{"id":722,"date":"2016-02-07T17:37:12","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T22:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/?p=722"},"modified":"2016-02-07T17:37:12","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T22:37:12","slug":"the-master-bedback-benches-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/?p=722","title":{"rendered":"The Master Bed\/Back Benches (Final!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Fb-Button\"\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
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So, finally, after several planning attempts to get a workable means of getting a master bed out of two benches in the far aft of the bus, I did it. \u00a0While I set up detailed plans for the back benches in a couple of previous posts (Parts One<\/a> and Two<\/a>), I ended up making some variations based on our assessments of our stays in the bus over this last summer.<\/p>\n

\"The
The bench in profile, showing the `pocket` for the platform.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While I had planned to have pallet sections span between the two benches before, I had designed for only two pallet sections of ~29″ width each to be the ‘back’ of the bench. \u00a0What we decided to do was to make the span into three sections of 19 1\/2″ width, to be stowed under<\/em>\u00a0just one of the benches. \u00a0While this loses a little more storage area overall, the sections are much easier to unstow, and there’s more accessibility to the storage area.<\/p>\n

\"Oak
Oak & 2×3 frame, starboard side.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, I started with a simple frame made of 2x3s and 1 3\/8 x 1 3\/8″\u00a0and 1 3\/8 x 5″ oak\u00a0that I planed down. \u00a0This gave a stable, and in places, visually appealing structure for the bench. Along the outside wall of the bus, I ran another 2×3 which I screwed into the structural ribs of the bus body for the wider planks to rest on. \u00a0In working on the counter in the galley area, I found that the pocket screws were a pain to put into the ribs.<\/p>\n

\"Port-side
Port-side bench, showing storage area for the pallets.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the port side, however, I put the storage for the pallets, so instead of a large open box, I ended up with a box-within-a-box sort of system. \u00a0This still left some shallow storage space above the pallet area and a deeper section all the way to the back.<\/p>\n

\"The
The angled supports for the pallet sections.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of my reasons for designing the original set-up for having the wider pallets being the bench backs was that they wouldn’t be able to slide around, as the back of the bus gets the brunt of bounces and tail-swing forces. \u00a0In storing the pallets under the bench-seat, though, \u00a0I designed the storage area to have angled supports, only dipping down about 3\/4″ over 21″ of width. \u00a0I’ll have to decide after a few drives if I’ll need extra stops to keep the pallets from sliding out.<\/p>\n

\"Rail
Rail & stile router bits and my handy pocket jig.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the bench frames in place, I needed to build the outer shell of the benches, still using the flat panel wainscoting that I used elsewhere in the bus. \u00a0 For this, I pulled out a set of rail & stile router bits and my Kreg pocket jig, which together make some really nice, secure wainscoting.<\/p>\n

\"All
All the panel pieces cut and routed, and some of the oak plywood …<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were three pieces of panel to make up, as the fore part of the starboard bench opens into open space, it needed a section that the port bench (coming up to the bunk wall) didn’t.<\/p>\n

\"Almost
Almost set, just needs plywood panels and the top rail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Assembly was easy, just drilling for the pocket screws, evening up ends, and measuring for spacing of stiles. \u00a0Once these were set, I cut 1\/4″ oak plywood for the panels, and set those in place with a single brass wood screw. \u00a0I don’t like to use glue for these, as the wood tends to expand and contract with heat and humidity, and I wanted to give it that flexibility. \u00a0On the other hand, I don’t want the panels (very literally) rattling around while the bus is rolling.<\/p>\n

\"Panels
Panels installed, notches in top rail visible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last detail to work out was in the long top rails, so that the 1 3\/8 x 1 3\/8″ supports on the edges of the pallets would rest securely in place. \u00a0This is one of the places where having the oak frame was important, as it would be visible behind the notches. \u00a0But it all worked out nicely.<\/p>\n

\"The
The port side bench with wainscoting installed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The port panel was more tricky, and involved some chisel-work to get the rail above the pallet storage to sit nicely and give a robust, non-routed opening for the pallets. \u00a0The bench tops were made of 3\/4″ oak plywood for the hinged bench top, faced with a 1″ strip of oak as an edging, then the rest was oak boards that lapped over the supports.<\/p>\n

\"Look
Look the benches are gone, and now it’s a bed!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the pallets in place, it makes a 58 1\/2″ x 92″ bed-space. \u00a0One of the nice things about it is that the space under the bed is still accessible, either by reaching underneath from the front, opening the rear door, or opening up the bench tops. \u00a0I’m planning on getting some nice recessed handles that will make opening the lids easier.<\/p>\n

\"The
The bench goes all the way around the back.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the modular design of the pallets makes them interchangable in all the notches, and allows for a U-shaped bench in the ‘observation area’ of the back of the bus.<\/p>\n

So this new design fits better with our uses of the back area of the back, and makes it really versatile, as we could have the center pallet in as a table, and have several folks around it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Fb-Button\"\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
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So, finally, after several planning attempts to get a workable means of getting a master bed out of two benches in the far aft of the bus, I did it. \u00a0While I set up detailed plans for the back benches in a couple of previous posts (Parts One and Two), I ended up making some … Continue reading The Master Bed\/Back Benches (Final!)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"1","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"2","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"3","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"2","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A New Bus Blog! On this one, we finally have some nice benches, with built-in storage, and space for a bed. Now, I just need some stain and to figure out what spar varnish I should get ...\r\n\r\nThe Master Bed\/Back Benches (Final!)","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[140,73,10,3,25],"tags":[74,9,113,47,117],"class_list":["post-722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-benchesbed","category-design","category-school-bus-rv-2","category-skoolie","category-woodwork","tag-master-bed","tag-school-bus-rv","tag-skoolie","tag-structural","tag-woodwork"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ieo5-bE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/101_6898.jpg?fit=3648%2C2736&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":726,"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions\/726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abuffalobus.kleinmartin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}