It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll….

It’s a very true saying, “sometimes you don’t know how fortunate you really are”, and as far as my wee Bongo goes, I really did strike it lucky in so many ways. The engine has proved very reliable, and although a few of the rusting pipes underneath needed replacing, other than maintenance, under the seats has been very trustworthy. The interior and controls had been looked after up to a point, however I got the opportunity to replace my door cards and rear panels (thank you, Kath!) and with some elbow grease, new carpets and some electrical extras the interior is great too. Bodywork was, well, pretty good for it’s age, and after some minor surgery and a new front crossmember, wheel arches and sills, a fresh coat of paint and all is looking good.

But the biggest single item that I am so grateful for is my full-width rock’n’roll bed. I am now fairly sure that the original importer must have specified the bed, full insulated flooring, and I found evidence of a small front conversion, fixings in the flooring, plus some wiring changes to utilise the leisure battery with extra 12v sockets and split circuits. Fast forward to when I took ownership, and the bed was a bit shabby, the covers faded and worn, and the frame in need of some repainting. That and the gaps down the sides, which were covered in a layer of several years’ worth of…well, who knows! I decided to strip the boards off, clean and paint, and see if I could make the thing look more integrated. This has been an ongoing project of several stages, and this week saw it completed…for now!

So, I’m going to go through what I bought, what’s been done, what works and what I wish it had. I know most who have this style of bed have a side conversion, and all mod con’s, but I think you will see that I really lack for none of the home comforts, and have compromised on fitted units to have the versatility of space.

When we looked at the Bongo, and the previous owner demonstrated the bed sliding out, I though it looked great, if in need of a bit of TLC. 3″ thick memory foam mattress / cushions, in four sections, held on with seat belt material which velcro’ed closed. The seat frame is a massively strong affair, with a 50mm box frame spine, and heavy duty 25mm box frame for the sliding part. This alone is an engineering marvel, with filing cabinet-style three section sliding runners connected to the front part, so that as it is pulled out it slides smoothly, bringing the two seat back sections out and down to form the bed. Flattening completely takes a bit of effort, but this turned out to be due to the clever fitment of a gas strut, which assists in overcoming the weight of the structure and the drag of the sliding part to start the procedure of re-folding. All you need to do is tug on one or other of the straps each side at the hinge, and up she comes – brilliant! I doubt very much if I would have paid for such an elaborate affair, and most I have seen available now don’t have this sliding structure, just a couple of box frames with a hinge at the top. The foam mattress itself is likely several hundred pounds’ worth. And, the whole thing is finished by the integrated storage underneath – a full length box, with drop-down doors, in heavy plywood, roughly 1100mm wide, 200mm high and around 1200mm long. A massive space that is used to store the stove, tables, chairs, awning, collapsible basin, food, toolkit, hookup cable….and it keeps swallowing up any wee thing you are looking for a space for! A slightly higher area under the rear seat part gives another small shelved compartment, about 1100 x 100 x 250mm, ideal for tins, packets, spare gas etc. Very clever.

My first task after a good clean of everything, was to integrate the bed a bit more. Meantime, a wee bonus, on investigating what was under the almost waterproof covers on the front seats and bed, I discovered some very faded, but nicer tartan cloth. This would do for our first few trips away, and as they unzipped, they were washed and refitted. The foam of the cushions was in great condition, so if everything worked out, perhaps I could get it recovered? By the second trip away, I had worked out how to box in the sides of the bed frame, closing the gap to the side panels and making the whole thing look more “meant”. Fitting board to the shape of the panelling was a challenge, but once I got those front parts filled in, I could see how to close the sides over. Some carpet, some MDF, some Dexion angle and a lot of sawing and glueing later, and I had a more integrated look.

After a few trips away, we were really getting to enjoy using our new campervan. The “bed up, bed down” faff was becoming easier as we became more seasoned to using it. It was time to invest a bit, and new covers on the mattress sections were next. I found a fantastically talented upholsterer near us in Kilmarnock, who did campervan stuff, recovered suites, car seats, you name it, they could do it! I took a trip over, and spoke to Kenny, the top guy at KA-Tech, https://katech.org.uk/, and he helped us pick fireproof material, and quoted us a fair price. He even made up some snap stud straps to hold the cushions in place, which I just recently fitted! Now we were starting to look like a much swankier campervan – new carpets fitted in the back, bed integrated, and new covers. Very swish! I would recommend anyone to talk to Kenny for seat recovering, including the front seats. He does leather repairs and recovering too. Top guy!

More use of the van and more time to plan and perfect! Our NC500 trip, with 6 nights away in 6 different locations was brilliant. The Bongo performed well, and we became more practised at setting up and striking camp too. As everybody knows though, you can’t have too much storage, and one frustration about the design of the bed was the amount of “dead” space in the frame, above the storage box part, and within the folded seat back part too. There were lots of oily bits in here too, the working and sliding parts, plus the main frame where the seat belt buckles and middle belt are attached , but there seemed to be some useful space, and I spent many hours trying to work out a plan to use it. When the van went for respraying, I stripped the panels and bed boards in the rear, and this gave me a better look at how it worked again. I left the boards loose when Ali came back from painting, and kept looking and planning, until I had my design at last.

Firstly, I had to cover over the oily bits. No point in trying to store stuff if when you bring it out, it’s covered in grease and oil. Then, I needed access. I devised a method of hingeing the forward facing seat back, and how to close it. I set to work with what I had around – this was during Lockdown, and access to material was not great. luckily I am a complete magpie, and had MDF left from the boarding in of the sides. I used some scrap timber, and some sections of aluminium stair nosing to make guards for the sliding rail mechanism. This was tricky, as I needed to figure out how to cover moving parts, but still allow them to work! I then made sides and a front from my MDF to close the middle section off from the sliding rails completely. So now, I had a tray area, roughly 100mm deep, but 800mm wide and about 600mm long. I sanded everything down and painted with woodstain – something I already had too, other wise some satin black wood paint would have been the preferred option. The boards from the bed frame got sanded as well, as the underside had never been sealed and was a bit “hairy”. I made the concession of ordering up some countersunk set screws to refit these, originally bolted on with roofing bolts, which looked a bit shoddy and could catch on the cushions.

The last few pieces of the puzzle now, how to hinge the seat back for access to all this space, and how to close it. I worked out the hinge part easily enough, and set to work fitting hinges to the bottom frame rail of the seat back. The panel would have to hinge forwards and down, it wouldn’t really work any other direction, and would be in the way for putting stuff in and out otherwise. For closing, I used a couple of flush fit cupboard door latches, fitted to latch on the top rail of the frame. After I was happy with the mechanism, everything got a coat or two of the woodstain. Not the perfect finish, as the boards had originally been painted satin black, but they needed a freshen up, and this was all I had. The end result is a kind of “distressed” finish, but it’s under the cushions anyway.

Also part of this latest reworking is the new grey straps fitting to hold the cushions in place while driving. I already had these, but now I had decided to remove the middle seat belt ( highly unlikely to have rear passengers anyway, but still have the two factory belts) to improve access to my new cubby, I needed to do something. So, I drilled and tapped the frame to hold the snappers, and fitted the straps, two on the forward facing part, and just one on the rear facing part of the seat. All seems to work nicely, and the forward cushion has to be removed to allow access to the newly formed storage anyway.

Another little job needing done was some way of keeping the cushion on the rear part of the bed, the narrow section facing the rear window. I had also thought before about a headboard for the bed. So, fulfilling both functions, using a floating shelf we had spare from a redecorating of a bedroom and a bit of dexion, I fashioned a headboard. It actually turned out really well, and means I can now travel with my storage boxes on this back shelf without tying them down. I can use a fitted sheet over the cushions to keep everything clean, and the whole thing is very comfortable indeed, as I tested it out on another Lockdown campout!

So, how much use is the new storage? Well, I can store a heavy thermal blanket, four pillows, double sheet, a mummy sleeping bag and all the window thermal screens in there, space I didn’t have before, and easily accessed through the seat back. I’m pleased with how it has worked out.

On the journey of development and living with my Bongo, this has been something I have thought about and redesigned from the first. The original work and expense was that of the first owner who imported a cracking Bongo, and fitted the full width bed. I am so grateful that they did, as I doubt if I would ever have thought it worth doing, and would probably gone for the more common side conversion which would really make the van only comfortable for solo trips. A few pounds for timber and fixings, some leftover fabric, some extra carpet, and a couple of new latches and hinges has made the bed much more usable, given me some handy new storage, and has made the Bongo that bit more “our” Bongo. They are all unique, each having different interiors and each owner having different tastes and priorities. That is what makes them so special!

Now, what to get up to next during the Lockdown…..