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pipe cot for our boat


flickadancer

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Hi,

when I was a child we had a caravan and my sister and I had the settee beds but my brother had a sort of hammock affair which I believe is called a "pipe cot" which consisted of two bars, one fixed to the wall of the van and the other which unhooked during the day so the bed (made of plasticky sort of canvas like deck chair material maybe) hung down the back out of the way. At night you just lifted the lower bar and hooked it into brackets on the wall and he had a very comfy bed.

I would like one for our boat so my son can have a friend on board but can I find one? Not for love nor money. Tried the local caravan shop and he said not even listed in any of his brochures and he'd never heard of one.

Scoured the net and only found one in County Down which is no longer a for sale frustratingly as it sounded like it might have been a manufacturer.

Anyone know where I can get one?

Before the summer that is.

Thanks

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I'd have thought it was the sort of thing you could buy the component parts for, and make yourself.

 

BruceinSanity has one on his boat; maybe he'll be along a bit later to tell you about it.

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Hi,

when I was a child we had a caravan and my sister and I had the settee beds but my brother had a sort of hammock affair which I believe is called a "pipe cot" which consisted of two bars, one fixed to the wall of the van and the other which unhooked during the day so the bed (made of plasticky sort of canvas like deck chair material maybe) hung down the back out of the way. At night you just lifted the lower bar and hooked it into brackets on the wall and he had a very comfy bed.

I would like one for our boat so my son can have a friend on board but can I find one? Not for love nor money. Tried the local caravan shop and he said not even listed in any of his brochures and he'd never heard of one.

Scoured the net and only found one in County Down which is no longer a for sale frustratingly as it sounded like it might have been a manufacturer.

Anyone know where I can get one?

Before the summer that is.

Thanks

Make one?

 

Steel pipe (3/4 or 1 in)can be had from your local Pipeline Center or other good plumbers merchant.

 

There is a thread on History & Heritage which describes the various sorts of canvas out there. All you then need to do is sew a tube down both sides of the canvas and thread the pipe in. Fasten the non-pipe side to the wall and make two U shaped brackets for the pipe to rest in. Or have two bits of pipe and four brackets.

 

Done.

 

 

N

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I suspect the only way you would find a ready made one is to search for a caravan breaker and hope they have some very old caravans. I have seen one for 25 years and the caravan was old then.

 

However as mentioned above they wouldn't be difficult to make. If you are making one yourself ensure the U brackets are nice and deep. When our caravan had one the youngest put her feet up and pushed on the other girl in bed. Result total collapse of the structure dumping top child onto lower child. Fortunately the pipe missed both of them.

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We got a 14' ash pole from MC, cut it down to two 6' 6" lengths and varnished them. The hammock is made from upholstery material to match the other soft furnishings, reinforced with canvas on the underside and with two tubes sewn into the long edges as has already been described. The brackets are two pieces of 3 mm oak, 8" high and 20" wide, suitably shaped on top edges to make the locating slots for the pole ends and well screwed to the bulkheads at each end of the bed.

 

It's hugely popular with our grandkids, resulting in demands to go to bed in the middle of the afternoon when they visit.

 

HTH

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Our tug has two original hinged pipe cots. The consist of a rectangular steel frame, I think it's 1 1/4" galvanised pipe, with a series of transverse webbing straps. The straps have an eyelet at each end, are wrapped round the pipe on either side and pulled tight with cord underneath.

I renewed all the straps since we got the boat, managed to find some cotton canvas webbing as per original.

 

I could probably manage a picture if that would help the description.

 

Tim

Edited by Timleech
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Thanks everyone. I think we will have to try to make one - I was just holding out a faint hope I might be able to buy a ready made one still.

Eventually my brother outgrew the bunk and my parents bought him a small tent but he wouldn't sleep in it, so my sister and I fled there as we couldn't bear sharing with him. It too was very old fashioned being a green ridge pole without any liner, but we infinitely preferred it to sharing with the person we called "boybrat" in the dreadful way of older sisters, or at worst "Pilsbury" because he was fat.

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