Been meaning to do this for a while. When you slide out the Gaucho bed, on the earlier models anyway, it doesn't slide out all the way, by design. So there's a ledge of plywood. If you sleep on the 4" thick cushions, no problem. But the cushions are way too soft for me. I like a much firmer bed.
I tolerated it the last couple years, but this spring when I started sleeping in the camper again, it just wasn't comfortable and my back had some sore spots in the morning. Guess I'm getting old. Well, I know I'm getting old. I have a thin futon I like to put over a hard surface, but I'd definitely feel that ledge if it was all I used.
So with very little planning, measuring, or thought, I jumped in.
Here's how it was, with the ledge.
I cut enough off the slide-out so that it could lay flat. That meant I needed to add another rest, since there was one near the closet, but nothing along the main length of the bed, because the plywood rested on top of the couch (thus the ledge) and has a leg on the other side.
So I bought, cut, drilled and stained a cheap piece of 1x2 and used it for a rest along the long length.
Because it seemed appropriate...
Access to drill holes
I decided to do without the guides, since I'd need to slide the bed all the way out of them, then fight to get them lined up and slid back together every morning.
Here's how it looks “closed”, and slid open. Plastic guides are still there in this photo...
We'll see how it goes tonight. There were definitely some easily foreseeable yet unforeseen problems, like what to do with the slide/guide plastic things, and the fact that my new lengthwise support means the slide-out doesn't slide back in completely, since it hits the support. It sticks out about 1/2" farther than it used to, which is no problem. I just slide the cushion a little farther out.
Waltzin' Matrillda
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