Solutions for Extending the Roof Bed

[aileron346]

We occasionally lend our Cali to our son who is 6’5 (1.95m). He says the upstairs bed is short for him which I can believe as it’s just about OK for me at 6’0 (1.81m). Does anyone know if there is an accessory out there that can modify the access hatch to make the bed longer?

Surely there is something, with the popularity of the Cali in countries like the Netherlands with a lot of tall people. Thanks in advance for any pointers or advice.

 

[Elly Swanson]

We occasionally lend our Cali to our son who is 6’5 (1.95m). He says the upstairs bed is short for him which I can believe as it’s just about OK for me at 6’0 (1.81m). Does anyone know if there is an accessory out there that can modify the access hatch to make the bed longer?

Surely there is something, with the popularity of the Cali in countries like the Netherlands with a lot of tall people. Thanks in advance for any pointers or advice.

Why not just put some kind of a board across the hole and cover some cut to size foam the thickness of the mattress?

 

[Auberg-ine]

I use my pick-nick table to close the gap. Fits perfect. You can put a small baby bed mattress to extend the existing one. You just need to bring the suspension ropes together then (loop at the ceiling between two attachments, and from there suspension). Or make a wooden or metal support of course if you find the rope disturbing. The rope was to me handy since I leave it permanently hanging at the ceiling.

All geared up: my all-seasons all-purpose T6 Ocean interior & organisation :

We’ll too have some new uses for the van, that is currently sitting on our drive. The first, a buffer/decontamination zone between work and home. The second, a hub for the neighbourhood support scheme that we’ve organised. We’ll have shared resources and kit (like first aid stuff) in it so...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Just out of interest I checked the weight of an adults head. I found figures between 5 and 8 kg. Not a problem for the attachments it seems (including table). If you want to check your big boy's, put his head in a full bucket of water, and weigh the difference ;-).

 

[ThomasHJ]

I made a multiplex board to cover the gap between the upstairs bed and downstairs in our T4. It made for a really comfortable long bed. See pictures of it here. If you cover the multiplex with fabric in the color of your van's interior, it looks a bit more like it belongs. I made it so it could fold open, because we let the kids sleep upstairs and we wanted easy access. Since it rests on the cali's saftety frame it was realy strong.

 

[aileron346]

I made a multiplex board to cover the gap between the upstairs bed and downstairs in our T4. It made for a really comfortable long bed. See pictures of it here. If you cover the multiplex with fabric in the color of your van's interior, it looks a bit more like it belongs. I made it so it could fold open, because we let the kids sleep upstairs and we wanted easy access. Since it rests on the cali's saftety frame it was realy strong.

That looks fantastic - I knew there would be a Dutch solution! Thank you. I am surprised that nothing has been produced commercially for this.

 

[ThomasHJ]

Here's another very similair solution (which I saw on the dutch weetjewel forum, so this is not mine). It's for a T4 also, but I'm sure it would be possible to make something like this for the T5 or T6.

 

[Elly Swanson]

I use my pick-nick table to close the gap. Fits perfect. You can put a small baby bed mattress to extend the existing one. You just need to bring the suspension ropes together then (loop at the ceiling between two attachments, and from there suspension). Or make a wooden or metal support of course if you find the rope disturbing. The rope was to me handy since I leave it permanently hanging at the ceiling.

All geared up: my all-seasons all-purpose T6 Ocean interior & organisation :

We’ll too have some new uses for the van, that is currently sitting on our drive. The first, a buffer/decontamination zone between work and home. The second, a hub for the neighbourhood support scheme that we’ve organised. We’ll have shared resources and kit (like first aid stuff) in it so...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

Just out of interest I checked the weight of an adults head. I found figures between 5 and 8 kg. Not a problem for the attachments it seems (including table). If you want to check your big boy's, put his head in a full bucket of water, and weigh the difference ;-).

We sleep with our heads at the short height end and our feet at the hole end so hardly any weight there.