Sleeping Platform and storage system

This shows the sleeping platform I made in the back of my Suburban. The goal was to keep the center of gravity low, and to provide a little insulation as well as room for a full size mattress. The mattress you see towards the end is a full size mattress from IKEA.

Here you can see the empty rear, with the plywood and stuff. I used a 4x8 sheet of 12mm hardwood plywood. Probably overkill, but I didn't feel like doing this twice.

Some in progress shots

I decided to cut the supports on an angle. This made a little less weight (those supports are 2x8's with a 1x2 mounted on top to give me the hieght I wanted) and made it easier to slide in. It also makes it so I can squeeze longer things in, and I have room to run cables, or whatever I can think up later.

I really mulled over how to best spread the compartments out. Part of me wanted just three long "alleys". Part of me wanted lots of little ones. I ended up with a mix, and only one hinged trap door. Here is me laying out the supports to see if they made sense.

here is me test fitting it into the truck. I just tacked everything in place.

These are from a couple days later, when I finished everything. I flipped it over on my lawn, and buttressed a bunch of stuff and carpeted it.

Here you can see the carpet, and the piano hinge I used.

I basically just cut and stapled as I went...

Here's the cutout for the trap door handle.

Here's the little piece that goes behind the passenger rear. I couldn't build this all as one piece because it wouldn't have slid in. So I made this removeable. It isn't hinged, because I couldn't figure out a good way to support it without mounting it to the truck. But you can remove it with one hand fram above, while in bed.

Some "end" shots.

And the finished product with the bed installed. Wheee!

...and here I am. :)