Hi all,
I'm trying to put together a plan for an overland camping rig that will fit my family. There are lots of great builds on this forum that are giving me inspiration, and my current plan is a Ram 3500 with a flatbed FWC Hawk.
The only issue is that I really want this thing to sleep 4. My kids are 7 and 9, well past the "little human" phase and into the "medium" phase, and not getting any shorter. I realize it's going to be tight, but one of the big appeals to me is to stretch our camping into the wetter & colder seasons, so I don't want to view sleeping all of us in the camper as a "only under dire circumstances" kind of thing. I want it to be the norm.
We went over to Woodland a few weekends ago, and I really was impressed with the floorplan of the flatbed hawk. In particular, it struck me that a fairly simple mod would give it an extra "twin" bed. Above the rear dinette / sleeping area, one could suspend a cot, right at the top of the hard side part of the camper.
The idea is to stretch some canvas or nylon material between two aluminum tubes that go the width of the camper. These then fit into some sort of socket / flange that I'd mount to the walls. Very much like a closet rod. I could mount an extra set by the rear pole so that you could roll it up and get it out of the way during the day. Should be about as comfortable as a cot, which is what we sleep on now when tent camping.
I mocked up the basic idea in case it isn't clear. The guys at FWC didn't seem to think it was too crazy of an idea. What do you all think?
I'm trying to put together a plan for an overland camping rig that will fit my family. There are lots of great builds on this forum that are giving me inspiration, and my current plan is a Ram 3500 with a flatbed FWC Hawk.
The only issue is that I really want this thing to sleep 4. My kids are 7 and 9, well past the "little human" phase and into the "medium" phase, and not getting any shorter. I realize it's going to be tight, but one of the big appeals to me is to stretch our camping into the wetter & colder seasons, so I don't want to view sleeping all of us in the camper as a "only under dire circumstances" kind of thing. I want it to be the norm.
We went over to Woodland a few weekends ago, and I really was impressed with the floorplan of the flatbed hawk. In particular, it struck me that a fairly simple mod would give it an extra "twin" bed. Above the rear dinette / sleeping area, one could suspend a cot, right at the top of the hard side part of the camper.
The idea is to stretch some canvas or nylon material between two aluminum tubes that go the width of the camper. These then fit into some sort of socket / flange that I'd mount to the walls. Very much like a closet rod. I could mount an extra set by the rear pole so that you could roll it up and get it out of the way during the day. Should be about as comfortable as a cot, which is what we sleep on now when tent camping.
I mocked up the basic idea in case it isn't clear. The guys at FWC didn't seem to think it was too crazy of an idea. What do you all think?