Front Bunk

Support Posts

I am frequently emailed asking for the dimensions of the front bunk support posts, unless one has small children the top bunk is seldom used and the posts go missing along the way. Mine have been sitting on a shelf in the basement ever since I first cleaned the trailer just after purchasing it.

They are basically 30" long lengths of 1" outside diameter light tubing with brackets welded to them 24" from the bottom. Note the plastic cap on the top of the post.

The brackets are 3/16" diameter "U" shaped rods, bent at a right angle and welded to the post.

The posts sit in a flange fastened to the outer edge of the bottom bunk platform.

I believe the flanges are actually shower curtain rod brackets.

They are mounted about 16" from the exterior walls, they have to be far enough in so that the post will rest under the solid center section of the top bunk.

There are large round head wood screws (#12 X 1") on the underside of the bunk platform that protrude about 1/2". They go through the loop on the post to hold it in place.

Top Bunk Hinge Placement

When I had the upholstery replaced one of the dilemmas I had was how to put the hinges back in their original positions.

I unzipped the cover so I could locate the old screw holes, I then pushed small finishing nails through the cover into the center hinge holes. I zipped the cover up again and made sure there was no tension on the nails, I had to remove one nail and reposition it. I then dropped the hinge over the finishing nail and put the two outside screws in, then removed the nail and inserted the third one.

Platform

I don't have an actual template for the bunk base, I took these measurements from mine.

The base for the top bunk is 24" wide, the ends are cut at 7" from each end and fastened with hinges on the top surface to allow them to curl in when the bunk is down as the seat back.

The pattern could be made using the system I used to make the shelf over the rear table:

http://bolerlife.com/smallmods.html#rearshelf

The bunk mounts 24" above the bottom bunk and fastens to the wall just below the window with special hinges. Apparently these hinges can be made by attaching a length of angle iron to one side of a stock butt hinge so they look like the picture above.