Is your ‘rock & roll’ seat bed crash tested?

I have fitted a few rock & roll beds over the years, it has to be said….

They are not cheap with prices ranging from a few hundred pounds to several thousand. My first conversion quite a few years ago was a diy project on my own T5 van. I went to the cheap end. It did the job, looked ok and cost quite a bit less than £1000.

I soon realised when I began to convert T5’s into campers professionally, just how much risk I was taking. That early rock & roll was bolted to the floor, literally!… No chassis beams, no spreader plates, not even a big washer!

I was fortunate, more by luck, that I didn’t carry passengers in the rear back then. Now, I only recommend to customers an M1 crash tested bed. The images on the left are of a RIB bed and it’s associated spreader beam in situ. The RIB bed frame is bolted down at the rear through the tested and certified  spreader beam, which in turn is bolted to the chassis rails on both sides of the vehicle. A further 5 high tensile bolts fasten the RIB down through the frame to either the chassis and/or suspension pick up points.

In my experience, the RIB is one of the best engineered beds and installation. There are others that do an equally good job. It’s one area that you shouldn’t cut corners on when you are considering a conversion, either yourself or by others.