Date:         Thu, 5 Oct 2006 15:25:59 -0700
Reply-To:     obeechi@RUNBOX.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark C <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
Subject:      Bed Extension Cabinent for tools, jacks, comforter
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Heres the current version of my idea... 

In the place where the carat mid seat would go on the passenger side... 

A cabinet that is as wide as from the sliding door to the driver side mid carat seat, and as high as the rear seat when in bed position, and as deep as half the width from the rear seat in bed postition to the base for the the passenger front seat... 

Drawers ala Craftsman / SnapOn that are shallow and not as deep as the cabinent itself, maybe only as deep as the length of my longest wrench... , these shallow tool-drawers made of wood, and positioned on the passenger side of the cabinet, .. the other side of the cabinet with taller not as wide drawers for storing 4 ton jack stands, quarts of oil, new oil filters (like ten at a time).. 

The rear of the cabinet for stowing away a twin sized 800 fill power down comforter (from Down Works in Santa Cruz) .. and pillow of same (I like my standard size to have a 1 1/2 lb of down it in... more than typical)

A lid for the the cabinet that has flat table top hinges, so that when you open the lid you both have access to the stow away cubby, and the lid becomes a platform that serves as a bed extension where your feet could literally dangle over the cubby (maybe this could slat like in construction, so there is some flex to it...)

A solid shallow 'drawer' (with no hollow to it) at the very top would be for pulling out (only half way allowed for the one item) which would serve to support the unfolded leaf of the top... while the leaf serves as an extension for the bed... 

In the morning, after parking overnight during a blizzard, you wake up, toss the comforter and pillow in the stow away, close the leaf, slide shut the top solid 'fake' drawer, lock it so nothing slides, and there you go... with a part in the middle of the mid-front curtain you can step on the cabinet, and (with a sun shade on the front windsheild) slip into the front cabin stealth-like.. or you can open the sliding door... step out with no unseemly bedding readily visible... 

Save money on hotels and see the wilderness or cityscape like a member of the class that can afford sleeping accomodations on a train... (I rode in one of these as a kid, was a lot funner than sitting all night in coach class.... which I've sleeplessly done as an adult... )