Boler Bed for Baby

[Chris de Haan]

Hi,
We had a baby (Elle) last January I had to do a bit of brainstorming to figure out where to have her sleep in our boler. I ended up using the hanging crib system from a Eddie Bauer fold up crib. I built a frame that matched the Eddie Bauer frame and the fold up crib comes equipped with a platform that hooks over the frame to be used before the baby can sit up or stand on her own. I attached the frame above the front bunk in our Boler. It was near the stove but we rarely use it (we like to cook outside) and so I did not even turn on the propane on the tank as a safety precaution in case Eliie somehow leaned over and turned on the stove. It would have been quite the feat for a 6 month old and I would have been quite the proud (although concerned) father.
Anyway, Ellie will outgrow this system by next summer's camping season. I need to figure out a new system for her to sleep in. We don't use the Boler much except to sleep in and so I am thinking about removing the back rest on the front bench and putting up some sort of temporary board to keep Ellie in. But I thought I would check with other members if they had any other good ideas. I will need it for probably 2 or 3 camping seasons and then would convert it back to the regular bunk bed and use a commercially bought temporary bed rail when Ellie is older (my sister did that for her 4 year old when she borrowed the boler last summer). We got to keep the bed rail but it leaves a 6 inch gap at either end for Ellie to fall out of so it won't work for at least a couple of years.
Any Ideas?
Thanks

[Donna D.]

I know you only are talking about one child (right now), but I think this one is totally cool. You can still use the upper bunk for storage:

Bunkbed Modification

[Chris de Haan]

Wow , and thank you I now have something to work on this winter...

[Raya]

Here's an idea I saved; can't remember where I found it. It doesn't totally do what you want, as-is, but it might give you some ideas to work from. I like how it also makes either a safer top bunk, or a rail to keep stuff from falling off the top bunk, if it's used for gear storage. Looks pretty simple to make.