Viking Express Bed Extension

Resultant Full Size Bed

       This was a shamefully easy woodworking project that was inspired when we purchased this incredible little tent trailer that weighs only 455 pounds and can be pulled by any compact car.  Though the two bunks and mattresses provided will each fit two people we wanted more room and padding to spin the old bones.  The solution was to create a plywood extension that mounts on spacers, resting on the two supports that hold the bunk when the unit is closed, and is supported in the middle by a removable PVC post threaded onto a fitting embedded in the plywood.

Plywood Bed Extension

Viking Express by Forest River

The plywood measures 5" x 70," but the 4" high density foam that is glued to it measures 6" by 70" providing an overhang that rests on the bunk's piano hinge and presses firmly against the existing mattress.  The separate spacers are four layers of baltic birch with a thickness of 1.875," and a carriage bolt holds the whole assembly to the metal triangles with a wing nut. The spacers are recessed from the edge of the plywood extension to allow a contour sheet to wrap around all.  Over the existing mattress and bed extension a 52" x 74" x 2" thick full size egg carton mattress topper is placed.  The bed extension and attached foam fit neatly in the trailer box against the stored mattresses when the unit is closed.  Pretty darn comfy and roomy!  Thoreau's cabin but not his bed.

See also our shop at:  www.etsy.com/shop/FlyingCircusStudios

See another use of the Viking Express as a cargo trailer:  Viking Express Camping/Cargo Trailer Conversion