Pimp my ride!

The strip down
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After spending our first weekend away in Bonga, we decided that in order to travel successfully for 2 ½ months we would have to upgrade Bonga in the way of ergonomics, as it was not to comfortable in the presence of wet weather. So the plan began, putting pen to paper drawing different designs of how we thought the new layout should be. We agreed on a design and set of to Mitre 10 (like B & Q) and bought the wood that we would need and ripped out the old solid bed which was made up of two old doors and a bit of wood, which we found was not even fixed together!

The idea
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Mad managed to scrounge all the tools in the world from a friend at work and I got started on Bonga. It was a bit of a learning curve as I had never really used my carpenter side before. So after a few learning experiences, the frame started to take shape. The design was to turn what was a solid bed into a convertible sofa bed, with storage space!

After two weekends and most nights after work I finished the frame and tops.

Then it was over to Mad to sort out the foam mattress to fit the new bed, which would have to be cut up to convert to the sofa. We found that to buy foam and get it cut to size was very expensive and sadly the old foam mattress was too small. So, always thinking, we bought a cheap single foam mattress and cut it and the old mattress up to fit the gaps that we needed. Nightmare job with a cutting blade but we managed it in the end. Mad then went to work on sewing fabric to the foam to make the covers. A fresh coat of paint, lots of masking tape to seal the inside of the van from dust (from the numerous unsealed roads that caked the inside with a thick layer of dust), along with painting the furniture, new seat covers and a few little additions the transformation was complete.

Bob the builder at work!
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We couldn’t wait for our next trip away, which we had planned for the Christmas and New Year period, only days away as we had been working hard to the deadline!