boat bed for little guy

[Max]

Hello woodworkers:

My son and I will be getting together for a week in Michigan and hope to build grandson Max a boat bed (youth size).

Anyone know of any plans or sites that are available that may help us in this project?

Also any advice will be appreciated.

thanks,

Max in Kenora, On.

(It's not my fault that our son moved so far away.)

[Shelley]

Hi Max:

Do you by any chance mean a 'captain's bed'? - the kind with the drawers underneath? Or are you actually building a bed in the shape of a boat?

SY

[Max]

Sorry, folks. The type of bed we want to build is in the shape of a boat, but also has drawers in the sides.

Max.

[Kerry (Ottawa)]

I just finished painting the train bed (twin) for my 2 year old (looks like Thomas the Tank Engine). I used medium density fibre board since the corners are easily rounded over with a pass of the palm sander and its a bit softer than ply or particle (i.e. if/when he clunks his head). The down side of MDF is that its really heavy, so make sure that no one section is too big, also it can take a little while for the glue smell to dissipate.
For the rounded top of the cab and rounded "engine" of the foot board I layered 1/8 inch MDF, nailing and glueing. With this method you can produce quite an arc (20 inch diameter circular engine). For the smoke stack (which you may have on your boat), I used a 6 inch sono tube fitted with stacked mdf circles to give the top a nice shape...
One other recommendation, I highly advise you to build a twin, my nephew was in and out of his kid sized bed in 6 months (falling out, wanted to to be a "big boy" and sleep in big bed, hate to see you put the effort in and have him/her grow out of it in such a short time... Next project, a whale bed for the other boy, got some time though, he's only turning 1 on Sunday...
Drop me a direct email if you have more questions, sorry I don't have plans, I kind of made it up as I went,
K