Boat Bed With Secret Compartments

http://www.instructables.com/id/Boat-Bed-with-secret-compartments/

Food Living Outside Play Technology Workshop

Boat Bed with secret compartmentsby Phiske on December 22, 2013

Table of Contents

Boat Bed with secret compartments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Boat Bed with secret compartments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Design and Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 2: Build the frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 3: Put on top rails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 4: Start the Prow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 5: Finish top of prow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 6: Cover the sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 7: Cover the prow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Step 8: Secret panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Step 9: Secret drawer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Step 10: Banket storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Step 11: Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Step 12: Add some trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 13: Secret compartments overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-food/http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-living/http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-outside/http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-play/http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-technology/http://www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/category-workshop/http://www.instructables.com/member/Phiske/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=title


Author:Phiske cachicamoleatherworks.comSpend most of my time in Ecuador south america with my wife and baby boy. From Chicago burbs,

Intro: Boat Bed with secret compartmentsSo my son got to big for the crib I made for him a couple of years ago and I was starting to feel bad for making him sleep on a mattress on the floor. It kind of remindedme of a scene from a movie where they find the kidnapped kid in a room with a grubby mattress. So to make up for that I had to make him a cool bed with secretcompartments.

I think hidden doors and secret compartments are in our dna. We all want to have that bookcase where you pull the right book that reveals the hidden room. Or lift thecandle stick to make the fireplace spin to go down to your secret lab. Remember the Nes game Shadowgate? Or the pc game Myst? Those were full of secret spacesthat you had to discover to find the next clue.

The boat bed I built has three..possibly four secret compartments. One is pretty obvious. The hatch in the prow of the boat opens to store blankets and other big items.The name plate on the...um..just a sec...wikipedia...Starboard side is a small drawer to hide goodies in. My guy put a Mickey Mouse toy in there first thing. Also onthe...port side there is a flag pole that you push down on to reveal a hidden panel (click on pic 3) . That's the cool one. You can also lift off the mattress and store stuffunder the bed itself...

Image Notes1. Panel that raises when flag pole is pushed down2. Hatch opens for storage3. Name plate opens to reveal a small drawer4. Panel under bed lifts to hide...uh...something big.

Image Notes1. push down and panel goes up!
file:/member/Phiske/file:/member/Phiske/http://cachicamoleatherworks.com


Image Notes1. This is a good place to hide some candy from mom!

Image Notes1. He promptly put a mickey mouse toy in here.


Image Notes1. Handle to lift panel

Image Notes1. Checking out his new bed.

Step 1: Design and MaterialsI'm not much for making a real exact drawing of what I build. I tend to just go for it. So for this project I did a basic sketch (on paper) with the mattress dimensions,finished height, and the space I had to work with. Then I just used my tape measure and eye-balled the shape I wanted. Another big design factor was that I wanted to beable to take it apart easily if I end up moving in the next two years. So that made it a little more difficult. As I went along in the project I had to make a few minoradjustments in my original dimensions to allow for plywood bending and for the tools I had on hand.

I up-cycled a lot of materials from other projects (crib) and stuff I had on hand. I did buy one sheet of 5/8" ply for the mattress to sit on and 2 sheets of 1/8" to cover theboat. The structure is made mostly from 3/4"material. Plus paint and Polyurethane. Nails, screws glue...all the basics.

Tools used:Circular sawJig sawRouterCordless drillHammerRaspPalm sander (random orbit)Japanese style pull sawVarious drill bitsTape measureQuick clamps


Step 2: Build the frameI drew the profile of the side of the "boat" full size on some poster board material and used it as my pattern(pic 1). This is the exact profile on the rear of the boat. I thencut out four of those, two for each side. These are the rear most uprights. As they get closer to the front they needed to be taller for the gentle curve from aft to prow. So Imoved my pattern up 3/4" for two more and then an inch more for the final two. I glued and screwed them to a 1x4 that is 2 inches longer that the mattress.

Then I drew the pattern on to some 1/2 inch ply I had (crib) and figured the width of the bed/boat based on the mattress width. I temporarily screwed that to the back toHold the sides up(pic 3). I cut one for the front also but based on the uprights on the front.

I then put a 1x2 on top of the notch I had planned out on my pattern. Glue and screw everything.

You can kind of see in the pics how I progressively figured out the shape of the boat.


Step 3: Put on top railsRip your top rail to overlap the 1/8" plywood sheeting. Then I used a 5/16" drill bit to counter sink where I would screw straight down into the uprights. Pre drill everythingso you don't split anything. Glue and screw.

Nice curve. right?

Step 4: Start the ProwThis was a bit tricky. I had to kind of just eye-ball where I wanted the prow to end up without making the boat too long in overall length for my sons room. I also wanted itto be big enough for storing a comforter. First I laid a piece of 1/2" ply on the ground.

Then I held the 2x4 up at an angle to see where it should go and then marked and cut it. Then I got a better idea of where it would end up. I then sketched the curve on tothe ply that is sitting on the ground for the bottom of the prow and cut it out with a jigsaw.

After I made sure the curve was nice I screwed the 2/4 in through the bottom.


Step 5: Finish top of prowI had to then figure out where the top of the prow should be so I bent a board from front to back with an approximation of the curve of the rails. Then I cut it on that mark.

I then used two 1x8's from the front of the rails to the prow. I clamped them in place and then freehand drew the curve on to the top side. Then I cut out one with thejigsaw and tested it on both sides. Once it fit well I flipped it over and traced out onto the other board, cut it out, and then fit them into place.

I flipped the prow over on to a work bench and fit the 2x2 uprights into place. Once it all lined up good I used a quarter round bit and routed all the edges.

Step 6: Cover the sidesI used 1/8" plywood to cover the boat. My dad built a kayak out of 1/4" ply so I figured this would be plenty strong for a fake boat. Once it was all glued up and dry it wassurprisingly strong and light.

For the side panels I wanted 4 "boards" to run up the length of the boat. I divided the front and back uprights into four equal parts which would be the bottom of eachboard. Then I ripped the ply with the jigsaw because I wanted kind of a rough old boat look.Starting at the bottom I glued and nailed the ply onto the frame, gluing along the entire length of the overlap also. The overlap didn't want to stay tight together so I used acouple of 1" screws to hold it together until the glue dried. Later I removed them and filled the holes.

The top "board" of ply has that slight curve in it that runs along the top rail of the entire boat. I clamped that piece of ply where the bottom should go and scribed the backside with the curve. Then I cut it out carefully with the jigsaw.


Image Notes1. screw hole that was removed2. I used a nail set and then filled all these nail holes.

Step 7: Cover the prowThis was probably the most difficult part of the whole project. Kind of hard to describe how I did it and I was in a rush to finish before it rained so there is only one pic.

Because of the more aggressive curve around the prow I ran the ply across the grain because it bends more readily that way. They also make "bendy ply" that wouldhave been great for this but I couldn't get ahold of any.

Again I marked all the uprights where the bottom of the board should be. Then I made an 18" cut of ply and just held up in place more or less and marked the angle alongthe 2x4. Once the angle was cut then I could clamp it in place and draw the curve onto the back side using my bottom of board marks and adding and inch. I only neededto figure out one side and cut the reverse for the other. Each "board" has a different radius because the prow widens towards the top. I just let the boards run long andtrimmed them with a hand saw flush with the back of the prow.

Image Notes1. starting to look like something, right?

Step 8: Secret panelI had a rough idea of how I was going to make a secret panel that would lift out when something else was pushed or pulled. I used a thin kerf Japanese style pull saw tocut the top rail where the panel would lift up.

Then I built a basic drawer that served as the panel. It took some trial and error to figure out the mechanics but it's just basically two eyelets screwed in to the bottom ofthe 1x2 that has a rope that runs through it. When you push down on the flag pull it pulls on the rope that raises the panel. Simple as that!

Perfect place for a iPad...and some how-to books....


Image Notes1. eyelet

Step 9: Secret drawerFrom the beginning I wanted a name plate to have my son's name on it so I decided to make it open up. I just built a tiny drawer with a back that extended up above thesides so when in place the drawer couldn't be pulled out to far and fall.

Stained the front. Printed out a font I liked and transferred it on to the wood. Painted it with watered down acrylics. Polyurethaned the hole thing at the end. Added somebrass rivets to the front corners to make it look like it's bolted on the bolt and can't be moved.


Step 10: Banket storageI used the space in the prow to hide comforters and large stuff like that. Used another scrap piece of ply from the crib. I trimmed it out and put some hinges and a handleon it. I'll eventually put something to hold it up while it is open but for now my son isn't going to be able to open it on his own for a couple of years.


Step 11: FinishI stained the top rails and the inside of the side where the mattress will sit. Then painted the outside of the boat solid green. Once the green dried I dry brushed darkgreen and white in that order to give it a weathered look. I also dry brushed white onto the stained wood to also weather it. I used a damp rag to soften the contrast of thewhite.Then I painted with the dark green to paint on moss to give it more detail.

Then I sprayed the whole thing with satin finish polyurethane. I didn't want gloss because...I don't like gloss :) and I wanted it to look old.


Step 12: Add some treesOnce I installed it it looked kind of lonely all by itself in his room. So I took some dried eucalyptus branches I had sitting around for another idea I had for the bed (wasgoing to make a rustic loft bed but transportability...) And leaned them in the corners. Once I knew where I wanted them I screwed them together so they wouldn't move ifmy son pulls on them. Then the sticks looked kind of lonely so I painted some in too. That filled it in a little more.

Then....twinkle lights.

That's it...Go to bed.

Image Notes1. Eucalyptus branches.2. Ollie


Step 13: Secret compartments overviewHere's just a review of the secret spaces I've included.

1. Hidden panel that raises when flag pole is pushed down2. Drawer behind name plate3. Hatch in prow of boat for comforter4. Panel under mattress lifts up

Thanks for reading!

Image Notes1. push down and panel goes up!

Image Notes1. He promptly put a mickey mouse toy in here.


Image Notes1. Handle to lift panel

Related Instructables

HiddenCompartmentsby coolstuff14

Hiddenmoney/papercompartment inpencil (Withstuff youalready have!)byassemblyrequired

SecretCandlestickSwitch by DIYHacks and HowTos

DrawPanel SecretCompartment bySilverFlame3113

False BottomSecretCompartment byM3G

Loft beds withbookshelfladders bymakendo

Advertisements

Comments

1 comments Add Comment

nathan nash says: Dec 23, 2013. 7:09 AM REPLYWow, this is really cool!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-Compartments/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-Compartments/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-Compartments/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/member/coolstuff14/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-moneypaper-compartment-in-pencil-With-stuff/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-moneypaper-compartment-in-pencil-With-stuff/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-moneypaper-compartment-in-pencil-With-stuff/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-moneypaper-compartment-in-pencil-With-stuff/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-moneypaper-compartment-in-pencil-With-stuff/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-moneypaper-compartment-in-pencil-With-stuff/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Hidden-moneypaper-compartment-in-pencil-With-stuff/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/member/assemblyrequired/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Secret-Candlestick-Switch/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Secret-Candlestick-Switch/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Secret-Candlestick-Switch/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Secret-Candlestick-Switch/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/member/DIY Hacks and How Tos/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/member/DIY Hacks and How Tos/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/member/DIY Hacks and How Tos/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Draw-Panel-Secret-Compartment/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Draw-Panel-Secret-Compartment/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Draw-Panel-Secret-Compartment/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Draw-Panel-Secret-Compartment/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/member/SilverFlame3113/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/False-Bottom-Secret-Compartment/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/False-Bottom-Secret-Compartment/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/False-Bottom-Secret-Compartment/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/False-Bottom-Secret-Compartment/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/member/M3G/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Loft-beds-with-bookshelf-ladders/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Loft-beds-with-bookshelf-ladders/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Loft-beds-with-bookshelf-ladders/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Loft-beds-with-bookshelf-ladders/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/member/makendo/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=relatedhttp://www.instructables.com/id/Boat-Bed-with-secret-compartments/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=comments#commentshttp://www.instructables.com/member/nathan+nash/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=commentshttp://www.instructables.com/member/nathan+nash/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=commentshttp://www.instructables.com/id/Boat-Bed-with-secret-compartments/?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=comments#DISCUSS

Documents

Boat Bed With Secret Compartments