How we made a camper van baby bunk

Now that our toddler has graduated to using the proper bunks running the length of the camper van, rather than the coffin arrangement, and we have become a family of four, we had the dilemma of where to put our baby girl.  Originally, Autosleepers had a baby bunk as an optional extra but of course these aren't available now - so Husband set about researching on the internet in order to come up with a homemade design solution. 

Looking at the old Bedford design and some of the modern VW campervan baby bunk options, this is what we came up with (and we need to mention J.E. Matthews Blacksmiths in Northampton who supplied the raw material and painted the finished bars, all for £15!)

First thing: Some lengths of 22mm O.D., 1mm wall thickness steel tube and some 18mm steel bar. Cut the tube to approx length (half the width of the cab) and welded in a short length of bar.

These will slot together like so:

Step two: At the other end of the tube, weld a very short length of 18mm bar, drill the centre out to 6mm and insert 6mm bar which you then also weld in. Do this to both ends and these pips will locate into the pillars of the cab...

Step three: We used an old piece of wood dowel and a spring from eBay. This is inserted into the open tube and a small grub screw inserted into the side of the tube holds the dowel in place...

Next: Make four small brackets and screw to the A pillar (by the windscreen) and B pillar (by the seatbelt top mount) and drill out a 7mm hole where the pips will locate...

Then: Push the bars together and compress the spring in order to slot the pips into the brackets. Had to tune the length of the tube to get it just right...

And finally: get your Mum/Mother-in-Law to make up a hammock out of fairly strong fabric (this cost us about £12). She stitched the ends together so there was some kind of barrier to baby scootching up and over the end of the bunk.  She also doubled over the fabric to give it some extra strength. It had to be high enough to avoid the steering wheel but low enough to be comfortable and safe.  The final touch was adding a curtain across the cab so that baby could be screened off at night. And here's the end result!!  Our 7 month old baby slept pretty well in the bunk (it was the teething that caused any nighttime upsets!)

Comfy baby!