Layin' Pipe

Next, the frame. Bottom line, measure, cut, size, remeasure, rebuild, and eventually it all came together pretty nicely. I found some free bed slats on marketplace, and tossed an old camp mat on top to give it a whirl. Overall I'm pretty pleased, and there's LOTS of head space when laying down. The seats can be folded up for driving, and we are getting there. A few more tweaks, perhaps some longer bed slats, and waiting for my new mattress in the mail. 17 days until departure.

So here's the thing about PVC pipe. It's some weird shit. And it's strong as hell, pretty easily accessible, and slight bendy. I knew that hardware stores carried in, in basically any thickness. My main tutorial I am following used 1.5" pipe but I figured we could get away with 1.25" pipe. I mean, they are basically legos, with all sorts of different sizes and pieces. But I soon found that corner "fittings" were not easily found past basic T or L shape. A trip to DIY, Lowes and Home Depot definitely left me wanting.

Enter the Internet.

I had to get fittings from Amazon, Ebay, Lowes and Home Depot. The center 5-end piece was the most expensive, at $13 each! I mean, what do people make with these other than bitchin' minivans? I could definitely picture some incredible cosplay creations, and I love a good complicated Halloween set-up (actually, I already have a PVC pipe creation who lives on my house during October. His name is Ichabod, and my dad helped me build him. He's a giant black spider with a yoga-ball butt). He's actually in my yard for our Covid-season advising mask-wearing and hating on narcissists.

My PVC fittings sprinkled in through the mail, and finally I got my last piece this week. I needed to measure INSIDE each pipe to determine what the appropriate measurement should be for the pipes. Most fittings mostly allowed a pipe in 1.25"-1.5", so I wanted to be accurate before I started cutting.

My first test run was the hammock. At this point, I don't think I will suspend it from the doors as there is a lovely armrest that is level on each side of the front of the van. I can snug a frame in there, and no need to have a dangling kid. This was great news, since I wasn't sure that I wanted to mess with the door lining by jamming something into it.

Adapted hammock design

First order of business, what cuts PVC? A quick google search brought up that any ordinary wood blade would do the trick. We have a little jigsaw, and then the bone-cutting miter saw. I figured it would be more dangerous to use the flimsy blade on a jigsaw, wobbling and holding a huge PVC pipe steady, so I brought out the big boy.

In our early days of home-ownership, having watched enough home demo shows and pinned enough DIY projects, we bought a miter saw. In the 5 years since then, its only been taken out of its dusty home in the shed a handful of times. We put in on a glass patio table (limited options, here) and I did the first cut. That sucker is powerful, but I made it through alive. I made my cuts and assembled by rectangle-shape of PVC, then brought it to the van for testing. Definitely off by a couple inches. I shaved some little rounds off the pipes and eventually, got to the right dimensions.

All the fingers

I grabbed the tiny 7 year old and held the frame around her. Plenty of room! On to the next projects.

I had doodled, calculated, and tried to account for all the measurements I would have to make my perfect sleeping platform, but honestly I just had to cut, bring to van, then recut to get the correct size. It wasn't too bad, once I got the initial pieces remeasured, but my favorite part of course was assembly. It is coming along nicely!

Need longer slats, methinks

For a rough draft? Not too shabby