Thought I would start a dedicated post on my Colorado Camper Van uppper bed failure and try and generate some ideas on how to rebuild my top bed. Some may have read a bit about my upper bed failure mentioned in these posts:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7752
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7733
First lets get this one answered:
"KTMRider this has to be the very first time I've read here anything less than positive about Derek and CCV's. Have you addressed the crashing bunk issue with him and if so what was the result?"
- I have not spoken to any other customers of Derek's. Yes I have exhanged a few emails with him and called him twice to try and talk in "person". Left two messages with no call back. By email he had stated he would probably pay to have the pins replaced by someone local to me if I provided the receipt. He is only waiting on receipt for pins, which I won't be replacing. I am in So Cal and he is in Colorado and to his credit I do think he would try and fix it if I could just drive it over, and maybe fix other stuff too.
- Personally, I don't want him touching the interior of my van again, just my choice based on my overall experience even though I really like Derek as a person. I will say I think I was probably his first real interior build and it was a new experience for both of us to figure out an interior. I know we each have our own views and I just want to get my van to the point where I don't have to worry about things. Had enough of that and I will leave it at that...
- The bed was supposed to be designed to sleep two adults. I have slept on it myself two times in the past. It stowed in the front of the van against the storage cabinet and held in place by a silly tie down. When deployed you could slide it a bit to the rear and squeeze into the front space to open the cabinet. Akward but it worked. The coolest part of the bed was that it was lower than other beds giving a little extra room to move around. I couldn't sit all the way up but for sleeping it was fine.
- Some of you said just reuse it with some mods but I will not be using that upper bed again. The scope of what could have happened to my family members is probably not realized unless you were there. I couldn't sleep in the future knowing of those risks. There has to be a better way. It is heavy, sharp, blocks the storage cabinet when stowed and makes it difficult for anyone sitting in the bench sent over about 5'10. When trying to fold it in it would stick and if you were not careful where you placed your shoulder the wood inserts could pull out of the screws, fun stuff. I did keep the cushions to transfer to the next option as they were just held on by velcro.
- Here are more photos. Again, it was a very creative design but sort of a pain overall. The four wheels per side rolled on the tracks mounted to the sides of the van. Yes they looked just like garage door tracks and wheels although I am not quite sure if that is exactly what they were. Derek can answer that if he wants.
Bed out
Underside of bed
Roller close-up
Roller on Bracket
Fallen bed
Bed out of van
- Not sure if the pins sheared or just pulled out from the brackets. I could see that happening from sliding along the tracks and/or vibrating from driving.
- So I am leaning towards a few removable sections similar to some of the other photos on the forum from folks with Voyager type tops. Only adding some sort of additional cross support when setup. Ideas on materials? Light, durable and strong but wood or something else? Possibly fabricating some kind of cross braces that dropped down to allow similar headroom as before?
Thanks
Eric
Edited to fix some spelling errors and add CCV to title and first line at the suggestion of another member for clarity.