Van Life Platform for a Jeep Cherokee

This Instructable is about building a storage-laden sleeping platform in the back of a 1998 Jeep Cherokee.

The Why: My nephew is starting a job out of state where he'll be getting room and board as a camp counselor most of the time, but needs something to live out of 1-2 days a week when he's not at camp.

The What: It's a stock 4-door Jeep Cherokee, and it is going to need a sleeping space and as much storage space as possible.

It's built in two parts so it's easier to remove, and the rear can be left in as a storage solution when the back seats are in place and in use.

I'm building the whole thing out of plywood, which has a few limitations to keep in mind when working with.

First of all, cutting it can chip the edges, which doesn't look good or play well with an air mattress. To avoid chip outs, here's what you can do:

Use masking tape to protect the edge while you cut it.

Make your cut so the saw chips out the edge that will be hidden after assembly.

Rout the edge after you cut it.

The second limitation is: you shouldn't screw into the edge of plywood. It'll delaminate and won't hold. What to do:

Notch, Glue, Staple, interlocking joints.

Don't rely on any joints in tension.

There is a strong direction to plywood. Most (maybe all, idk) plywood is made with an odd number of alternating wood laminates. This means that the top and bottom of the plywood has grain going the same direction (usually the long way). It is strongest when supports are placed perpendicular to the direction of the grain.

Despite its shortcomings, plywood can be great to work with. It glues well, it notches well, and it routs well. Plus, you can do huge book-matched pieces, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, and it's really strong.

Material;

1/2" Maple Plywood, x2

24" Drawer Slides, x2

Titebond Ultimate Waterproof Wood Glue

1.25" brad nails

Tools:

Brad Nailer

Skillsaw and/or table saw

Jigsaw

Router, 1/4" roundover bit, 1/4" straight bit

Contour Gauge

Tape Measure

Square

Hammer, naildriver or round punch

Needlenose Pliers

Sander

Plans? We don't need plans where we're going.

After removing the spare tire and relocating it to the roof rack, I measured the rear cargo area behind the seat at 53"w x 31'l at its widest points.

I rough-cut one piece at those dimensions so I could transcribe all of the complicated interior shapes of the cargo area onto it.

Next, I cut a couple 10.5" strips to act as the vertical risers to get the platform off the floor. I used a contour gauge resting on top of a riser to get an accurate contour to transcribe onto the 31x53 piece.

A Contour Gauge is pretty much a necessity when trying to match a shape as complicated as the inside of a vehicle. Alternatively, grab an old cardboard box or heavy construction paper, and cut out some guess-n-check templates to transcribe complicated shapes onto the plywood.

The vertical risers to support the platform all needed to be cut-to-fit around the back hatch and molding. Again, the contour gauge.

I notched the bottom of each riser to gain a bit of lateral support. The top is wedged in pretty well, so I wouldn't expect the whole structure to domino over and collapse, but it'll help the drawers stay on track.

After cutting any components, you gotta dry fit it. Close the hatch and check clearance. Trim as necessary.

I cut a couple storage access holes in the top, not knowing if I'd need to use the cutouts as lids or if there would be enough support for the mattress without covering the openings.

It can be easier to rout pieces before final assembly. I'm only routing 3 sides of the top. I either use a piece of tape to mark the un-routed side so I don't accidentally router it, or I'll start there and work away from it. ALWAYS router a decent sized scrap piece to test your setup. That's when you find out your depth is off or you didn't tighten the bit collet enough.

Dry fit, mark, glue, staple.

Wood glue only works if there's adequate clamping pressure. But I'm not clamping anything. I'm using a common cabinet building method where you glue the cut edge of plywood, T it against plywood or hardwood, and use a pneumatic brad nailer to create the clamping pressures necessary. Once you start applying the nails, you'll see the excess glue forced out of the joint if you have a good fitup and adequate clamp pressure. It's an incredibly quick and effective method that yields good results and zero clamping time.

I did as much of the gluing of risers on the workbench as possible. It's just easier to get things square and see what I'm doing. This means it's necessary to dry fit while in the vehicle and mark where each riser connects to the next.

After gluing and nailing the risers together, the structure is plenty stout to move into place and attach the top. There's no need to wait for glue to dry.

I glue/nailed the top while in place in the jeep. That way it even if things are perfectly square, the top is nice and snug against the walls of the cargo area and the risers are exactly where they belong.

Tip: Sometimes you miss with the nailer. Never remove a brad nail from the direction you nailed it. Pull it through from the bottom. There's not much of a head on a brad, so the pneumatic nails usually have a heat-sensitive glue that's activated when driven into the wood. You'll just make a mess if you try to dig it out from the top, so if you get some needlenose pliers and pull it out the bottom you'll actually do less damage.

The original plan was to leave the back seat in and work around it. But it takes up SOOO much space. Ain't nobody got room for that. So I called an audible and took the seat out. This complicated some of the cuts to match the floorboard of the jeep, but it's all the same method as contour-marking and cutting with a jig saw as I did in the back.

Where this varied from the rear, is in the lack of risers extending to the floor. Because of this, I notched each fore and aft riser to capture the longitudinal ribs. The glue and nail method is good for cabinets, but it's not adequate when there's significant sheer forces in play (like here when it's unsupported from below).

By notching the risers for the ribs, it transfers the weight from wood to wood instead of onto the glue or brad nails. The glue and nails are only there to hold it together, not transfer the load of a person sleeping on top of it.

It's hard to staple a notched joint. It requires a good, tight fit, glue, and run the staple at a 15-30 degree angle. It'll usually require a couple extra taps from a finish hammer to seat the brad nail, then you have to hit it with a sander so it's completely flat.

A wise man once told me that all woodworking is just building a box. There's a hundred different ways to do it. There's no right way, but there are wrong ways.

I'm building two identical drawers, 19"w x 29"l x 8"h. Mine are simple, with a single uniform walls and the same glue and nail construction as the rest of the sleep platform. Most drawers are built with an oversized double front fascia to hide the

After I account for my material thickness, I need a cutlist like this:

1/2" Plywood:

4 @ 19"x8"

4 @ 28"x8"

2 @ 18"x3"

1/4" Plywood:

2 @ 28.5"x18.5"

When building drawers, accuracy is critical. If it isn't square, it isn't going to slide well. If it's too wide, it isn't going to slide well. If it's too narrow, it isn't going to... you get the point.

A saw blade has alternating teeth that face two different directions. It's subtle, but when you're setting up your cut, you need to set your guide from the correct tooth.

This is a great opportunity to go that extra mile and match the drawer faces so they look like one continuous piece. I was dangerously close to not have enough material to finish the drawers, so I didn't have the option of cutting drawers that way. Matter of fact, I had to build my drawers with the grain running mostly in the wrong direction because of the scraps I was cutting it from.

If you're familiar with building boxes, but not building drawers, you're probably a bit confused about the 1/4" plywood on my cutlist. The interior sides of the drawers get 1/4" grooves routed into them hold the 1/4" plywood drawer bottom. The drawer bottom (if cut perfectly) also keeps the drawer square during assembly.

To use the drawer bottom as a square, the depth of the 1/4" groove is critical. Too deep and it's loose; too shallow and there's gaps in the drawer sides. For the perfect setting, I use Kregg Setup Bars. Always do a test cut when using a router to verify settings and that your collet and guide don't walk.

After squaring, gluing, and nailing the drawers together, I pulled the platform out of the jeep so I could install it on the workbench.

I installed the drawers in the platform while upside down so I could have easy access to the screw locations on the slides. I used a couple pieces of scrap to space the drawers off the top of the platform.

On one of the drawers I'm putting a removable plank to act as a little shelf for cooking or food prep when camping. I just put a couple spacers on the bottom of it and cut a finger hole in it so it doesn't slide around and it's still easy to remove.

Drilling into plywood requires some tricks to get a good clean cut. To drill a 1" hole in most hardwoods I would clamp it tightly to a sacrificial board and drill with either a spade or forstner bit. But with plywood, I prefer to use a hole saw with an extra-long pilot bit center. The trick is to only drill halfway through the plywood - deep enough that the pilot bit punches through, but the hole saw is only halfway through the plywood. Then flip the plywood over, use the pilot hole as a guide, and drill until the plug comes out. You've got to go slow and clean out the chips often - hole saws don't self-clear wood like most bits do.

I've dry-fit this thing like a dozen times, so there shouldn't be any surprises when putting it all back together.

The Addictive Adventure sleeping pad I'm using for this is a bit long for the available space, but the aftermarket seats in this jeep don't go forward any farther.

Now the next step is adding a escape release to the inside of the jeep hatch. But that's another day...