Bed Rails and ladder for my North Trail - Project

[Ranchdip]

Just wanted to give a little insight into my bed rail and ladder project. I used an Amazon company for the ladders. See link: http://www.amazon.com/Room-Doctor-Accessories-Ladders/dp/B008VDLDPO

I purchased 8" "L" brackets, 1" wood screws & 1x2 high-grade pine from Lowes. Cut the lengths accordingly and used the bracket hole pattern to afix the 1x2 pine to the brackets. (Be sure and pre-drill the holes to keep wood from splitting.) I then cut a very small piece of 1x2 pine to be glued in between each horizontal rung of 1x2 pine. It was that simple. Cut the ladder legs as required. Use felt with sticky backing to cover the brackets on the inside where the person sleeps. I actually liked the silver look of the brackets shown on the outside. It took about an hour to build both. I'm staining them now to match and will post pictures soon.



2X Ladders = $143 delivered
2 Bunk Rail Materials @ Lowes = $66

 

[Silverado23]

The rails and ladder look great!

Do you still have the ability to raise the bunk for more headroom below or does the rail prevent the bunk from being stored in the raised position?

I added something similar but my bed rails were a commercial product that folded down.
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.ph...bed-rail-ideas?p=368201&viewfull=1#post368201

 

[Ranchdip]

Thanks! It misses being able to go in the upright position by about 3/4". I was thinking about just moving the lock down an inch actually, if thats possible.

I guess if I had to I could just unscrew the brackets from the bunk bed base each time I wanted to stow the bunk, however my boys are only 4 & 6 years old and they have plenty of room down there.

 

[Silverado23]

I will have to keep that in mind if I build solid rails instead of the soft rails.

I would like to know if anyone has modified the movable bunks to hold more than 100lbs and how they did it?

 

[Ranchdip]

Here are the ladders and rails stained and installed. The boys love them!


FullSizeRender by Bassboatjunky, on Flickr

 

[JWalker]

Looks good!!

 

[justafordguy]

Those rails and ladders turned out awesome, looks like it came that way. I would think you could just move the latches down a little so you would still be able to raise the bunk for more couch headroom.

 

[TravelTiger]

Great mod! Thanks for sharing! Heartland should take notice, those are great ladders.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ranchdip]

Thanks guys! Hey, regarding the staining... Be sure and sand everything smooth and use a pre-stain conditioner to get the stain to even out properly. Pine can have areas that will stain darker than others. The pre-stain conditioner will help but won't completely eliminate the darker spots. I used two different stains to get the stain to match the camper. Be sure and experiment with the stain colors on a scrap piece of wood before beginning the staining process. Don't over-think it. Just go for it!

 

[Silverado23]

What stain/colors did you end up using?

 

[Ranchdip]

Started with pre-stain conditioner (use liberaly). I did 2 coats of stain. First coat was Minwax Wood Finish (English Chestnut) followed by Minwax Polyshades (American Chestnut).

 

[Silverado23]

Started with pre-stain conditioner. I did 2 coats of stain. First coat was Minwax Wood Finish (English Chestnut) followed by Minwax Polyshades (American Chestnut).

Thank you, That will make the staining starting point much easier for me when I get my NT.

 

[Hutch85]

Great-looking ladders! Thanks for the tip re: conditioner & staining, I built a bunk ladder out of some leftover pine boards from a bed frame, and was thinking about the staining part