Transverse sleeping in MK7

[Hovervan]

Due to a chronical lag of space in our MK7 SWB, I am thinking of installing a transverse bed next to the rear doors.

Anybody done this before? Got pics?

I would go for 140cm depth, so it should be possible to sleep in fetal position for me and the misses

[NickJ]

I have a mk6 SWB. I would say unless your pretty short its not going to be most comfortable nights sleep.

I'm 6'1" so sleeping across the van was never an option.

You could make a space up in your house to match the dimensions and see if you could sleep like that.

Its a shame we dont have such wide vans like the yanks.

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[daleboy]

I build her with double bunks and a double bed
Transverse... I'm 5.9"
Bit tight but we slept 4 of us in her for a month exploring France..

[straydog]

I'm in the process of converting my Minibus with a Transverse bed.
I found by lifting the bed to about window height I can just about squeeze 175cm out of it.
I'm lucky because mine's a bit longer so I can make the bed 155cm wide,
and not impinge too much on my living space.
I'm 6ft and by sleeping at a slight diagonal I got plenty of space.

SD

[mistericeman]

I considered this with our Mk6 jumbo BUT found that it was just too narrow for the two of us (both around 5'8)to manage comfortably even with the bed platform raised to the widest part....
fortunately we've the length to make it north/south and fit a standard double sprung mattress.

[Beaker]

I considered this in ours. My wife is only 5 foot 1" so would not be a problem for her, but I'm 6 foot and like to stretch out. I also wanted to be able to get in and out the back doors without mountaineering equipment, so have opted for a lengthways slide out bed on the drivers side. With the kitchen on the passenger side and the bed pushed in, we should be able to get in and out the back. That's the plan anyway!

[hectors-tranny]

Yes we had a mk7 for 15 years with a transverse bed. Makes layout much easier, and fine to sleep on.

Length-wise, I'm, 5-9, and OK my feet were flat on the far side wall, so to really stretch out I had to lie a little diagonal. Our bed was 4 foot 4 inches wide and my wife 5-2, so no problems all in all. I just got used to it.

As others have said, length was 175 cm.

[paulrichardson]

Hi guys,

We have a transverse bed in our SWB MK7 and I'm 6'2", wife is a bit shorter.

If you think about it, most of the time you are asleep, you are curled up, if I need a leg stretch, I just go diagonal a bit.

We considered that a toilet (not shower though) was essential in our van, so a transverse bed was the only option.

A couple of pics:-





Regards,

Paul

[hectors-tranny]

After having a transverse bed in our Mk7, we went for the same in our mk8. The Mk8 has quite deeply recessed windows, so we put head an foot boards along the bottom of the window recesses, and set the seat height to be much higher so that taking into account the cushion thickness, we could take advantage of this extra width in bed mode. It's meant that our transverse bed length is now about 6' 2"

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[Chucaro]

Why not making something similar to the Flarespace?

http://www.flarespace.com/#/home

[straydog]

Funny, I see something like that fitted to a van while on holiday last year.
Wondered what I might be.
Didn't think it's just a place to put ya feet..
I was just going to open the window and hang my feet out...lol


SD

[transitcat]

I'm in the process of converting my Minibus with a Transverse bed.
I found by lifting the bed to about window height I can just about squeeze 175cm out of it.
I'm lucky because mine's a bit longer so I can make the bed 155cm wide,
and not impinge too much on my living space.
I'm 6ft and by sleeping at a slight diagonal I got plenty of space.

SD

Is that 175cm between the plylining? How many cm could you gain if the bed's at window height without any plylining or walls?

[straydog]

I'll double check later.
But if i remember it was 170cm at just below window height, yes with the lining.
I think I get about 180cm actually in the window gap (Minibus)

I've ordered 2 mattress 75cm x 170cm, (So I hope I got the measurements correct)
The bed total will be 170cm x 150cm with a little "wiggle room" in the window recess.
I'm making the bed hinged across the van so it'll lift up half way to give more living space.

SD

[hillman]

Ive done three mk6/7 camper conversions with transvers beds and there a bit short i find
what ive done with my day van swb low rof is made a bed that allows me to fold it up to the side of the van when not needed, then drops down and allows me to lie length ways with my feet on the top of the cooker cabinet giving me around six foot six of length.

Ive just got a swb semi high again as the low roof is a bit of a pain for height and im thinking of making a bed that lifts up to the roof when not needed.
not yet worked out how to do this but i'll have a go.

hillman

[Digrizrat]

I've converted my mk7 swb, I've put the bed 730mm off the floor, specifically so I can fit my bicycle under the bed, just. This puts the bed base at the bottom of the windows and the mattress flush against the outer skin.

I have 7mm stick on foam, then vehicle carpet glued over that. Using the space into the window gap gains about 5cm either side over the plain plywood wall that I see so many others do. This means the 175cm official cargo width for the mk7 is increased to 185cm (5f9 to 6f1). Pretty useful when I'm 177cm tall! I use a standard ikea double, it's 190cm long, so just a little squashed into the 185cm length