Campervan Folding Bed Seat

Without a bed, a Campervan is just a van. A great idea to make your conversion van more versatile and family friendly is to install a campervan folding bed seat.

So, in this post, we will look at how we install our RIB Campervan Seats.

Campervan Folding Bed Seat Install

If you read our Scopema RIB Altair 3P Unboxing And Initial Review, you can see we had some certain criteria to meet when choosing our safe seats for our Family Friendly Ram Promaster Conversion Van. 1, safety, 2, and 3 functionality. Check out that post for more details.

In case you cannot get RIB Campervan Seats in your area. You are having trouble justifying the price. Or, maybe you just don’t need a campervan folding bed seat. There are some other great conversion van bed ideas out there.

 

RIB Campervan Seats

RIB Campervan Seats are a product of Scopema, out of France. Scopema has two different seat models in their RIB lineup. The Scopema, RIB Altair 3P and the Neptune 3P. Each model has its benefits depending on your preferred conversion van layout.

The fact that they come from Europe makes them a little difficult to get in North America, but not impossible.

We ordered ours through Travois.ca. Brian at Travois was extremely helpful, by matching the RIB upholstery to the factory Ram Promaster seat fabric. He ensured the height of the seat would work for my planned dinette front area. Then arranged hassle-free shipping to my location. All in all, I  am very happy with the service provided throughout this transaction.

Thank you, Brian, and thank you Travois RV!

Installing Our RIB Campervan Folding Bed Seat

Installing the RIB campervan folding bed seat, although time-consuming was actually quite simple. The hardest part was lining up the holes in the three layers of our  Camper Van Flooring, Insulation and Carpet. Otherwise, we just took our time and it all came together perfectly.

Deciding Where To Mount The RIB Campervan Seat

The first part of our Campervan Folding Bed Seat Install was to decide where to put it.  We never wanted the van to be a fully equipped Campervan, we wanted more of a family van we could comfortably sleep and hang out in.

For this reason, we wanted to mount the RIB seat as close to the front swivel seats as possible without interfering with the seat to bed transformation. And, still, be able to comfortably sit in the front seats (swiveled) when the bed is made.

 

How We Installed Our RIB Campervan Folding Bed Seats

Disclaimer! This is how we did it. DO NOT take this information as professional advice. Do your research and make your own decisions accordingly.  “Measure Twice, Cut Once”

Tools and Materials Used

• Scopema RIB Altair 3P
• 7/16” Grade 8 Mounting Hardware (Nuts, Bolts, and Washers)
• Cordless Drill Driver
• Drill Bits (Up to ½”)
• Builder Board (Ram Board)
• Hollow Punch
• Utility Knife
• Round File
• Wrench Set
• Socket Set
• Rust Paint

Making A Template For The Seat Frame

The RIB Campervan Seat is heavy! So to minimize the number of times we lifted the seat in and out. We made a template of the base frame and mounting holes. A piece of builders board worked perfectly for this!

We cut the Builders Board a little larger than the seat frame. (Three inches on each side.)

Then we lifted the seat onto the builder’s board and traced an outline of the frame and mounting holes.

Next, we used a ½” hollow punch to knock out the holes.  

Drilling Holes In The Floor

It just so happened that the holes lined up perfectly to miss the chassis cross members. After marking the holes with a sharpie marker, we drilled a ⅛” pilot hole first, then gradually drilled sizes up to ½”. Next, we used a round file to deburr the holes and treated the bare metal with some rust paint.

Installing The Campervan Floor

Now that the mounting holes were drilled and rust treated, we could go ahead and install the floor Insulation and plywood subfloor. Refer to our Camper Van Flooring post for this part.

 

Underfloor Bracing

For this part, we visited our local Metal Supermarket.

We had them cut us 8 pieces of 4x.25 hot rolled flat bar steel. One for each of the Rib seats mounting holes. They were cut to span the section between the chassis cross members. The top of the cross member will be sandwiched between the floor panel and floor brace.

 

Next, we held the flat bar pieces directly underneath a mounting hole and marked the hole from above. We labeled each bracket with the corresponding hole number so they didn’t get mixed up.

Then we drilled the holes out in four steps starting with a ⅛” bit and finishing at ½”.

Finally, we painted the bracing with grey rust enamel.

Installing Our RIB Campervan Folding Bed Seat

This was the point where we held our breath, lifting the RIB seat in place and hoping that all the holes lined up! And they did, thank goodness. Next, we bolted the seat in, installing our underfloor brackets at the same time.

Done

 

What’s Next?

Parking Heater

Now the van is ready for passengers we can focus on installing our parking heater. We had planned to use the Webasto Air Top 2000 Parking Heater but then decided to try the Chinese Parking Heater from Drivworld.  The Chinese Parking Heater is less than half the price and includes most of the installation hardware, we figured it was a good bet. It looks great out of the box. We will see…

Van Roof Vent Fan

We had planned to make the Maxxair Fan our Van Roof Vent Fan one of the first projects. Unfortunately, a delay in receiving the van meant old man winter has set in. The bonding adhesive required to glue on the van roof vent adapter will not set at lower temperatures. We will have to rent an oversize shop for a weekend or wait until warmer weather to complete this.

Battery Bank and Electrical

To get the Parking Heater and Roof Vent Fan to work, we will need some type of auxiliary power supply. I will be seriously considering a Portable Power Station as a tempory solution until we have time to build the permanent Six Volt Battery Bank. We ended up building a simple Solar Generator for our temporary van power needs.

Final Thoughts

Our family is excited to test out this new RIB Campervan Folding Bed Seat. As soon as Spring comes, or maybe even sooner if our Parking Heater works well.  Check back in the future for a review for some user experience details on comfort and functionality.

Lastly, if you have any questions, post a comment below or reach out on one of our social channels, we would be happy to help.
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Thanks for reading, and remember to always take the road less traveled!