[VAC] Caravel couch/bed hardware

[Steve Boyd <steve.boyd@xxxxxxx>]

Hello all,

I've got a question for those of you with 1968 Caravels with
the front dinette, side couch/bed (gaucho?) floor plan. 
What sort of hardware or mechanism does your rig have to
control converting the couch to bed and vise versa?  Mine
has the seat cushion and back as a free unit which is held
in couch position by a tab/slot sort of catch on a hinged
shelf below the street side windows.  There is no sort of
slide mechanism to control the outward movement of the seat
cushion and back when converting to a bed.  It just slides
across a couple of rails which support the subtending
cabinetry in a very haphazard manner.  At the front of the
seat cushion on the bottom there is a hinged rail about
2-2.5 inches wide which runs the length of the couch.  To
support the thing in bed mode, I must pull out the two
drawers below, unfold the hinged rail, and rest it on the
sides of the drawers, behind the front panel.  This works,
but seems awfully clumsy, and it tends to want to chip the
front panel plywood if not positioned correctly (easy).  I
previously owned a 1969 Overlander which had a more
elaborate mechanism of slide out rails which cantilever and
support the leading edge of the bed.  I liked the way that
system worked much better than my Caravel's. Is my Caravel's
set up the standard, or a low end option, or what?  I plan
to reupholster in the not too distant future, and want to
explore my options for improving the mechanical aspects of
the couch/bed before moving forward with that $$ project.

If anybody has photos of their couch hardware they could
send me off list (steve.boyd@cgu.edu), I would be most appreciative.

Thanks and best regards,
Steve Boyd
1968 Caravel
2000 Nissan Frontier V6 XE Desert Runner