ABOUT THIS PHOTO:
Plywood bed panels are stored on edge at far right. Making the bed consisted of these steps: 1) Move stuff so tote boxes could be arranged in a row; 2) Place plywood panels atop the totes; 3) Place rug atop the plywood (to protect the air mattress); 4) Inflate air mattress and place it on the rug; 5) Place non-skid fabric atop the mattress; 6) Place an anti-sweat rug atop the fabric; and 7) Place the sleeping bag and pillow atop the rug. Not exactly a simple process!

ABOUT SYSTEM 4:
My fourth system was designed to eliminate the need to move things around to create room for sleeping. I realized that the Rubbermaid Roughtote storage boxes I used to hold my travel gear could be used as a sleeping surface if covered with pieces of plywood. A headroom test confirmed that when lying on the totes I had just enough room to sit up.

The only problem was that the boxes were not flat on top. To solve that problem I cut four pieces of plywood to lay atop the boxes. I had to add a rug to my travel gear (laid atop the plywood) to protect my air mattress from splinters. The design seemed good on paper, but was more trouble to use than the previous system. The relatively large pieces of plywood had to be stored out of the way during the day so I could get stuff out of the boxes. Moving the plywood panels around was a pain. Back to the drawing board!