I started building a platform to go inside my camper shell for this summer. I've wanted to build something like this for a while now but since I only keep the shell installed in the summer for camping, I really just wanted a bare-bones, simple design that won't take up much space and is easy to remove and store in the winter.
I think this design is going to work out pretty well. There's just over one foot of storage space underneath which should fit all of my camping gear and still leave just enough space to sleep comfortably on top. Getting in and out of it might be a bit tricky but I think it'll work.
I still need to buy a piece to go across the top but I'm waiting until the shell is installed. I should have it finished in a week and I'll get to try it out the following weekend. I'll post up pics of the finished product and if anyone takes interest, I could post the measurements in a how-to.
All four corners will be supported by the boards that rest on the grooves of the factory bed liner. The board on the bottom just slides in and locks in to the center support pillars using joist hangers. The very center pillar is attached to the bottom board and will slide in to a joist hanger on the top piece once it's done:
The boards that run across the top of the bed had to be hinged in order to get them to fit inside and sit on the grooves of the bed liner. You can just make out the hinges in this pic:
Here's a pic of it disassembled. There are two identical units of the piece near the top of the pic that install first and the piece that the cat's sniffing just slides in after the other two are installed. I may add more to the bottom piece if it ends up needing more support but I'm going to try it out like this first as I really just want the bare minimum. My only fear is that the stuff stored underneath may slide around and disturb the boards but that could be easily fixed by adding a couple more boards running across the bottom of the bed:
If it doesn't work out, I'll have some extra fire wood at the end of the summer.