Rock 'n' Roll Bed

Well, I think so far, this has been the hardest thing to decide on.    Even before I bought the van I was considering my options for what bed I was going to choose.    On my initial search I found a few good, solid looking Rock 'n' Roll beds with nice upholstery and thought, yep, about £700 - £800 will get me a pretty nice setup with seat belts and all the fixings.  My favourite one was the RustyLee Bed.

Here are some of the standard Rock n Roll beds I looked at:

http://www.volkswares.co.uk/t5/t5-a-frame-bed/
http://www.vwrustylee.com/vw-t4-t5-beds/
http://smart-beds.com/smart-bed.php


However, after I'd bought the van, I had a more thorough look.  This is when I realised that, because the seat belts were integrated into the seat, they needed to be pretty strong and robust if I was going to carry passengers in them.

Tested Beds

So, more research and I was then looking at Crash Tested (tested in vehicle and simulated crash) and Pull Tested beds (Pulled under force on a frame outside of the vehicle to simulate crash forces).  Not cheap at all.   I almost contemplated buying a Smart Bed Evolution.   I made a phone enquiry and someone said they'd email me the breakdown of the costs.  The frame alone was £1000 then there was a £150 charge for fitting (to get the certificate) and seatbelts, boards, foam and upholstery were going to be extra, plus VAT on top of all that.    I think I was looking at about £1750 all in.  So I emailed them back and asked if they'd throw in the boards, which they wanted £65 for + VAT.  I thought that if I was going to spend nearly £2K on a bloody (not even Crash Tested) bed, they could at least throw in some bits of plywood.   They didn't even give me the courtesy of responding.  So I thought, stuff 'em, and decided to do this properly and get a second hand VW California Seat Bed.  These are made by VW, Crash Tested, had rails and look pretty good.  Unfortunately, they were pretty costly still and the rails incurred an additional cost.

Here are some of the Pull Tested beds I looked at:

http://caledonianconversions.co.uk/rnr-beds/
http://jdsmetaltech.co.uk/m1-pull-tested-rock-and-roll-bed/
http://www.titanbeds.co.uk/titan_beds_2-3_seat.html
https://www.reimo.com/de/582681-variob_333_1325_655_t5_weekender_stoff_pla/
http://bebb.co.uk/rock_roll_seat.html
http://smart-beds.com/smart-bed-evolution.php
http://rnrbeds.com/

Searching on ebay and gumtree came up with some interesting choices.  There was the California Beach style seats, various colour schemes of the bog standard California seats and then there was the decision of either double seat or triple and finally, cloth or leather.

California Seat Bed.

California Beach Style

The California Cream Style which I bought.

After a couple of weeks looking for the right seat I finally found it on ebay.   A standard California double seat in a cream cloth fabric.   I wasn't that keen on the colour but I'm hoping to get it re-upholstered in the future.  Being a double seat was perfect because I wanted the extra space for cupboards down the right hand side.    The cost was £1500, which was still pretty steep, but cheaper than the other beds out there, which were only Pull Tested rather than proper, in vehicle Crash Tested by a big corporate vehicle manufacturer, and in my opinion, THE best vehicle manufacturer in the world.

I emailed the guy selling the seat and he said he would throw in the rails for the £1500.  I couldn't believe my luck.  All of the other sellers wanted between £300 to £600 extra for the rails on top of about £1600 to £1750 for a cloth fabric seat.  So, I snapped it up and arranged to go and collect it in Chesterfield (Yes, a Chesterfield seat) today. Here's Mike's ebay site:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/greenmotobikerossi46

This morning, I drop down to Chesterfield to Mike's garage where he was in the middle of converting a T5 into a camper.  There were about 3 other T5's kicking around in various stages of conversion.   One of them, a lovely white California conversion which looked outstanding.  The finish was superb and it just looked the business.  A nice young lad, who I guessed was Mike's son showed me around the other campers which were also really great looking vehicles, with some very innovative design features.    It's a shame Chesterfield was about 2 hours drive away, otherwise I'd be there at their workshop quite often, buying bits and piece and getting some good advice.  After being inspired by these lovely distractions, I got down to business regarding the seat I came to buy.   They had about 4 or 5 seats to choose from, all in the same cream fabric.  I had a good look, made sure they reclined ok and that the seat belts all worked and finally chose a nice one out of the lot.  The guys carried the seat and rails into my van for me and I handed over the cash.  I was given some instructions on where the seat rails should be mounted and how.  Apparently, the fuel tank needs to be lowered to fit the rail bolts.  I think I'll hand the fitting job over to my local mechanic who has a ramp for this kind of thing.