The Bunk II

I finished bracing the bunk over the weekend. It is strong enough to support my 250 lbs without giving much. Once the plywood is installed on the bunk it will be even stronger. The center section will house a TV and DVD player. The sections on either side can be used for storage or sleeping as there is 6' of bench area available. Access to the rear most section will be through a hatch under the mattress. I plan to store stuff there that I don't need very often.

There are two outlet boxes on either side under the bunk. One will be used for an electrical outlet. The other for a dimmer switch for the lights. A piece of 1x2 hides them from view. After mounting them I realized that if I made the pieces of 1x2 a little longer, I could attach the middle 1x4 runners to it to stiffen them up. The angle of the side bunk supports is just right for this. The middle 1x4 runners bend when you put your weight on them because there is nothing supporting their 8' length, while the other two 1x4 runners are very stiff. I'll take care of that next weekend while I work on the wiring some more and figure out how to mount the air conditioner. While the build is going slowly, I like it that way as I have plenty of time to think things through.