Deploying the bed in 2-berthers

[marc4242]

One of the (fairly mild) irritations of our Rascal Romahome was re-building the bed base each night. We couldn't just pull a bed base out from anywhee, with the bedding on it, the whole base had to be made, and then the bedding placed on it.

Is it easier in more modern 2 berth vehicles, eg R25 and R30? What about other makes?

[anchorman]

marc

I can only speak for the R25, but if you want a double bed you have to put the table between the seats in the recess, and use the side bolsters for fill in. We manage to sleep across the van with about in my case about 2 inches to spare. Using 2 Duvalays, have now got it off to a fine art, and very comfortable it is too.
See pic with Duvalays in place.
Note the passenger seat backs in the Luton.

Tony Anchorman

[Graham]

One of the (fairly mild) irritations of our Rascal Romahome was re-building the bed base each night. We couldn't just pull a bed base out from anywhee, with the bedding on it, the whole base had to be made, and then the bedding placed on it.

Is it easier in more modern 2 berth vehicles, eg R25 and R30? What about other makes?

In the Dimension we have to turn the front seats round so they are facing forward, take the headrests off and then lay all four seats flat then put the bedding on, if you want a double bed there are two more cushions that go in between the seats to make a large double, its certainly not a case of pulling a bed out with bedding in place (I wish).

[marc4242]

Thanks for Graham and Tony for those comments.

It seems quite similar, particularly on the R25, to what we did on the Rascal. It's difficult to design something else I presume, in a limited space.

[jayjay]

It was the same in my Rascal Romahome as well. Although I was short enough to sleep on one side, the dog on the other! LOL. I never actually made up the bed as a double, but I had two tables (one just a cheap plastic job) and put them both down the middle so I wouldn't lose my pillows - or fall off the bed! I did try once with the roll-out slats that came with it and fitted into the moulded recesses down the sides, but I never got it right, and what a performance it was to get it right!

That's why I went for the little Kip caravan I have now... the beds (single) are 2ft 6" x 6ft 3". Although I never put up the double (which would also be using the table+back rests) there's a lot more room in there!

[Tentpeg]

La Strada have one version of there van which has a drop down bed. The bed is stored against the roof in the day made up and you drop the thing down at night. Of course this does mean that you climb up to bed at night and face a climb down if you need the loo etc. Sitting up and reading a book is also a bit compromised. The other thing of course is I worry about how long these mechanisms survive without problems with real use. However the van is built on a Ford transit which makes a lot of sense having more reasonably placed spares than the Citroen.

The finish on La Strada is not a patch though on the Romahomes... they are much more chucked together.

http://www.lastrada-mobile.de/index....3&languageid=2

[Dabs]

In the Bongo you have a choice........either upstairs......or downstairs

Dependant on the weather I swap between sleeping up in the roof or down in the van itself.Both are comfy I prefer sleeping in the roof for the wider space but it is strange place to be at first being six foot in the air ontop of a van (it sways a bit!).The freetop roof has its other uses and comes in handy for extra storage when on site.All campervans have a space problem,its the management of that space thats the secret of a happy camper!
I have changed my bed set up a few times when sleeping in the body of the Bongo.I have now created maximum usable space still with a comfy bed......and yes the usual problem of bed set up still exists when sleeping down.....it still has to be made up.......I think this is why i like the roof bed so much.....you clamber up there through the hatch and job done you are in bed!!

Dabs

[glenw]

you could look for something with a 'rock and roll' bed. I haven't got experience of them but from what I understand, they are a pull out bed that when put away becomes a double seat/sofa. They can be fitted with seatbelts etc and I think are quite often used on VW transporters and the like as rear seats. There are quite a few on ebay at the moment that will give you a better idea.

[Twinkletoes]

The main reason I like the Duo is you don't have to heave seat cushions around to make the bed. My sister-in-law recommended it when I was first looking. She had previously had a Bedford (aeons ago) also later a VW and even though taller than us, found sorting out the bed hard work, and knew that for us it would be difficult.

I had never seen a Romahome and loved it from the start. Songbird and I use it as 2 singles and if away for just a week-end leave the sleeping bags on the seats. For the week at the IoW we will probably store them away as we will probably use the van on a couple of day trips, but it just means lifting the half length seat cushions and stuffing the bedding in.

Ann

[glenw]

or maybe something like this would suit you?? an everday vehicle that could be used as a camper when you need - with the bonus of a fixed kingsize overcab bed.

[1_man_and_his_dob(lo)]

you could look for something with a 'rock and roll' bed. I haven't got experience of them but from what I understand, they are a pull out bed that when put away becomes a double seat/sofa. They can be fitted with seatbelts etc and I think are quite often used on VW transporters and the like as rear seats.

I have a sideways-facing rock-and-roll bed in my little Danbury, and I think the bigger T2/T5 2+ berths use forward facing ones. They're probably a lot easier to set up due to the extra room - to make up the full bed length on mine you have to slide the base forwards and add various cushions. At this point you've replaced almost all the standing room inside with the bed, so next is sorting out the sleeping bag/mattress topper/etc. while sitting on it. I think in theory this should take minutes but I'm not quite up-to-speed yet.

Not a routine I look forward to when returning to the van after a late night

[jayjay]

Not a routine I look forward to when returning to the van after a late night

Make up the bed before you go out... I always do that, then I can just dive in when I get back!

[BiscuitTin]

Deploying the bedding arrangements should be an olympic sport in the small van, espcially when you share with two bewildered dogs. I bought one of those tempur type mattresses for my side before I completely ruined my back on the 13 year old upholstery of the VW, you can see it on the right hand side of pic here, so it is one more unwieldy thing to heave around in the van
I'm sure my back will thank me in the long run.

[1_man_and_his_dob(lo)]

Make up the bed before you go out... I always do that, then I can just dive in when I get back!

I keep telling myself to do that. I've always thought up until now that because the bed takes up so much room when folded out it would actually make returning more cumbersome, particularly when I get in through the back doors via the attached utility tent.

It also doesn't help at this time of year when it's so light in the evenings....I don't really feel like arranging the bed when the sun's still out .

But now that I think about it, I can make up the bed until it's about 80% done.....hmmm. Something to try in a couple of weeks methinks.

OK.....fact is, I'm disorganised