Boat bed

This project was built for a customer that had a bad experiance with another online furniture store. They never received their furniture. At the customers request we took lots of pictures for them to put in a scrape book, so I have lots of them. I’ll put some in this post, but more is avalible on our Current Projects link and I should have them archived for June 2007. As always we stream live video from our web site at www.wwbeds.com on our Current Projects link.

This bed is interesting in a couple of ways. The bow of the boat is a toy box and what makes it interesting is curve that I have to put in it and the use of bending plywood. The bend is really a simple one, because once I made the templates (So far I’ve made templates for toddler, twin, full, and queen), I just cut out the top and bottoms using a template bit. I do an extra cutout on the top section for the toy box hole.

I attach both the top and bottom to a back with pocket screws.

Rib supports are placed between the top and bottom sections.

I attach the bending plywood, which I over-cut by about a 1/2”and flush trim it. I put a staple every inch on top, bottom, back, and rib supprots, to hold down the bending plywood. I clamp the back side until the glue dries, becase of the sharp curve

The Lid
The lid is one of the most difficult parts of this project. I make the base for the lid from 1/2” Baltic birch (which has been hard to find the last couple months). I use the toy box as the template by screwing the top in place and flush trimming it to the exact size of the toy box.

The trim is cut form pine using templates that I made when I built the original one. Most of the intersection points are left long except for the front point of the bow. I attach that point together by using a biscuit and a pocket screw. Since I left the other sides long, I stack the third (back) piece of trim and mark the intersection points to give me the correct angle. It is one of those things that may be easier shown. Before I attach the trim to the 1/2” lid, I cut a rabbit on the inside for the bead board to slide in. I attach the side trim and fit each of the bead board strips.

I then close it off by adding the last part of the trim.

I wont show or describe building the rest of it because it is just normal cutting, ripping and shaping. This is one of those projects that you learn something new each time you build it. Either you find ways to make it better or faster.

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