Homemade bedboards and platform removal

For bongoing parents to discuss issues re: travelling & camping with children.

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Aitami

Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by Aitami » Mon Aug 03, 2009 8:30 pm

Hi sleepyfoxes, I don´t know if this may help, but someone found a company that was selling memory foam and they were happy to cut it into the bongo roof shape, so I can´t see any reason if you give them the size of your panels why they couldn´t do it so you have it in pieces. The only thing is that you will have to sew some covers.

Just take a look here and see what you think.
http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... emory+foam
sleepyfoxes

Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by sleepyfoxes » Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:58 am

Thank you - I'll have a look - for the moment we're putting an airbed up there but it all needs stowing somewhere! :roll:
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by mobilecat » Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:34 pm

sleepyfoxes wrote:Thank you - I'll have a look - for the moment we're putting an airbed up there but it all needs stowing somewhere! :roll:
In my roof I store the 2 bedboards and a sleeping bag in the front, my silver screens in the middle, and a folded ready bed in the back section. Our duvet andpillows go behind the seat!
Nbongo

Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by Nbongo » Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:52 pm

I have shelled out £250 for the "Clearcut conversions" ceiling conversion. If money is an issue and you have the time it's an easy enough job to do yourself as it expensive for what is done.

They removed the existing ceiling.
Moved the internal ceiling light to the end of the van near the boot.
They put in one bedboard covered in grey material to tie in with the interior . The asked for the maximum length board board large enough to lie two inflated ready beds down. (I don't use the sun roof so was not worried about getting two differnt sized boards as shown on the forum.
At the end by the tailgate there is a hinged board which allows you access and obviously prevents children falling down.
The hinged board can be held up using a bungee cable to allow easy access to the roof beds.

I went away with my 5 year old and 21 month this weekend. This conversion worked perfectly.
The kids were not worried about being cut off with the hinged board at the end - I would recommend it for piece of mind and it makes things abit more snug for them. Leaving an opening would be a bit of distraction for them. As they found it hilarious peering over the edge at me and my wife lying below when we left the hinged board up in the morning..

So all in all recommended.

One question though - Could anyone recommend a firm/ supplier for a permanent made to measure covered foam mattress???? (just to cut down the need for ready beds)
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by dvisor » Sun Sep 13, 2009 3:37 pm

northerntaff wrote:
Remove the grab washer and pin...

Image
Is it just a case of applying brute force to that grab washer and levering it off with a screwdriver? Or is there a knack? I don't want to wreck the washer in case its difficult to get one the same.
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by hembramacho » Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:08 pm

It took me quite a bit to remove the pin. I just hammered a thin screwdriver in between the washer and 'other bit' and managed to lever it out. It didn't really damage it too much so I could probably reuse it again if needed.

Andrew
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by dvisor » Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:18 pm

hembramacho wrote:It took me quite a bit to remove the pin. I just hammered a thin screwdriver in between the washer and 'other bit' and managed to lever it out. It didn't really damage it too much so I could probably reuse it again if needed.

Andrew
Thanks Andrew. I've got them off now. Wrecked the black paint around the hinge with the screwdriver end, but at least I can get the roof platform off now.
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chipvan
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by chipvan » Sun Feb 07, 2010 12:51 pm

Going to have a go at this mod,then we can get the kids off to bed,get a dvd on and relax rather than all of us going to bed at the same time!
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by chipvan » Tue Apr 06, 2010 6:59 pm

just wonder...i got the wood today and seems like the fabric will get damaged bt wood.

really worried about all this now,iam not keen on taking out the roof as it is as the roof was fitted with it in,,,,mmmmm i must have a ponder
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by Alison01326 » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:33 pm

We haven't taken our original roof board off - we just push it up when the bed boards are in place.

When we are travelling, I don't keep the bed boards up there because on the occasions when I have done I have had some very nasty looking corner shaped "dents" in the roof fabric which with a bit of sharp braking could, I suspect, become corner shaped holes. The picnic table goes up there instead because it has a plastic top with rounded corners!!

I'm very, very reluctant indeed to block off the roof window as we have tinted windows downstairs and you can't see what you are doing without it (I don't do dim light very well anyway). I tend to sit with our son if my husband is driving so that I don't get a cricked neck and I do value the natural light (even when it's raining).
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hembramacho
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by hembramacho » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:37 pm

chipvan wrote:just wonder...i got the wood today and seems like the fabric will get damaged bt wood.

really worried about all this now,iam not keen on taking out the roof as it is as the roof was fitted with it in,,,,mmmmm i must have a ponder
Do you mean the AFT fabric? Not sure how the wood will damage it? :? It hasn't yet on ours and we've used the boards quite a few times.

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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by Alison01326 » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:02 pm

I do mean the AFT fabric. Obviously, it's only while they are in transit, and not in use as bed boards. I suppose I should try and stop them from sliding about (which is, I imagine, what they have been doing) or wrap them in a blanket or something so that. I'm reasonably sure that it's probably the way I have put them up there (piled on top of each other at the front) that is the reason, but I can't think of a better way of doing it. They aren't doing any harm downstairs, as we stuff plenty of other things up in the AFT while we are driving.

Any suggestions?

Actually, I am thinking of starting a new thread on "how do you pack your Bongo?"
Alison

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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by hembramacho » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:22 pm

Alison01326 wrote:I do mean the AFT fabric. Obviously, it's only while they are in transit, and not in use as bed boards. I suppose I should try and stop them from sliding about (which is, I imagine, what they have been doing) or wrap them in a blanket or something so that. I'm reasonably sure that it's probably the way I have put them up there (piled on top of each other at the front) that is the reason, but I can't think of a better way of doing it. They aren't doing any harm downstairs, as we stuff plenty of other things up in the AFT while we are driving.

Any suggestions?

Actually, I am thinking of starting a new thread on "how do you pack your Bongo?"
Good idea on the packing thread.
It was chipvan's roof I was wondering about the fabric.
Just for info, 2 of the 3 boards we've got have been upholstered and in transit one is at the front and one is at the back, so the sunroof can still be used. The smaller one sits on top of the upholstered one at the back, so the material helps it not to move, and I also stuff the girls' sleeping bags around it so it doesn't budge at all. Also the front one has 2 'dowels' sticking into the 2 holes in the metalwork that the original AFT floor sits in, and the back one I have drilled a small hole on either side which enable it to 'sit' in 2 of the original gas strut bolts I have left in place. These help them not to move also. I planned all along to carry them up in the roof space as we have a side conversion and nowhere else really to store them, so tried to think of the best way to do it. Works for us! :D
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by mikeonb4c » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:28 pm

WIth rough edges sanded off and rounded, then varnished, they should be quite fabric friendly. Unless I've missed something (probably have knowing me :lol: )
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Re: Homemade bedboards and platform removal

Post by chipvan » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:40 pm

Thanks guys,

yep i was worried about the nice condition aft fabric,so iam looking at doing what alison is currently doing ie.

put the roof back in and stash the sleeping boards under seat ect,the plop th boards in as and when needed..

thanks for the reply chaps!

will work great when in use!!
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