Twin beds vs. a Queen bed

[gypsydad]

Just to be clear, besides the additional storage inside and out, and the extra room to change and move around in the bedroom, there is a lot more "sleeping surface" with the twins vs the queen. The Twin mattress are 34x80 in most AS's 25'-30' models; the twin is 36x80 in the Classic line. The Queen mattress offered in the AS is only 60x75". But, who cares, right? Its all good!

[Mangin]

For my fellow 25 FB queen bed owners. Try sleeping with your head at the opposite end. Easier to get out of bed and feels way bigger. You won't feel penned in by the end table and wardrobe.

[Travel Kats]

We are gutting our ‘73 24’ Argosy rear bath, pulling out the twins and putting in a queen. The length of twins in 73 was a tight 72” so we had no choice. It will go in width-wise in the original spot, and will fold in during the day. So we will climb over the bed bottom for night visits to the bathroom, but at least we have plenty of space around it - I hate sleeping in a cubby.

[2MileHi]

Twin mattress dimensions are half the width of a king. Ergo, much roomier per occupant than half a queen. Purely a matter of preference.

[gzeigler]

Originally Posted by sfling

As we search for our new-to-us Airstream, we see there are more trailers with twin beds than queen beds...many of which are seemingly being sold by married couples. Why?

Are the queen beds surprisingly small or uncomfortable, compared to twins beds? While I love the Dick Van Dyke show, I don't like the idea of my wife and I sleeping in separate beds, but would love to hear other folks experiences and preferences on the topic before we buy.

Always amazes me how you are thinking of a problem or issue and out of the blue, some other seeker addresses it on Airforums. My wife and I are going from a queen to twins.

The reason is simple, we are at a stage where we both have to get up at least once (on a good night), one of us wears a mask, one of us snores occasionally, and one of us is a light sleeper. As to intimacy, we just figure you have to plan it. Our euphemism is "a date," as in "how about a date tonight?" But maybe I'm getting into more detail than you were seeking.

[Starlight Mike]

We have the best of both worlds in our 25.
We got a deal on a used 25 with twins but wanted a queen. We keep a piece of plywood under each twin and turn them sideways across both beds and move mattresses together. We take a big kayak strap and make mattresses tight together, put on king sheets and we have a KING bed. Great setup.
Sometimes on short trips we leave twins in place and have all the room and storage. Long trips, we put beds together and have to plan on what we need in those storage areas underneath.
I forgot to mention, we drop the top of middle night stand, which easily comes apart, on the floor.
I have posted this before with pictures and several people have done it and been happy.
Cheers

[Jimbob24]

I traded out 35fb queen for a 27 fb twin. Twin configuration in effect give you another room. Can sit sideways on the twin and you have the hallway going all the way down. We love it

[jwgreen]

Bought our first Airstream, a 1977 31 ft. International, in 1991, the year of our 25th anniversary. It had twin beds and a rear bath. We then traded it in 1995 for a 1991 34 ft. Excella with twin beds in the rear. Ditto after selling the 1991 privately and purchasing a 1999 Excella 34 ft. in 2005. We then sold the '99 in 2015 and purchased a 2007 34 ft. LTD with a slide out. Now married 54+ years with 4 Airstreams and very happy with our twin beds. We purchased new custom mattresses from Cantwell Mattress Co. in Corpus Christi, TX in Feb., 2020. Great! We even turned down a better deal on a newer trailer a few years back with a queen bed.

[MotoMannequin]

When we were shopping for 25fb used, if twins were the only option, we would have converted it to a single king. Luckily we found an fbq. 5'7" and 5'2" the extra length of the twins wasn't an issue for us. The twins give more space in the center aisle, more outside storage, are longer, and provide an additional "living" space if needed. None of this outweighed our desire to sleep in the same bed.

[Raining4Days]

We bought a 1999 25' safari twin bed, and then converted it to a full/queen. The twin was not that uncomfortable and had new Airstream mattresses. But after almost 40 years of marriage, my wife and I couldn't get used to separate beds, so I took out the twins, and built a new platform for a queen mattress, (repurposing the existing under bed storage hardware and nightstand/drawer).

So why did we buy a twin bed in the first place? There were more used twins available, and they were less expensive.

BTW, anyone want to buy a pair of twin mattresses?

[no roots]

We did twin for all the reasons above with one upgrade. Storage is at a premium in general and the crappy little plastic boxes supplied under the twin bed just don't do it. We took the door and hinges off, built drawers with the existing drop down door as the drawer front. You can divide the drawer any way you want however we settled on 3 rectangular compartments. Increased the storage capacity 3 fold.

Good luck

[jcanavera]

Have had both in an Airstream. In my Classic I have the queen. In my Safari I had the twins.

Queen:

Good:
In my trailer my head is at the rear wall of the trailer. I find it warmer since my entire body is not exposed to a side wall. Storage under the bed includes drawers on each side, plus the mattress pops up on struts. Same area accessible from outside. Nice storage over the top of the bed on the rear wall and two closets (short) and drawers on each side of the queen.

Bad: Limited maneuvering space on the sides of the bed.

Twin:

Good: Center drawers and table top between the beds. Room to maneuver between the beds. Beds have storage below and were accessible from outside. You are in your own space with the bed so a restless partner doesn't bother you as much.

Bad: Cold temps radiate from the side wall and window which makes sleeping a little more uncomfortable in cold weather. Not as much storage space in my opinion since the isle is wider between the beds. That curved wall is noticeable when you sleep.

All in all I give an advantage to the Queen due to the better storage. However I preface that with the fact that I did order the Classic model which had a center bath. That gives plenty of room to use as dressing space. If storage isn't an issue and you have a center bath, or a restless partner, then the twin might be more pleasing to you.

Jack

[wineteam]

I'm over 6 foot and my wife's other child is our pooch. Ease of middle-of-the-night bathroom break, longer mattress for me and our dog's bed fits perfectly in the aisle between the beds makes for a happy union.
At some point I'm sure one of my kids will take out the AS for tailgating or some other adventure. Twin beds gives them more flexibility if they are using with a group of buddies too.

[Robertsonbl]

We love the queen in our 34' AS. But, we like the cozy overall feel in the master cabin. To each his own...

[godber]

Originally Posted by CBWELL

We love the twin beds because of the extra room inside the bed area, as well as the extra outside storage. Have had both twins and regular, and the twins are easier for one of us to get up during the night without disturbing our partner. More overhead storage as well, and easier to access that storage.

This pretty much covers it for us too. We've been happy with our twin beds. We're slender folk tho.

[Kthies]

We purchased the Queen and if we could do differently would have twin beds. The layout with twins is more practical, more bed space per person, easier to get to the bathroom at night , better storage, incline per bed is independent of partner. We have 33 classic and 3 dogs. I would take the twin, build a foldable support for between the bed and modify to a king when we have our dogs. Without the dogs strongly favor the twin set up.

[Life is a Highway]

Had twins in our 25 FlyingCloud I wrote how much we liked then but to be honest
It was only to make the trailer feel more roomy.

After several trips in the cold fall which we like to travel in we found we disliked the very cold outside storage lockers underneath the beds.

Plus Airstream still after many requests they do not make the twin bed frames wide enough. Many forums on this You will have to have the base removed and made wider. Jackson Center has the Pattern did a great job but charged us $125.00. Without the base extension it feels horrible with a mattress that hangs out unsupported in the isle.

If we had another 25 We would still buy twins. With our new 30 we agonized but yesterday ordered it with the Queen. I think because it’s NS orientation not EW so it’s ok

Also In our 25 the bottom of the twins touched the walls beneath the lockers. In a 27, 28 or 30 you have a gap a space so the mattress it could slide or if you place
Items on the mattress for travel day they could fall off. Not a big deal.

If you buy twins it will be necessary to order HyperVent for them to breath and it helps with heat and cold plus no mold.

[mccreainmd]

Another plus for twin beds is that it’s more suitable if you ever plan to travel with someone other than your spouse or partner. I’ve traveled with my sister, grandchildren and friends - the twin beds allow for more sleeping options. And the extra storage space is appreciated.

[Greg1960]

I bought 2018 28’ AS trailer with twins. I love the panoramic windows and extra exterior storage that came with it, but not the narrow bedding, which lasted for a few days. I got a nice regular 80” long queen sized mattress and sheet of plywood, relocated the center nightstand, and have the best of both worlds🤷. IMO, the twin option allows for a bit more owner flexibility using only a screwdriver. The only downsides for the 28’ and 23’ trailers is the window adjacent to the door (don’t even think about opening it), and the vista views mounted below the awning.

[tymcknobel]

When we first started looking at Airstreams, we wanted queen bed only. Fast forward ten years, and we decided to get a Classic 33 twin bed configuration. We like the extra storage, the center aisle, and we think we could, with a little creativity, convert it to a king bed when we want it. My husband is 6’2” and the longer twin prevents his feet dangling out. On testing the queen, his feet were on the edge. We also share the bedroom with two cats and they prefer to sleep horizontally on the bed (power play, I gather!). Even if you push them off, they come back. Perhaps the twins will give us all a little space. We’ll find out when we pick up the Airstream next month. Our tow vehicle will be getting a pop-up camper-topper from Four Wheel Camper (going for that “hub and spoke” style of camping) that has a queen bed, so plenty of ways to cuddle in the end.