Don't mess with the seat back tilt, that mechanism is structural for safety in a rear end collision.  You don't want that seat breaking and launching a passenger backwards.  The seat is easy to remove, it just slides off the front of the swivel, so you could build a folding plywood platform with folding legs to put over the swivel. It could run from the glove box to the end of the seat bed if you want.

Put the seat outside under a tarp and you have your bed solution.

The hammock over the seats can also work if you roll down the window and let your feet extend.  A friend did that for his son until he was about 14, at least when it wasn't raining!

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Poppie Jagersand
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2015 8:27 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Pass front seat bed or other 3rd bed ideas?

> My daughter currently sleeps in a hammock across the front seats:
>
> http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~jag/Pictures/1406GerSwedenSelect/IMG_20
> 140605_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
>