I'm trying my hand at building a frame to go in the back of a van-car (Peugeot
Partner) to create some storage and sleeping space. I've screwed together a
frame:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0zGRMtznGIKZHW

The top of the frame will be finished with 12mm ply which will serve variously
as seats, a bed and a backrest, and each section will piano hinge open to
enable access to storage.

The LHS section goes over where the back seats were. 2 pieces of ply will go
on top of the unit, hinged. This will then fold out to form a backrest, and
hinge down to make a flat surface for sleeping etc. Other conversions use a
piece of wood to support the 'backrest' - usually against the front seats. The
same piece of wood then supports the ply on the floor in the flat position.
This is fine - it seems to work, but looks clumsy. Any other ideas about how
to support the ply at say upright and flat?

My next problem is securing the various cabinet tops/seats. I'd like something
that stretches or cams to latch the tops securely on the move. I suppose a
bungee/hook would do it. Any better ideas?

And holding the tops in the open position - something reliable and
unobtrusive. I've got a 50N gas strut, but that seems an improbable amount of
force for a c.2kg bit of ply. A formula suggests it might work:

https://www.engineerlive.com/content...gs-effectively

but I'm not sure whether this is the best method (I've not seen it used).
Others seem to use stay arms, which would be OK, but look a bit tatty to my
eye.

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Cheers, Rob