Are my seat cushions oiginal?

[safarisogood]

Hello

While we're getting on with rebuilding the rotten frame in our Safari I thought I'd get on in the evenings and make new curtains (as it didn't have any when we got it) and I've realised I'm going to have to make new seat cushions (as the one for our bottom bunk/side sofa is missing - don't worry though, I'm going to get new foam and keep the original cushions in storage) Anyway, my question is this;

The seat backs for the sofas at the front of the van are not cushions at all - they are boards with wadding and then material stapled over the top. Are these original? I'm asking because I want to make sure the new cushions are faithful to the proper Safari ones AND because, if they are original how do I make the front 2 sofas into a double bed - where are the cushions to fill the gap between the 2 sofas?

I hope my question makes sense - Thanks in advance

Kelly

[Brian M]

Kelly

It seems you could do with meeting up with another Safari owner and a lot of your questions would be answered.

Whereabouts are you? There might be someone local to you who would let you have a look at theirs.

Having said that I will try to provide answers, but the explanations may be a bit hard to understand.

Seat backs - yours are absolutely right - the top straight edge should be hinged to the side wall, and at the bottom is another hinged piece of wood that you fold out to angle the back rest away from the wall by about 2 inches. Flip it up when you want the extra width for bed-time!!

To make the double bed - have you found three pieces of plywood hinged together with plastic strips? These go between the single beds, resting on the strip of wood on the vertical side of the bed box. Then you turn the matresses 90 degrees across the caravan and you have a double bed.

Hope this makes sense.

[safarisogood]

Thats great Brian, thanks - just been out there and found the pieces of wood for the bed base in the wardrobe. I had assumed that the double made up going 'down' the van, not across as you've just explained it.

Thanks again, Kelly

(P.s we're just outside Newcastle upon tyne)

[f1mad23]

Thanks Brian, was wondering about the back seat pads myself, I thought these had been made by a previous owner due to the staples. Ours weren't hinged just screwed in which is how we replaced them. Re the bed, it took us a while before we realized the bed goes across but unfortunately we have no cross pieces. We took her for her first outing the weekend before last (Silverstone for the Grand Prix) but decided to just sleep on the seats in sleeping bags as it was only for 3 nights and I must say it was very comfortable. The 'van is by no means finished but we didn't encounter any problems with her (although we didnt have hook-up and the foot pump for the water aches your foot after a while, lol) and can't wait to take her out again
Good luck with the refurb Kelly, keep us posted with pics.
Sally

[Brian M]

Sally and Kelly

One other thing about the beds.

I travel solo in my Safari and for many years always slept in the left hand bed. Only when I did my rebuild and came to put the cushions back, did I notice that the right hand bed on my 14-2 is 2-3 inches longer than the left hand bed.

I am 6ft and found this extra little bit made a big difference to my comfort. I post this in case others haven't noticed.

Sally - the cross pieces are just 10 mill plywood, not difficult to cut a set for your self.

[Mick]

You will need to make sure have some type of padded edge to the end of one boards to prevent damage to the doors on the front locker in the middle when the bed is made.

It seemed odd to me when I made mine into a bed that the 2 main cushions are different width's, the left is narrower but both are the same length in mine.

[Brian M]

Mick

Interesting point about the front edge of the in-fill boards. Mine hasn't got anything but I will add your suggestion to my winter "to-do" list.

At Stapleford I noticed the narrower bed in another 13-2 - seems to continue my belief that every Safari is a bit different from every other one!!

[Mick]

Mine has 3 or 4 separate boards which fit into the back of the wardrobe. One has 2 lengths of foam padding which certainly look original, not modern materials.