Rock and Roll bed platform

Sorry it’s been ages since I updates the Mr O’Leary blog there hasn’t been a whole load of progress recently but things are slowly getting moving again now.

Thought I’d do a quick post about the making of the bed platform that is required when a Bluebird rock and roll bed is fitted in a T25. They are designed to fit a bay window which has a higher engine bay panel. So once I’d bolted the bed in the correct position (I used rivnuts to bolt the bed in place – you can use standard bolts with nut on the back but it seemed neater to me to use rivnuts) I measured what height platform was required and set to work designing and building the platform.

Bed Platform - really must get round to gluing the oak edging onto the far left corner!

I decided to build two bottomless boxes – one that runs behind the seat, the other under the window next to the engine cover. It makes building the unit easier if you brake it down into sections like this. I opted for a hinged cover over the engine bay with storage space underneath. I’m not sure if this as useful as having a drawer in that area as some people have – this would make the contents more accessible but I went for a neater piano hinged cover in the name of design!

rock and roll bed platform

The two smaller side units also have piano hinged tops – the one on the left next to the engine bay is perfect for storing tools, mine is home for a socket set, jack, screwdrivers, mole grips and the all important hammer!

The tool chest! Not sure about the spanner lid stay!

I built the main unit from oak which I planed to the same thickness as the 12mm birch ply I used for the lids, the front edge of the lids are oak to match the rest of the cupboards and all finished with a couple of coats of spay lacquer.

The individual box sections are screwed together and then fixed to the van with small L brackets and self drilling screws (love those things!)

Things were finished off on the right hand side of the unit with an oak side which supports the main lid so it doesn’t sag. The main hinged lid is very stable as the back side is glued to the top so it rests on the bulk head of the van (if you see what I mean!?).

Back storage area which houses the 12v fuses and not much more at the moment

All in all it works well, I never get round to putting much in the front box, one side of it holds fuses for all the 12v stuff so it’s protected from stuff falling on it and is easily accessible. I’m sure I’ll find something else to live in there before too long.

Access to engine bay

I don’t generally keep much under the main lid of the platform, after all these are T25s and I quite often need access to the engine to fix some issue or other so don’t want to be moving loads of stuff to get to it.

rock and roll bed platform

I might consider changing the lid to house some drawers at some point to make it more useful as a storage area but it’ll do fine for now.

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