From Twins to Gaucho

Although the twin beds were nice, we just couldn't get into that kind of sleeping arrangement.
As luck would have it we were fortunate to come upon a 1973 Argosy in decent shape that had a floor plan we really liked.
Out came the twin mattresses! I used a 1/2 pieces of plywood to reinforce the area for the Gaucho hardware to fasten.
With that secure the 3 aluminum rails were screwed into place. The slide installed and another piece of 1/4" Luann placed over to take up the gap. This is fasten with screws in the back, near the wall and allows the sliding portion to run under it. This I found is a big help for assed support for the mattress. We went on-line and found a custom mattress shop over in Rye NH. They happened to have the size and type we wanted in stock. The cover we saw on a display model seemed to good to be true. It goes great with the decor we have been working with.

On the opposite side, with the bed gone, this gave us more room for storage. I had purchased a tambour, intact on E-bay a while back. It did not fit where I had planned it would but was just the right height for a storage area. Off to Home Depot for a few odds and ends and we now have a storage cabinet that when done may be the new home for the Tv.

Update 11-20-05

After Spending the season camping, we decided to swap sides of the bed and make the hall way just a little (3 inches) wider.

Reason for our decision:
First, We have tried to keep the interior as vintage as possible, the "spring" type thermostat works great, however, when the temp reaches a point that demands heat, the spring makes a "TWAAANG" sound that, has on occasion startled us from our slumber. With the Gaucho on the Road side this will put some distance between it and us.
Second, With the Gaucho extended the edge is near the storage cabinet. now with the heat ducting on the road side, making the hall wider on the opposite side is an easier task.

Remove the 1/4" cover where the mattress sets, there are 4, 1" X 2" X 32" supports. I cut 3" off (with a Saws-All) from each one, moved the Tambour assembly back 3" and drilled and screwed the braces back into place. This allowed us to keep the Storage bins in place.

Now with the extra 3 inches of width, there is room to pass by the bed when the gaucho is extended.

The new Storage area, will be more a challenge. The height of the counter top will hide an AC outlet. Our plan is to install a flat screen TV, so moving the outlet will be a benefit to this project!

New custom made LCD TV mounting bracket