My plywood and pipe platform build

knightjohannes · Jul 8, 2020

I took the greatest influence from Dogs and Honda Element Bed Platform | Steph Davis - High Places design, which seems to be based off of other designs as well.

I wanted storage below. I wanted modular. I needed to be able to install/remove on my own. I prefer to camp with the tailgate open, but wanted the option to keep it closed.

Out of the car, it folds and the legs can be removed for easier storage. They're HEAVY as they're near furniture grade 3/4" plywood. It's salvaged lumber that I had in my basement. Several pieces at approximately 23" x 47". I once used them as shelves. Before that, they were lab tables at a university.

I put in the rear half first through the back.

Then I can slide the other half in through the side doors.

Getting closer to connecting...

My flanges overlap to hold the weight from above. This overlap, I hope, will be enough to keep things secure. It meant more legs in the middle, but let me split the entire thing in half.

I added road case latches which will hold the two halves together while it's installed.

The latch engaged and holding. There are two latches.

The entire thing installed and in what I'm currently calling "Drive in movie" mode. Some call it futon mode.

More pics to follow... 10 per post it seems....

knightjohannes · Jul 8, 2020

Continuing....

Lower the front seats to get support for the bed "foot" area. Tuck them under the flap over plywood.

See, right over the top. I need to ensure I add something to the whole thing... I don't like how much it overlaps. At the least, I need to add some padding to keep the wood from injuring my (new to me and without any tears!) seats.

Fully laid out. The exterior panel needs more support.

Picture of the short hinge in the back....

Picture of the long hinge in the middle. I cut one segment off the hinge.

In driving mode, it looks like this from the front.

In driving mode, it looks like this from the outside in the back.

I still need to:

Maybe trim the front flopover piece. It might be too big.
add padding or something to the front flopever piece before it eats my seats.
Add my tie downs to secure the entire thing to the car. Planning to use the corner ties and MAYBE the seat latches in the floor. I like those locations more than the corners. I've added hardware to the platform for hte corner ties. Unsure what to do on the middle, but we shall see.

knightjohannes · Jul 8, 2020

I also need to add some aluminum trim on the wood in some key locations. And I need to add something to make sure the two platform pieces don't slide apart laterally. Two small pieces of wood should do the job.

knightjohannes · Jul 12, 2020

I've made adjustments to help support the tapered piece that flops out of the back. Some 3/4" EMT and strapping does the trick. Also a hole with a self tapping screw prevents the loss of the support rod. This seemed a good solution, but I may add more support - directly to the hatch lock bar. We shall see.

Also, someone had suggested wider footers to help prevent indendation. So I made some leveling blocks with 3/4" dowel in them (cut to 3/4" length) so the leveling blocks won't slip away. They're screwed and glued together.

Bright Day · Jan 26, 2021

Nicely done build and documentation. I especially like the levelers with dowel; when I fine tune my setup, I’d like to do that.

I started out with plywood and legs. Now I’m revising it with an EMT frame. I plan to document mine soon. Thanks for sharing!

My plywood and pipe platform build

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