Re: Collapsible, Transportable, Beds

[kuijt@umiacs.UMD.EDU]

Klaus writes:
>knight.  If you can catch Earl Daffyd at a camping event before Pennsic, 
>have him show you his four-poster slat bed. (Assuming he hasn't gone on 
>to something bizarre/baroque...) Or just ask him about it. He is a 
>Laurel. He is by definition anxious to spend hours regaling you with his 
>expertise. <g> He can tell you how he solved the collapsation problem.

My patented four-poster slat bed with interlocking puzzle-pieces and
carved endposts with little leather booties uses a fairly simple base
design.  The sides and ends have a lip.  A single support sits on
the lip on end pieces, running parallel to the sides down the bed.
The slats rest one end on the center support and one end on the lip
on a sidepiece.  I bought the slats pre-made at SCAN furniture--they
have the advantage of being pre-attached to a pair of cotton straps
that make it very easy to keep them at the proper distance and spacing,
and stops them from shifting much.  I put a big piece of foam in
the bed (inside a cover made by sewing two sheets together).  The
result is enormously luxurious, raised off the ground for coolth in
heat and warmth in the cold nights, and excellently comfortable.  It
isn't particularly documentable, especially the foam.  However, it
means that my lady has comfort at Pennsic, which was the objective
(she is NOT a happy camper).  The bed takes up a full room of our
10'x20' hermetically sealed modern three-room tent (with plywood
flooring, carpet, clothes racks, and so on).  And there are lots
of times I am very glad to have a comfortable bed long enough for
my frame (the bed is nearly 7' long, and 6'6" wide).  Moreover, it
breaks into fairly portable pieces (portable, that is, in comparison
with my Arch, the pavilion, and so on).

Dafydd