Plywood alternative?

[gcal]

FWIW if I end up going with this design I plan to use some sort of nylon or polypropylene webbing as suggested earlier, e.g. one of these. I would feel better about the supportive material being stronger and lying flatter, and the cost isn't prohibitive.



Thanks! Actually my first "vandewlling" (cardwelling) bed ever was comprised solely of bins with a very thin board laid over them. A few ended up breaking, but the main issue is under the bed is about 60% of all my storage, and if only counting storage I access often, it's more like 90%. When bins form the support of a bed they become difficult to access, which is fine if all your deep storage stuff is there but not so much if you need to access it a dozen or more times per day. There's not much room in a minivan to begin with but what is there needs to be as accessible as possible!


I appreciate the idea. A "pain to move" for me can put me out an entire week, so unfortunately it's not an option for me. I'm forced to find solutions to what others deem a small annoyance, simply because it's disabling for me personally. Now I could simply build my life around "well if I want to move that others will have to help me" but I choose to make a solid attempt towards making my life doable for myself to manage independently. I have found myself at the mercy of strangers and known abusers way too many times in my life, for reasons similar to realizing I can't move the bed myself and asking for help, or attempting to move it anyway and perhaps succeeding but then requiring assistance in order to eat for the next several days. I might not be able to solve everything that leads to such scenarios but I'm now quite hopeful that a satisfactory solution to this one is achievable--one that does not compromise on what's most important to me.

You mismisnderstood me. How big a piece can you move easily by yourself? You use pieces that size that you can take apart and put back together with simple fasteners and brackets.

 

[masterplumber]

Or you could wander over to the plumbing section and get a tubing cutter. With a little practice they make cutting EMT conduit a breeze. The trick is to tighten a little, go once around, tighten a little more, go once around, rinse and repeat until it cuts through. The one Home Depot stocks that'll cut 1" conduit is a little under $30. You can get something comparable from Harbor Freight for about $5.
[img=400x400]http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pr...91-c2c5-4f62-b5ba-24430f8ff57b_1000.jpg[/img]

I wouldn't say the Harbor Freight one is equivalent. It may be adequate for one project if that's all you need it for, but I've tried using cheaper ones that others have owned. They almost never track straight so you end up fighting to make a cut completely around the pipe. I've even broken a cutting wheel on an almost new one, and that was cutting copper which is much softer than EMT. I buy tarps and many other things at Harbor freight, and even a great little Recip saw after a friend bought one and it held up, but I shy away from most of their tools. But that's just me, as I have to use them everyday to earn a living, and I don't need any more frustrations in life. If you're only going to use it once, it may be worth saving the bucks and taking a chance.

 

[SoulRaven]

You mismisnderstood me. How big a piece can you move easily by yourself? You use pieces that size that you can take apart and put back together with simple fasteners and brackets.

There are two factors in play: the weight of the piece and the amount of times I'm lifting/moving it. More pieces = more moving. My disability is actually not one of strength, it's of endurance. That's why I could, for example, move larger pieces but then for days afterwards would not have the strength for simple tasks like feeding myself while my body recovers.

Thus, if I'm going to move multiple pieces, they must be even smaller than if I am just moving one. By test lifting some scraps of wood currently lying around where I'm house-sitting at the moment, I could move pieces that are about 2 foot by 10 inches, but that's of 1/4 inch plywood. I could move perhaps 10 of those before I'd have to start factoring in a potential crash. But we're talking thicker plywood than that, and adding on the effort of fasteners and brackets, and trying to figure it without a whole lot of structural support.

I understand the concept of what you're presenting, but I think you might misunderstand the limitations involved.

 

[myway_1]

FWIW if I end up going with this design I plan to use some sort of nylon or polypropylene webbing as suggested earlier, e.g. one of these. I would feel better about the supportive material being stronger and lying flatter, and the cost isn't prohibitive.

I would too but I can't figure out how to wrap them or tie off the ends so that they'll stay tight.

 

[sephson]

...It may be adequate for one project if that's all you need it for,...

That actually was my thinking here. For everyday or frequent use, I'd go with the Home Depot version, but I think in Bitty's case, where she's looking at a single project with a tool she'll probably never use again, I think the Harbor freight tool would be a better choice from a strictly budgetary standpoint.. I failed to make that point in my initial post though.

Thank you for bringing it up!

 

[BigT]

Have you thought about cutting that 30 x 70 inch piece of plywood in half?  Could you manage 30 x 35 inches?  

Put 4 legs under each half and connect the two halves together with some kind of quick disconnect. 

I like this idea a lot.  You'd end up with two smaller beds that could be joined for sleeping or separated and you'd have two smaller benches for sitting around on either inside or outside of the van. 
I like plywood because it's so darn easy to work with, but there are some great suggestion being offered here.

 

[myway_1]

I built a bed very similar to the one suggested by Off Grid 24/7. You can see it in the thread titled Conduit and Rope Bed. It is very light, especially after removing the legs, which takes less than two minutes.

 

[SoulRaven]

After slowly gathering the supplies and working through a lot of set-backs, the bed is coming together!

I do have another question, though. I ultimately decided to go with a plastic piping frame (it oddly worked out as PVC fittings to ABS pipe) with a platform made of pink foam board sandwiched between two layers of corrugated plastic. The foam board I got was 2" thick. I'm now realizing it's a fight for every centimeter of headroom I can shave off to meet the ideal of being able to sit up straight in bed while still having usable storage underneath.

Any advice on whether 1" or 1.5" foam board might be sufficient instead? The most weight it needs to hold is two people at say 110 pounds max (what? We're both trying to gain weight and I'm planning accordingly!) roughhousing around on it a fair bit.

Part of me thinks "What's the worst that could happen?" I'm like 11" off the floor of my van with stuff filling the storage underneath, and it's not like the corrugated plastic is capable of splitting. Worst case is I'd get a lumpy bed with dips in it where the foam has bent or broken, right?

Just trying to sort it out. The frame isn't fully completed yet, I'm still waiting on 2 more fittings...

 

[SoulRaven]

Oops, correction: what I have is 1.5" thick. Wondering if 1" thick would still work okay.

 

[masterplumber]

Ha, I was just reading this and thinking I should go buy some 1'' and corrugated plastic and test it out. I'm roughly the same as the two of you at 230 lbs! That said, I think testing it is going to be the only way to find out as while I like the idea, I've never seen it done. Just don't hurt yourself!