My wife and I bought a 2016 Crew Van 144 this past November. The plan is to use the rig for family camping trips (we have a 7 and 9 year old), for cycling events, around town and occasionally hauling loads.
Since delivery in late November I have been slowly converting it for camping use. Projects completed or in progress include:
• Insulation (Noico and Thinsulate). A shout out to Hein for the insulation and great service!
• Installation of an Espar D2 (under passenger seat)
• Stereo system upgrade (new deck, front and rear speakers, and subwoofer)
• Walls (with the help of a skilled buddy) the walls are plywood, 1/8” foam, and marathon fabric. This project is still in progress.
Now to the subject of this post. We wanted to go the panel bed route so that we could still use the van for cargo. Plus, we will put bunks for the kids below the panel bed. After doing some research I decided to go with Overland Sprinters (http://www.overlandsprinters.com/). From the get go, Eric at Overland Sprinters was super helpful. He was responsive and answered a lot of questions even though I told him I might make my own beds. Ultimately, I ordered from him. We ordered the 40” height bed rails, but I ordered the 44” height bed platforms because our walls are on the thick side. With the plywood, foam, and fabric they are almost ½” thick. The 44” platforms were a better fit because the walls slope in quite a bit and when stacking them on top of each other for storage, the 40” height platforms wouldn’t have worked.
After talking with some other folks who had installed these, I decided to keep it simple and install the bed rails with two bolts at the back and two bolts at the front of each rail (see pictures). I also decided to use Plusnuts rather than Rivnuts. Time will tell if this has enough strength, but so far so good. With that said, my wife and I together weight about 250lbs, so we aren’t putting a ton of weight on it. After we use this setup more I’ll post again with my impressions.
A few other steps we took for the install:
• Powder coated the bed rails and platforms.
• Used thumb screws for securing the bed panels to the bed rails.
• Used these between the panels and bed rails to keep them from vibrating and scratching the rails.
• Used ½” plywood on the platforms covered in marathon fabric.
I think the bed from Overland Sprinters is a great way to go if you want something at a reasonable price and you are willing to do the installation.
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2789.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2791.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2796.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2788.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2787.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2812.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2885.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2888.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2891.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2893.jpg
Since delivery in late November I have been slowly converting it for camping use. Projects completed or in progress include:
• Insulation (Noico and Thinsulate). A shout out to Hein for the insulation and great service!
• Installation of an Espar D2 (under passenger seat)
• Stereo system upgrade (new deck, front and rear speakers, and subwoofer)
• Walls (with the help of a skilled buddy) the walls are plywood, 1/8” foam, and marathon fabric. This project is still in progress.
Now to the subject of this post. We wanted to go the panel bed route so that we could still use the van for cargo. Plus, we will put bunks for the kids below the panel bed. After doing some research I decided to go with Overland Sprinters (http://www.overlandsprinters.com/). From the get go, Eric at Overland Sprinters was super helpful. He was responsive and answered a lot of questions even though I told him I might make my own beds. Ultimately, I ordered from him. We ordered the 40” height bed rails, but I ordered the 44” height bed platforms because our walls are on the thick side. With the plywood, foam, and fabric they are almost ½” thick. The 44” platforms were a better fit because the walls slope in quite a bit and when stacking them on top of each other for storage, the 40” height platforms wouldn’t have worked.
After talking with some other folks who had installed these, I decided to keep it simple and install the bed rails with two bolts at the back and two bolts at the front of each rail (see pictures). I also decided to use Plusnuts rather than Rivnuts. Time will tell if this has enough strength, but so far so good. With that said, my wife and I together weight about 250lbs, so we aren’t putting a ton of weight on it. After we use this setup more I’ll post again with my impressions.
A few other steps we took for the install:
• Powder coated the bed rails and platforms.
• Used thumb screws for securing the bed panels to the bed rails.
• Used these between the panels and bed rails to keep them from vibrating and scratching the rails.
• Used ½” plywood on the platforms covered in marathon fabric.
I think the bed from Overland Sprinters is a great way to go if you want something at a reasonable price and you are willing to do the installation.
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2789.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2791.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2796.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2788.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2787.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2812.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2885.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2888.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2891.jpg
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq108/cewarren/Spinter - Bed Install/IMG_2893.jpg