Doug:  I have used 3/4 " plywood for a bed in a '63 VW bus, a '70 VW Kombi
and an '80 Ford van. The Kombi and the Ford had no paneling in the back.
This made it easy to see what I was doing. There are braces and
reenforcements along the sides,  and the wall ahead of the engine
compartment is ribbed. I spanned across the raised portions with metal
about1/16" thick x 2" wide and long enough for the application. These strips
were pop-riveted on. I then made some "hangers" out of metal about 1/8"
thick and about 2" wide and 4 or 5" long. These were bent at right angles
about an inch from one end. Make 2 of these and bolt or screw them as near
the the rear corners of the plywood as possible. The angled portion slides
down behind the 1/16" strips. You then have an arrangement similar to the
way your engine compartment lid fits into those little slits--only angled.

The sides might be a different story. You can probably bolt some angle
brackets on the braces  someplace for the plywood to rest on or maybe bolt a
2x2 piece of wood along the sides. The arrangement on the firewall will keep
the plywood in place. The beauty of this system is that it is so simple to
remove the bed and very little clutter remains in the van.

I could explain this a lot better if you could see my hands or see a
picture.

Bob
'86 Syncro
Mid Coast Oregon
Siuslaw River
Lots of Lakes
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Demarest <Dldemarest@AOL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Monday, October 11, 1999 12:58 PM
Subject: Making a Bed--any advise?

>I'm looking for tips on building a stable sleeping platform in my Vanagon.
>Its just plain bench seat version.  I've removed the seats and want to
build
>a platform suspended somewhat above the engine to maintain room for storage
>underneath.  Has anyone done this successfully?  I'm having a hard time
>figuring out how to secure wood to the vehicle.
>
>thanks
>
>Doug
>