Twin bed questions

[panora2]

Hey folks with rear twin beds. Our 98 excella classic 31 ft. has developed a bit of a slant. I sleep on the curb side (left side while inside) with my rump next to the wall and my head nearest the rear of the AS. It feels as though I'm being slowly dumped onto the floor while you're trying to sleep. I finally had enough and lifted the mattress and extra foam pads off last night looking for something that felt like a 1 inch board out of place. It feels like at least a 1 inch rise against the wall. Admittedly I did not place a level across the bed, but it looks level. My wife says the same things going on her side as well. We do have a hinged cover board over the lower storage area that the mattress is placed on and I wondered if the mattress was catching on the hinge plate where it's screwed onto the wall? So has anyone else experienced this problem? and what did you do about it? I thought about jacking up the other side of the trailer wheels but then the jello looks funny in the refrigerator. Your thoughts???
Ron

[Foiled Again]

Funny... but NOT. If it looks level when you're NOT on it could you have the dreaded Rear End Separation (the Airstream's not yours!)? Take a serious peek.

OTOH - really. Consider your "bedroom seating use". You sit on the edge of the bed to put on your socks & shoes, etc. Could you just have worn the edge of the mattress down so that IT is sagging? Even if you flip the mattresses between the twins, the worn edge will still sag toward the center. Hit the base of the bed with the level, then try to see if you can get anything resembling level from the mattress top.

People will tell you a mattress can be good for 20 years. But if it's an RV sized twin, there isn't a lot of territory that isn't heavily used by your body, and if you DON'T fulltime, that mattress probably sits in sweltering heat and freezing cold when not in use. If they are 5-7 years old, you might actually have worn them down quite a bit on the inside edge. If these are original equipment - 1998? They're definitely done for.

If new mattresses aren't in the cards in the short term and the problem IS that they're worn on the Aisle sides - then wedge up the base until the mattress feels level... but get the piggy bank out for new mattresses as soon as practical.

Paula

[panora2]

Paula: Thanks for the insight on the mattress wear. I believe our matts are quite new from previous owner. AS separation? Not sure what you mean by that. Do you mean the body is twisting or separating itself from the chasis? and then which part is breaking?
Ron

[Foiled Again]

Do a search under "rear end separation" or "elephant ear repair"

Airstreams have light weight frames. Older ones and a few of the newer ones have known problems, where the body actually can break loose from the frame behind the axles causing rear end separation. Test by standing on the bumper. If the bumper goes down and the body doesn't move - you've got trouble!

This condition can be caused/worsened by several factors:

• long term leaks that rot the floor so that the screws that hold the body to the floor fail
• unbalanced running gear - Inland Andy has a classic post on how to balance a whole wheel and brake assembly - find it. Or
• Overloading the airstream to the rear end
• general battering from lots of towing over rough roads at excessive speeds
• running with over or under inflated tires, worn shocks, old frozen axles

Repairing rear end separation - (this is my opinion only - and it's worth exactly what you're paying for it). First, If your Airstream has OSB instead of plywood flooring - I'd be replacing the floor in a frame off - and I'd probably just have a new heavy duty frame built.

Many people will reinforce the frames - and replace the rotten sections of flooring. Read a lot, make your own choices.

But check the mattresses too - they are a lot cheaper to replace.

[Wazbro]

My guess would also be the mattresses. Try them on a level surface like the floor to verify.

[panora2]

Thanks again everyone for your good suggestions, not sure why I didn't come up with those myself considering I try to be quite logical. There is just so much to learn and so little time in which to do it !
Ron