Kids are stackable, but how?

[OffTheTrail]

Here is a fun brain twister. We have five kids, some on track to quickly hit 6ft tall. We are deep in restoring our 1978 25' Tradewind and it is now time to work out our new floor plan. We'll be keeping the bunks over the wheel wells, which takes away the thought of just tossing a camp pad on the floor for the fifth bunk


Has anyone ever seen a design with five bunks, be it stationary or movable? I know navy berths can be as small as 18" clearance, but we're having a hard time envisioning how to not literally go that route. Our original grand plans had something similar to the original Airstream removable bunks, but I'm not sure about it.


Can anyone creative or knowledgeable point me in any direction?

[JunkYard]

Have them sleep in a tent.

[SSquared]

I don't remember the name of the AirFourms member, but there is someone who had an older trailer that I think was 29 feet, that slept ten. The bedroom had twin beds, and they added two bunks above each. Kid #7 slept on the floor. Mom & dad slept on the dinette table. Grandma slept on the couch.

[skyguyscott]

Hmm, Wonder if hammocks would work; they can be put up and taken down quickly and take up little space. The path to the back bathroom may by blocked, however.

I Like the tent idea, your kids may also, unless it's a downpour. Your truck bed may also be viable, and I have seen pop-up type tents designed to go on top of pick-up trucks. These may be appealing since once they leave the nest, you'll have the camper to yourselves.

Or, conversely, if they want to join you on your expeditions, they may well be into jeeps and tents or small pop-ups, perhaps even the BaseCamp.

Seven in a 78 trade wind: sounds like a movie premise, but is it a comedy or horror film?

[Kyle401]

We had 3 high bunks on one side of the Overlander when I was growing up as there 5 of us. The overhead cabinets had to be removed from that side.

I had the topmost bunk. It was snug but it worked.

[skyguyscott]

Found this on the inner pipes, fwiw:

[skyguyscott]

What are you going to do about the single bathroom?

[rmkrum]

Take a number and wait?

[Goin camping]

Current trailer is 22 foot 1960 overland/safari. orig owner ordered a safari with overland options.

Orig owner took his wife and three kids on the early sixties Mexico Caravan with Wally.

Twin beds with a bunk over one and then two of his kids shared the dinette bed.

[PA BAMBI II]

When you dream of owning and traveling in a SMALL Airstream, and then it happens (with a family of four), you have to get creative.



We removed the rear closet and split the kitchen in order to utilize the space better in our 17 footer. Realizing that our little girls would each enjoy their own space within the trailer (SO important!), and probably not like growing up sleeping in a double with her sister, bunks were the answer.


I built stacked bunk beds in this space. From the bulkhead beside the stove to the rear curved corner, the bunks are over 6' long. The biggest issues were width (Bambi trailers are only 7' wide) and head space. Being such a small trailer, the bunks will become a bit more cramped as the girls continue to grow, but so long as they never grow taller than me, they will never have to sleep out in a tent, unless they choose to.

[Atwebs]

My folks had a trailer with an 18" clearance top bunk...don't do it, especially with large children. That sucker was so uncomfortable that it was useless. Whoever got stuck sleeping up there had to decide which way they were sleeping before they got on it because to turn over you had to slip out, flip in the air and slip back in, there simply wasn't room to flip over on the bunk. Luckily one little brother was easily convinced to use it (usually only a dollar or two), was training to be a human contortionist and had very good upper body strength. He did however startle to a sit -which often smacked his head into the ceiling above him (great fun for us older kids!).

We only suffered for a very short time, we all opted to move out into a tent and my folks converted the bunk into storage. Still miss seeing the look on my little brother's face when he bumped his head (again) because someone said "Boo"!

[skyguyscott]

Originally Posted by skyguyscott

What are you going to do about the single bathroom?

Hmmm, I wonder how many tanks and of what size you could possibly fit into a 25 foot tradewind?

If it was originally designed for two adults for a week, then what is there should last you two days.

[Hikingsolo]

I can even imagine how to fit five kids in our 34 footer!

We had a little T@B trailer two years ago that came with a 10 by 12 attachable tent. That doubled our space! I’d take a lesson from T@B and look at adding a channel for attaching a tent. Then I’d make a tent to go with it.

[OffTheTrail]

Thanks for all of the entertaining replies everyone :-)

Our family travels would definitely classify as a comedy, but less so than it would seem. We are all well accustomed to squishing together, living in a 1400sqft house with two tiny bathrooms. There was even a time that all five kids bunked in the same room during some construction, so they are no strangers to coziness.

And the question about the bathroom situation ... well... tents don’t have bathrooms and we’ve all survived this long �� (We’ve tent camped with them since the first was tiny - finally finishing the trailer will seem like luxury).

I do have some bunking ideas rattling around, but was hoping there was a been there, done that source out there. Whatever we come up with, I’m definitely planning to make it easily reversible for when we travel with less of them (still a long way off from that though).

[Kevin245]

Originally Posted by OffTheTrail

Thanks for all of the entertaining replies everyone :-)

Our family travels would definitely classify as a comedy, but less so than it would seem. We are all well accustomed to squishing together, living in a 1400sqft house with two tiny bathrooms. There was even a time that all five kids bunked in the same room during some construction, so they are no strangers to coziness.

And the question about the bathroom situation ... well... tents don’t have bathrooms and we’ve all survived this long �� (We’ve tent camped with them since the first was tiny - finally finishing the trailer will seem like luxury).

I do have some bunking ideas rattling around, but was hoping there was a been there, done that source out there. Whatever we come up with, I’m definitely planning to make it easily reversible for when we travel with less of them (still a long way off from that though).

Reach out to Pizzachop via a private message. Ron has a house full of kids and travels with them in a 31’. He’s the one I’d go to for expert advice in this area.

[guskmg]

It rained at the Oshkosh, WI, Airventure Campground during the week long boondocking experience. We had 10 people sleeping in our 34' SOD. The extras said it beat sleeping out in the thunderstorms.
guskmg