length of beds regarding a tall person

[btr0037]

I am looking for advice on the length of the beds in airstreams. I am 6'3" and like to stretch out when I sleep. I am looking to buy an airstream to leave on a piece of recreational land, so towing/size is not important. in fact, the bigger the better. The floor plans often show two singles with the ends abutting against a wall, and a fold out placed sideways.

[exthemius]

I'm 6.2, and I can sleep in our rear gaucho with my feet hanging off the edge that extends past the divider wall (i.e. where the stove is) in our 1971 27' Overlander. The length of the actual "bed" (in our case) is 74".

[CanoeStream]

Twin bed equipped Airstreams have longer mattresses -- to the point that college dorm type long sheets fit them best. So that should approach what is in a Queen or King (both listed at 80").

I sleep on a twin in my Safari and am 6'0" -- seems I use all the toe space but there is a bit more room at the head -- except that's the curved end, so it is confined to a small degree.

[rock60]

all twin beds in airstreams and avions are to short for anyone over 6 ft. rear queen, one size fits all.

[ventport]

Get a 31 footer with a rear bed, center bath and you will have lots of room.

[Shacksman]

I,ve got a 1960 Ambassador that was made for a tall person. One bed is 6' the other is 6'5". This was done at time of construction as the furniture fits the bed and it still has the original goodyear airfoam mattreses. Also no lights on the ceiling, all are on the walls.

[cms4140]

I am 6'4" and find the twin beds to be very comfortable. I am not sure I'd like the queen set-up since it is 3" shorter than the twins.

[Aage]

Originally Posted by btr0037

I am looking for advice on the length of the beds in airstreams. I am 6'3" and like to stretch out when I sleep. I am looking to buy an airstream to leave on a piece of recreational land, so towing/size is not important. in fact, the bigger the better. The floor plans often show two singles with the ends abutting against a wall, and a fold out placed sideways.

If you are NOT going to travel, I would suggest that you go sit in some SOBs (some other brand) trailers and a 34' Airstream (the biggest one). Then price out equivalent used ones. You'll be surprised...

The SOB will seem much larger every time, because they are square: cabinets seem bigger and farther away (they are bigger and farther away) and the ceiling is often significantly taller.

It is only logical to buy an AS if you are going to travel. Tell us why you want an AS...?

The issue for me (I am 5' 17") is that, although the singles give the most square inches of sleeping per person, I find that the wall at the end is definitely annoying.

If/when I purchase another AS, I will get a sideways queen, rear bed. Less total width than two singles, but at least my feet could hang over the end and not be cramped in.

[cclarkego]

Aage,

At 5'17," how the heck do you even get in the front door?

Carol

[richinny]

one foot at a time. first the 5' goes in and then the 17" ;-)

[rock60]

i'm 6'3, banged my head many of a time, even got blood once, you soon learn ,duck.

[exthemius]

You know what gets me -- the overhead cabinets -- I hit my head on those all the time -- especially the one on the galley!

[KeithC]

I'm 6'3" and own a 1968 24' Tradewind. The middle gaucho is to short. The front gaucho allows for a 3" foot hang over if you remove the armrest and is OK if you sleep single in the bed. The accordian room divider head rails are a head knocking waiting to happen. Watch all open overhead storage doors.

[biggoofball]

I'm 6'5" and weigh 280. I do not fit on the twins. I fit on my front gaucho as long as I lay a bit diagonally.

The issue then becomes the weight of me on the portion of the gaucho that cantilevers out. I know it is weakening and have been monitoring all parts while I figure a solution to strengthen it.

[Gene]

btr', the best way to find out is to try them out. RV queen beds are shorter than residential queen beds. The same is probably true of the kings. The twins are a bit longer than the queens and the doubles. The guacho beds are pretty long in some models because they extend into the dinette, but you either have to make them up every night, or squeeze past them during the day.

Some floor plans have bed size on them, many do not. You can get many floor plans on the Airstream website and for those from years past, you may have to look around, but eventually they show up. As a prospective Airstream owner, you should become familiar with that website—there's a lot of information there, but it's sometimes hard to find. You can go to a dealer and measure beds and try them out, and you can call customer relations at Airstream to see if they have exact specs.

Somewhat shorter than Aage (what's 5'17" in kilometers?) and btr', I still felt my feet hang over the bottom edge and eventually found a way to extend the bed 4" and sleep happily. But everyone has their own standards for beds and what is awful for one person may be fine for another.

And, it might be easier to help if we knew what the trailer was for—hunting, writing the Great American Novel, family vacations, boozy weekends, party time? Will there be others with you? Twins are definitely out for some, fine for others. So far what I know is you like to stretch out which implies you are like me, except taller, and don't like your feet to hang over the edge. Are you looking for new or used? Are you willing to adapt the bed to make it longer? Some trailers have enough space to do so, but getting around the end can be a problem.

Gene

[btr0037]

I am looking at an AS because of a few recommendations from friends who own them. They have told me that the large AS drop in price a lot from new and the resale is cheap. If you get a reasonably priced used large one, one should be able to sell it for near the price you paid after a few years of use. They are so well made, they hold value at some depreciated level. Unlike poorly built SOB that deteriorate into nothingness. An example, a used 31 foot that has all new equip is $7Mish. The smaller, more tow friendly models, are the same price or higher.

[btr0037]

I am willing to modify the bed. I want a queen if possible, as I am married and we want to spend time on the beautiful site as a couple. We may have an occasional visitor, but they could tent it if no room in the AS. The site takes a 4 wheel drive to get to, so we will have a friend who has big powerful 4wd truck pull it up to its new mountain home.

[rock60]

even with a rear queen bed i have to get in and out at the foot of bed because of rounded walls at roof , dont let me stand up strait. makes it very hard to make bed.

[Gene]

No doubt the beds are hard to make unless you have the one that you can get to both sides. Mostly the queens are transverse and one person has to crawl out. I have a bad back and knees and have to get out of bed more in the middle of the night, so my wife gets to sleep on the inside.

I added some 1/4" plywood—with an additional overhang of about 4"—and screwed it to the luan plywood that the mattress lays on. We moved the OEM mattress down from the head at the wall. My wife made a bolster that fits between the wall and the mattress to fill the space. She told me a bolster is easy to make and can be stuffed with old clothes, rags, or whatever. I cut a piece of plywood that also fit that space with the curve, slid it into the end of the bolster, and then placed the combination between the wall and the mattress. The plywood should be at the bottom of the bolster and holds the fitted sheets in place. You can use standard fitted sheets and don't have to buy the more expensive RV sheets. We also bought a 2" thick foam unit to go over the very uncomfortable OEM mattress. They come in standard queen size, so the short OEM bed means either cutting a piece off, or have it slop over the end of the bed and making the sheets fit badly. A lengthened bed solves that problem too.

In our front bed, the space between the foot of the bed and the wall gets smaller, but we can live with that. That space gets filled with stuff anyway and my wife has to crawl over me (that's not all bad!) anyway to get out. This only works if you fit on a standard queen. Any longer means having a longer mattress made and it mostly likely will have to be built with a curve to fit the Airstream body—this will be costly. Everything we did was made out of scraps and the total extra cost was some thread and screws—maybe 10¢.

If you have to tow on a 4WD road, that raises some concerns. Rocks can do nasty things to the bottom of the trailer and sewer outlet. The angle of departure is not good because of the overhang. There are skidplates mounted below the bumper, but you don't want to rely on that much. How are you going to get rid of black water? Will you have septic facilities on site? Same for grey water, though that is easier to deal with by using a blue boy and taking it home. Will you have running water on site? Flushing and sanitizing the water system takes a lot of water—I'd figure on at least 4 times the capacity of the fresh water tank. We sanitize twice each towing season.

Gene

[tintent]

We have a 34' Airstream with twin beds. The previous owner of our unit was tall, so he did some interesting changes to his bed. There is something similar to a footlocker at the end of the bed. He removed the top of it. Then he had plywood cut to fit the entire area with a little extra width over the edge. He bought a regular sized twin mattress which is a little bit wider than the AS mattress. At the head of the bed (where it curves) he place a piece of foam cut to fit the area--same thickness as the mattress. We actually use a spare pillowcase to cover the added foam piece at the curve. It seems to work well. This would also be handy for someone with a weight problem needing a little extra width.