My daughter currently sleeps in a hammock across the front seats:
http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~jag/Pictures/1406GerSwedenSelect/IMG_20140605_074726_sm.JPG
That works for a kid up to about 150cm.

Does anyone have suggestions for how to create a longer 3rd bed up front?

I saw a family who each night took out the passenger front seat and put in a plywood bed extending backwards partway across the sliding door. However, taking out the seat is tedious and creates a storage problem for it.

If the back of the passenger seat could be made to fold all the way back flat I was thinking a small extension in the front could make it a bed. (Or swirvel the seat and make an extension towards the rear)

Something like appears to have been done here in a small station wagon (Mini)
http://caravanlounge.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/17d66970-d27c-0130-f62a-00163e2e85a5.jpg

So would it be possible to modify the vanagon seat so it folds more than 30degrees? The cam mechanism looks non-trivial. Is the seatback tilting mechanism the same for 82-84 and 85+?

Thanks,
Martin