'03 in the process

[Krrunch]

Hi All -

Kurt here, owner of an '03 Astro passenger since July of '12. Have never mounted the rear seats. Converting it to a campermobile over time; I used to have a '79 Westy years ago and loved it. Not sure if I'll ever pop-top the Astro - tho' I do like the idea, the ex$pen$e makes it unlikely.

I have lived on a sailboat for the past 8 years, so setting the Astro up for staying 'onboard' is very similar, except that there are a lot more right angles (which makes it easier). As of now, all I have done is to make a bed/stowage box, and have spent maybe 8-10 nights onboard figuring things out, thinking, coming up with ideas and such. I will be using the van as 'lodging' a good bit over the next few months, even though I prefer staying on the sailboat. My dog Buffett is a 12 yr old Golden Retriever who's been beset with cancer, and making the long dock walk every night has become a chore for him, so instead of boating it, I will be spending most nights with him in the Astro until he "crosses to the Rainbow Bridge" - that will be a sad, sad time. Buffett *loves* the Astro, maybe as much as he liked the Saturn SW2 wagon we had prior - although access to The Food Guy isn't quite as easy as it was with the Saturn, when he could just poke his head over my shoulder while we were driving along. ;) With the Astro, he has a lot more room to move around and sleep in different positions...

There are a lot of little tricks and gadgets that living aboard a boat and a van share; I'll post some of those as I think of them.

So, on to my plans - right now my "bedbox" runs aft from behind the drivers seat, but I think I will eventually wind up making it athwartships at the back of the cabin, with cabinets for stove/sink/stowage ahead of it against the left side where my head lies now. It seems that side-to-side would be just wide/long enough for me to lay out, so I'd like to find some posts/pictures of how to remove the interior side structures for the few extra inches that will give me. Does anyone know offhand of a post here which shows what is involved in removing the interior wall panels?

Here are some pics of how she looks right now...

Overview with Buffett's bed:


Straight in from side:


Closer shot of 'bedbox', mattress is 6" or 8" latex - heavy as sin but sleeps great!


Bedbox w/side panel open to access stowage:


Closeup of stowage area and bedbox construction. Simple 1"x4" frame, 1/2" birch play on door side and top:


Looking aft. I have tinted all but 2 of the windows with 5%. It's obvious which ones *aren't* tinted... Huge difference. Waiting on weather to finish those last 2.


Auxiliary seating. The bed is a bit too high for comfortable sitting, my head just broshes the roof when seated there. Will be dropping it 3-4".


Looking forward:

[Krrunch]

Tore out the aftmost side interior trim panels over the weekend, then broke down the above-pictured "bedbox" this afternoon and rebuilt it across the back of the van.

The forward edge of the bed is now just behind the rearmost sliding door pillar, and it extends to the back doors. In the process I also lowered it a bit, from a platform height of 15.5" to 12.5", which just clears the wheel well humps. I'm using a a 5" latex foam mattress on top of the platform surface, and now it is more comfortable to sit on as there is some headroom. Eventually I will rig a seatback solution of some type for sitting on the bed, in order to make it more like a couch for day use.

Taking out the side trim panels gave me ~7" of additional width on each side as compared to when they are in, so the platform is 5' 11" in the long dimension (across the van), and ~40" fore/aft. For now the platform is just plywood screwed down to a frame which is approx 4' square, so I can easily "widen" the platform to make it comfier for two if needed just by sliding that square forward and topping it with larger ply.

The resulting open space is almost square and it makes the interior "feel" a whole lot larger. I plan to put in some cabinetry against the driver side of the cabin Westy-style to bump up storage and give me a fixed countertop and kitchen area. Hopefully that will keep me content and I won't pursue the pop-top or raised roof configurations I drool over when I see them here on the site.

Pics to follow, I finished up just after sunset and there wasn't enough light.

[mdmead]

I'm amazed you could fine 5' 11" across like that. Looking forward to the pics!

[Krrunch]

Here be dem pics...

Got the last 2 windows tinted late last week. The cheap plastic cart will suffice as "cupboards" for now.


Orange floor mats help keep Golden Retriever bits out of the carpet. Folded cheap beach chair serves as a comfy seat until I figure out how to make the bed dothat.


Looking at it from the back side. Have to lift the structure a bit to get the toolbox in there; may make a cutout for that, or just leave it be, it isn't hard to do or overly heavy.


Home away from boat... for 5 nights of the last 7. It works pretty good, should be great when finished and all the kinks figured/worked out.


Here's a shot with a tape pulled showing the cushion length for mdmead. The walls taper in a bit as they rise. It's about 6'2" IIRC outer-skin to outer-skin, but I will be putting in a bit of insulation and covering it with (probably) luan to make it warmer and clean up the look when I get to the point of finishing things off, and that'll knock me down to 5'10-11"..

[Taylorpdx]

Looks cool! I have considered a sideways bed for my upcoming project, but didn't think I would be able to get enough length even with the trim removed. I'm 6' and lying at a little bit of an angle 5' 10" would be fine for me. Would you still be able to put the front bench seat in the van with the current bed platform you have, or does it get in the way?

[Krrunch]

Hi Taylor -

I think you could use the front seat, but it would eat up the open space, no room for the fancy cabinet.

If you look in the pic below, you can see one seat floor mount just forward of the plastic cabinet, and then one just behind the folded chair in the corner behind the cabinet. The forward one is for the front seat forward mount driver-side, and the one by the chair is (I am fairly certain) the forward mount for the *back* seat on the driver-side. If you look closely, you can see the 'oranges mat' drooping just a little on the sliding-door edge at about the mid-point of the cabinet; I think that is because it is the location of the back mount on the passenger-side for the forward seat. HTH!

[Taylorpdx]

Cool, Thanks! Definitely would use up the rest of your space, I just need something with 3+ seats AND a bed!!