replace twin beds in rear bedroom

[femuse]

Hi,

we have just bought a 1990 32' Excella to replace our 1974 29'. Before moving in it, we have a few modifications to make.

The 1st project will be to change from twin beds to double. Stripping the existing bedroom looks like a no-brainer. The problem seems to be how to position the bed to have clearance around it, not whack our heads on the cabinets and mostly to be able to get into the bedroom without too much contortion.
It looks like the mattresses they put in are longer than the traditional 3/4 full that we have on our 1974. A shorter mattress will help some.
I know several people have remodeled the bedroom, and we would love to hear from them. Which way did you orient the mattress, and mostly: if you had to do it again, what would you change ?

Thank you for your input.

[I had originally posted this, plus more on remodeling this trailer in "Trailer by models & years", under 1990 Excella]

Chantal

[smily]

I have considered orienting my full size bed to have the head at the rear wall, foot at the door. But I see that the storage compartment access panel would be exposed if I did this. My full bed is also a storage area underneath it from the streetside.

Long story short if I move my bed then I will sacrifice the storage area and the access panel will be exposed. to the inside.

Also to change the bed from twins to full will necessitate getting an OEM full size bed or build one similar to the OEM.

If you done get OEM, (use a regular bed frame),then you will sacrifice the storage compartments under the bed, (Tambour Doors)

It looks easy to do but many things to consider.
Good luck,
Smily

[casarodante]

Check out this earlier thread: http://www.airforums.com/forum...&threadid=1438

[femuse]

to caadoptees:

Thanks for the link. I had already checked your earlier thread. That looks like the stuff we want to see: I must be doing something wrong. I cannot find your picture in the 1990 link. Last picture, page 3, is the outside of your trailer. Where can I see the bed?

Chantal

[casarodante]

OK. I must have deleted them. Here is the first of 4 of them that I just uploaded. Hope it helps.

http://www.airstreamphotos.com/photo...php?photo=2142

[femuse]

Thanks for going to the trouble of re-posting your pictures. Nice set up you have there.

You must be in much better physical shape than us to be able to make that bed !!!!

We may do the same thing with the bed, as a quick fix, but we hope to eventually be able to walk on at least one side of it. Don't really know how to do that yet. We should pick-up the trailer next monday now (it's snowing again).

Thanks again,

Chantal

[casarodante]

It takes a little bit of effort. However, we just use a fitted sheet on the bottom. We use a couple of unzipped sleeping bags as covers.

[cljackson]

I'm so happy to find this thread! We just bought a Safari 25' with twin beds, and I'd love to convert to a queen bed. Losing access to some/all of the underbed storage isn't that big a deal because it's difficult to access anyway with the way the twin mattresses hang out over the edge. The bigger issue with the twin mattress "hangover" is lack of support. Making the larger bed does look to be a challenge, but making the twin beds is no walk in the park either.

Did you use just a standard queen size mattress, or did you have to have one made specially for an Airstream? I assume the little nightstand in the back just pops off, right? What's the best way to remove it? Did you have to put any more support under the center of the mattress, or were the twin bed platforms on either side sufficient support?

Nice job! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Cheryl

[casarodante]

It is a standard Queen mattress. It was VERY difficult to get it oriented right. I got it in there OK, but I then had to rotate it 90 degrees.

The nightstand is just held on by about 6-8 screws. I had two pieces of 3/8" plywood (one from when our front window shattered, but that is another story), support is good.

Is real nice to be able to share a bed (my wife and I). Also this mattress is not a real good one but it sure is better than the stock Airstream twins.

[cljackson]

So, does your Airstream have overhead cabinets over the rear window? You mentioned that you had to rotate the mattress 90 degrees...does that mean it fits best sideways? I'm assuming the 2 pieces of plywood go across the middle and rest on the original twin platforms so there's support all the way across, right?

Sorry for so many questions, but want to make sure this will work in our Safari before we start tearing things out (like the nightstand). It will be nice to cuddle with my hubby!!!

[casarodante]

Yes it does have the overhead cabinets.

Let's see if I can explain it. Assume that the airstream is parked so the back of it is north and the tongue is south. I took the mattress in and got the longer portion running north/south, that would mean we were sleeping with our heads north. However, I felt it would be better with our heads east or west so the longer portion of the mattress had to run east/west with the shorter going north/south.

The pieces are from a 4'x4' portion of plywood. It was cut in half for the window. It just sits between the twin platforms. It doesn't totally span the mattress so I separated them in the middle for more support on the edges. Works well, you could get an almost exact piece of plywood to put under there.

With my mattress it was extremely difficult to rotate it so keep that in mind. Get some muscle to help you unless you are so endowed already. I think I slightly bent one corner of the mattress to get it in there.

If we decide to do this permanently we will have a local mattress company make one to fit. I have seen some where they build a hinge into them also.

Ideally I would love to trade the guts of the bedroom with someone that wants twins. The way that Airstream did the single beds in '92 is much more desireable than the way they do it now. Now you lose one side of outside storage.

Hope this all helps. If you need more photos let me know.

[jcanavera]

Most RV queen mattresses are a little shorter than a standard queen. I remember attempting to move my old bedroom mattress into the bedroom of my SOB. After the fight to get it in the trailer then getting it into the bedroom, I found it was longer and pretty much restricted travel from one side of the bedroom to the other. I ended up wrestling it out and selling it.

Jack

[femuse]

Cheryl: Do you need a queen mattress?

We have been full-timing in our 29' since 1996. We have a RV double mattress, about 75 X 49 (called double 3/4). We are what you can call, on the heavy side, and not getting any younger. Mike is 5'10", and a lot heavier than he should. He is used to that size mattress, and this is what we will use in our new trailer.
The 29' has the central bedroom, so he has to step all over me to get out of bed. The bed being along a wall, it is difficult to make, and his side can get cold. We just get closer, and we still can fit.

We hope to be able to set our bedroom in the 32' so we both can walk out on our own side of the bed. We do have the overhead cabinets, they may have to go. We are talking by PM with somebody who has the same trailer as our new one (32' 1990 Excella), with a rear bedroom, full size bed, factory equipped. Lucky people. We are trying to learn everything we can from their set-up.

Standard household sizes vs RV sizes (give or take one inch depending of sources):

Twin or single, 38"x74"___RV : ?
Double 54"x74"_________Double 3/4 (RV) 48"x74"
Queen 60"x80"_________Queen RV 60"X75" (or 74")

(I have found reference to a Split Queen 2 piece, 30 x 80 )

I found somebody's opinion on selecting beds/sheets (and more) for RV, called "RV set up 101 : Bed, Bath & Beyond" , at: http://www.myprimeyears.com/rv/yeaw_rvsetup_4.htm
They state that a RV queen is a short queen (standard queen bed width but only double bed length) bed. May be worth reading the rest of their story. I didn't yet.

I am back to the difference RV queen vs full: if you can put up with a narrower bed, you gain one foot of space. In a trailer, one foot in width is a lot.

We had our current mattress custom made about 6 years ago, semi-locally, I think for just $200.
We hope to pick up our trailer monday, if the ice melts. We will be doing a lot of measuring, hoping too to benefit from other people mistakes. So, please, keep on sharing your errors (and successes)

Chantal