Date:         Sat, 07 Jun 1997 13:00:55 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         John Welsh <jwelsh29@idt.net>
Subject:      Re: Pillow Support for Westy

Don and Listees,

Here's what I did.  Fisher Price makes a fold-down gate for keeping kids
from falling out of bed.  You can modify it for use in the Westfalia.  

I shortened the length to fit the Westy (need a hacksaw, drill) and cut
off the plastic paddles on the base that insert between Junior's
mattress and box spring to hold the unit in place.  This leaves two
plastic bars about 1"x 2".  I made two U-shaped brackets like this:
___      ___
   |____|

(need 1"x 1/8" aluminum bar stock, vise, visegrips, hammer, drill) and
screwed them into the underside of the wooden fold-out bed board.  The
sawed-off base bars then slide through these brackets, to secure or
remove the unit.  Voila!  Westy headboard!

Actually, it's kind of intrusive and gets in the way, and it's easy to
bonk your head when folding it up or down.  But it's better than losing
your pillows in the middle of a good dream, and it does fold down easily
for those middle-of-the-night trips to wherever.  

John Welsh, San Diego
87 Syncro Westfalia
81 Triumph TR8