Reinforcing the wings

When we initially took the Topagee out for a camp we noticed that the plywood bed bases that fold out from the sides were supported only by two steel bars pinning into the chassis. We're pretty light people but there's something about that which doesn't sit right for me. The screws for the hinges were also coming out because there wasn't much for them to screw into.

Luckily the Topagee also has a steel lip around the entire length of the walls that falls just below where the sides fold out. Ours had even been padded with some black foam. Could we use that steel lip as a second support for the bed base?

I managed to find some treated merbau pickets at Bunnings for $7 that are a tiny bit longer but had the perfect height and width. I needed the planks to be as wide as possible without interfering with the legs of the wing closing, the height had to match the height of the awkward gap (20mm) and the length was probably less important, but needed to be at least as long as the awkward gap (around 1700mm).

Overall the mod was a success, the bed feels way more stable.

The closing height didn't change because the plank height is about the same as the legs when they're folded in. Most of the weight of the bed is still going on to the original legs and pins, but the hinges are now more supported and there's less gaps for insects to get in.