Sleeping in Airstreams 23 feet and smaller

[switz]

Sleeping in the cross frame modified queen bed of the 25FB became a challenge as I am less than graceful crawling out from the front edge of the bed for the multiple nightly trips down the hall and always awakened my wife. And we had to climb onto the mattress to access the roof lockers above the bed.

Our solution when ordering the new trailer was/is twin beds.

Both trailers had/will have 8" custom cut to fit Rocky Mountain mattresses. They filled out the 600 thread Airstream sheets properly.

[65CV]

Originally Posted by JimGolden

...
I built a bridge across the aisle and made the entire back of the coach a bed.

Jim

Search for "superbed" and you'll see other people who have made the bed go across the aisle. After 3 2-month trips in a 54" wide bed, we upgraded to an Overlander Twin and plan to do the same.

There are others who have modified full size beds to make them into a queen with heavy duty drawer or A/C slides or the VTS Bed Slide.

[Tim A.]

Although we have a queen-sized bed at home, my wife and I have always been happy with the bed in our 2002 19-footer. Neither of us is short (hey, I used to be almost 6'2", but with age appear to have lost my non-shrink label), but are modest in girth.

Before buying the trailer new, we tested how WE fit on the bed and I think that is a good idea for any buyer.

Tim

[davcarv]

the twin configuration appears to be the clear winner for an Airstream. Room to move around in the room.

[m.hony]

Yes, Sir. The twins are the way to go.
That is some 20/20 hindsight after getting a trailer with the island queen.

[weirdstuff]

Interesting conversation.

We have the Interstate EXT, and when you fold the benches down to create the bed, it's, I believe, the size of a king sized bed. Quite large and luxurious.

Even so, we hate climbing out feet first. Next trip, going to try leaving the side benches up so that it leaves a middle aisle.

[m.hony]

Yes, it is. It is a different ball game in a trailer. Looks like you would still crawl in the end of the bed in an Interstate.
As an aside- Interstates are awesome. I would love to have one for a family car.
I think Interstates will take a part of the market share from Road Trek because they are so much nicer. The interior of this RoadTrek is just terrible.

[RangerJay]

Originally Posted by robert claus

Hey, Ranger Jay, how about some pics of the bunk layout you built in your Bambi? .....

Here you go.

I made these prior to the 2007 camping season and they've stood the test of time (and many thousands of miles) since - but they aren't for everyone - I had made a conscious decision that they had to fit between the existing cabinetry and bed surface - which does not leave a lot of vertical room in either bed. If I were to do it again I would give more thought to modifying the cabinetry to allow for more vertical space for each bed.


A couple of accidental benefits:

• the "bench" is great for changing - and also provides a bit more readily accessible storage space (both our computer bags and the camera bag).
• you'll notice the head of each bed is against the fridge wall - this means we no longer have any complaints about cold air spilling down on our heads from the rear window (we do a fair bit of cool/cold weather camping through the fall).

There is a lot more information and more pictures of how it was put together here:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f198...ml#post1017478

Be glad to answer any questions anyone has.


Jay

[SilverGate]

With two dogs, we like to spread out and enjoy our space and have a comfortable, good night's sleep. That's why we chose the L-Lounge that we leave in the extended configuration while also utilizing the rear bed!

Details of the bedding for the L-Lounge are seen here.

[davcarv]

The L lounge is a good configuration for sure.

[SteveH]

Our '01 25' had twin beds and while it was very comfortable sleeping, my wife bitched so much about how difficult the beds were to make up, we've had queen beds ever since. If mama's not happy.............

[m.hony]

That is cool- a bunkhouse before Airstream thought it up-

[Docinabox]

We have a 23D. My wife and I find that it is cozy sleeping in the corner bed. Indeed it is difficult to make. currently our usage is week long trips. If we actually were full timers, I would likely want to have at least a queen bed. Being 6'3" and about NFL lineman size I find that the extra 2 inches in length over the queen bed is helpful. However, I find solace in the fact that I can go to the dinette and turn that into a large bed if necessary but have not needed to do that yet. We have comfortably been able to sleep generously sized visitors on the dinette bed. I often thought that if they made a 23d widebody, the corner bed width would increase to 54 inches which would be just the difference we need to make it work well for us. On that note, in the 30 foot bunkhouse, I believe this is the case.