My knee is about 19" off the ground when I'm standing in shoes....

Whaddya think? Is that about as tall a frame as I can manage? Would a 14"-tall frame be pushing things?

 

[Almost There]

When you're sitting on a foam mattress that is 5" thick, you will not be 5" above the bed platform.

The only way to figure out how much headroom you need is to take a tape measure, sit on the foam and measure from your butt to the top of your head while in the seated position.

Then you can work backwards, making sure you include the depth of the plywood base in your calculations for how long the legs need to be.

IIWM, I'd wait for the figuring until you actually have the vehicle. Headroom will vary depending on where in the van you're going to be putting the bed and where the sitting part of the bed is going to be (ie, you're not going to be sitting at the head of the bed most likely).

 

[Johnston]

I happen to remeber taking a tape measure to a 2nd Gen Sienna at a dealership a few years back. What, that's normal, right? I'm a little hazy, but I think the height behind the first row was 48" I think it gets shorter further back with the roof slope. A Suburban also had 48" height in the second row but went to 40" very quickly aft of that.

 

[SternWake]

My bed height was determined by the width of the van. When the mattress is compressed 50% I wanted it to be at widest point in my van.

This is about 18 to 20 inches in a full size Dodge. it is not a comfortable height for sitting on with legs dangling (no headroom issues), but that almost never happens in my usage.

I say make the height which allows you to maximize underneath storage, like 3 underbed boxes stacked, or a 5 gallon bucket, or a cooler, ect.

Sitting on a surface without a backrest is uncomfortable anyway. Make the bed comfortable for sleeping first, then worry about max utility of storage room underneath, then sitting on it, is my recommendations.