Date:         Fri, 27 Oct 2006 10:37:31 -0700
Reply-To:     obeechi@RUNBOX.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark C <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
Subject:      Bed Extension Tool Cabinet
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Revision in idea... 

Previously imagined a unit behind the passenger front seat for storage of tools in drawers, and storage of 4 ton jack stands, and a comforter (though if you store it, how do you keep it from smelling like dirty laundry?) ... with a flip-over-top that would serve as an extension of the rear bed... where the width of the cabinet would be from the sliding door to the mid carat seat on the driver side... and the depth half the distance from the front of the bed to the back of the front seats

Now I'm thinking of 86ing the remaining carat mid seat, which I never actually use... , and have a cabinet that is the full width of the interior, from side to side, with a slide out bed extention (which would allow the height of the cabinet to exceed the height of the bed... although this would mean that the length of the bed extension wouldn't be as long in this scenario)

One benefit in all this would be to keep the engine hatch area free of anything whatsoever, so that the cushon of the rear hatch could be left in a vertical position, and hence the cushon could serve as a dividor between the hatch area and the mid area, and there would be unfettered access to the engine bay... as well as privacy to the mid area when the hatch door is opened, and this would be done without shortening the bed length... hence a trip across the country involving camping and constant monitoring and tickering of the engine area could be executed without moving anything off the hatch area at any pit stop... 

To stop and open up the engine bay 20 times WITH moving stuff off the hatch, or to stop and open up the engine bay 20 times WITHOUT moving stuff off the hatch is the question... 

To be exhausted or to not be exhausted... either you're going to wear the car out, or the car is going to wear you out... 

The cabinet I imagine done in cherry wood similar to the Tivoli radios... and of course, I could still install a widescreen hdtv on top of the cherry tool cabinet, .. although .. if I had a heater ala propex under the rear seat, all the warmth would be trapped under the bed extension... so is there a way to pipe the heat ... cold butter is hard to spread on popcorn

Oh yeah, there is still the possibility that the height of the cabinet could be such that it could double as a bench seat...