Can I mount my bed to this metal?

[Mallow]

Can I mount wood rails to this metal that was cut away for my high top? The rails would support a plywood bed. Think the integrity of the van walls is gone because of the cut away?

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by Mallow

Can I mount wood rails to this metal that was cut away for my high top? The rails would support a plywood bed. Think the integrity of the van walls is gone because of the cut away?

Welcome to the forum Mallow!

I don't like the looks of the roof structure as it looks like too much was cut away already. On my Chevy Express 3500 rv with fiberglass top, Airstream left much more roof bracing to the point it intrudes a bit into interior space and storage. But I appreciate that it gives strenth the body structure already weakened by the roof cut-out.

In this pic from behind my microwave, you can see the thick curve of the roof structure beneath the reflectix. Sorry I did not take a "before" picture that would reveal the structure around the fiberglass roof's edge, prior to concealing it under the insulation .

Looks like this was cut away flush in your van, so I'd vote for supporting any bed from the floor rather than from above.

[Hatteras Jim]

If you are talking about running a support horizontally across the rail which would support one end of your bed, I would not do that. If you were running a vertical support from the floor to the ceiling, and using the van rail to hold the top of the support, I think you would be ok since the weight is supported by the floor. Have you considered building a free standing frame out of aluminum channel called 80/20? I built my bed frame out of this and have storage underneath. It is a little pricey; but, very versatile.