Bunkhouse Top Bunk Mod...Ideas?

[ryand]

It appears you can not stop father time and our youngest will be graduating from the pack and play to the bottom bunk for the up coming season and booting his older brother to the top. The top bunk is for the most part open and we are a bit worried he might roll off. We currently stuff Pool noodles under the sheets of his bed at home and we may just do this with the camper but we are more concerned as its about a 5' fall from the top bunk and the pool noodle might not cut it.

Looking for ideas and suggestions for a removable rail or something similar. I was thinking of cutting pockets in the plywood of the top bunk....similar to bed stakes in a pickup bed or something similar.

[dustman_stx]

Ryan,

We used one of these: Amazon.com: Regalo Swing Down Bedrail, White: Baby

and modded the bed to allow it to swing down. Our bunks have a piece of trim that sits about an inch or so above the bed platform to hold the mattress in place. This kept the rail from swinging down like it is designed to. I cut about six 2x2's and placed them on the bunk platform and cut a piece of plywood the size of the bed for a new platform- basically raised the bed a couple of inches. The rail has 2 arms that go under the mattress, 1 on each side. I secured these to the plywood using conduit clamps that you can purchase at any hardware store. I made sure to locate one of the 2x2's on each side under where the clamps were going to screw in so that they would be attached to more than just a 1/2" sheet of plywood. We don't have it installed currently or I'd get some pictures for you. If you have any questions or need more explanation just let me know.

[Chewie]

I made this along with another ladder not pictured. 3x3 poplar stained and urathaned, and screwed together and a large L bracket screwed to the plywood. Works well and is removable. Very cheap and easy to do.

[5 hole]

Originally Posted by Chewie

Attachment 45004

I made this along with another ladder not pictured. 3x3 poplar stained and urathaned, and screwed together and a large L bracket screwed to the plywood. Works well and is removable. Very cheap and easy to do.

Do you mean 1 x 3 ??

[Chewie]

Haha, yea. My bad

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by Chewie

Attachment 45004

I made this along with another ladder not pictured. 3x3 poplar stained and urathaned, and screwed together and a large L bracket screwed to the plywood. Works well and is removable. Very cheap and easy to do.

That's pretty much what I did but with the manufactured rail. Also, our bunks have cabinets at one end and we needed it to fold down.

[credille]

my husband put a rail on ours. used two screws so it would be easy to remove but strong enough to stop from rolling off. all three grandkids like sleeping up there. who would have thought it.

[Cajun Po-Boy]

When we had a bunkhouse...bought a decorative wooden curtain rod and 2 end caps for the rod to set in place, screwed into the sidewalls...worked great & inexpensive

[Big Bad Allis]

Here's a link to Babies R Us. I bought 2 of these for our bunkhouse. Just slide it under the mattress and your good to go. Fairly inexpensive, light and easy to use. Folds down flat when not using. I do take them out and lay them on top of the mattress while going down the road just in case it rubs.

Kids R Us Swing Down Bed Rail - Kids R Us - Babies "R" Us

[kevingeiwitz]

I need to do this mod also.