Designing a collapsible cot like bed help

Things get crazy around here as the summer draws to a close, and it can be hard to post on time! At least I am still posting on the right day...

On friday I posed about an idea I had for a bed: My chair and a Bed. When explaining it to my dad he said "Oh, you invented a cot! We used sleep on those all the time when I was a kid!" So I did a google search of cots, and yes, that is basically what I dreamed up! Only, I couldn't find one that worked like this. At all. Cool.

Lets start of with a look at my chair. Click on the picts for enlarged versions)

It is a simple chair I got as a gift from some of my film students. A directors chair, or beach chair. What is unique about it is how it holds together.

The seat is canvas, and is pinched between two peaces of wood on each side. 

The two peaces of wood are hinged.

The "pinch" is kept tight by the back of the chair. Another pace of removable fabric.

The idea being that you could change the colors of the canvas, or take it off to wash it. It also allows the chair to become quite compact.

So my idea is simple. Why not extend the chair? Maybe widen it a bit to give a bigger sleeping space.

I drew it out on paper:

But then I got thinking, the frame will be fairly long even wile compact and might not fit in a car. Why not make it two paces, wile still only having one peace of canvas, and why not make the legs detachable as well?

After that I used Google Sketch up to make a mockup 3D design (google sketch up is a free 3d program get it here: http://sketchup.google.com/ ).


Over the week end I have already found a flaw, I am quite sure I will need to put on bed ends (a head board and a foot board) basically like the back of the chair, to keep the canvass pined down.

I wont be making this to soon, but it is now defiantly on my list of to make stuff! If you have any ideas on making it better or more efficient, or see any flaws in the design let me know!

I will try and get a tutorial up for Wednesday.