transverse bed issue (1 Viewer)

mentaliss

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Due to the height of our transverse bed from the floor of our motorhome, I am considering removing the original mattress's and sprung wooden slat's and replacing them with one shaped memory foam mattress, I have considered the problems of poor breathing of the dense memory foam material and in process designing a system of plastic 10mm thick matting so that the foam mattress sits on this which should allow air to pass between the bed support floor and foam mattress.........anyone had the same problem and did you manage to successfully sort the problem?
 

PP Bear

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I'm going to just sit the mattress on the slats too, there's plenty of air already circulated below them, unless yours was sitting on a solid surface? :)
 

Paddywack

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On previous boats and in current van I use the Froli star, so good we stopped at their little stelplatz to pick up one last week. The good news is that they are at the NEC. Much more comfortable than a slatted system. Broken Link Removed

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Minxy

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I believe some people use beach mats (the straw type) under mattresses to give a 'bridge' between the hard base and the mattress thus allowing air to circulate and prevent condensation/moisture. Also a wool blanket may have the same effect as it isn't as tightly woven as a man-made fabric blanket.
 
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mentaliss

mentaliss

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Sorry, I don't understand the OP.. why would you remove sprung slats ?

perhaps a photo would help..
____________________________________________________________________

Because they are special curbed slats that are fitted to a sub frame which is at least 150mm suspended off the floor which is adding to the height problem!!!

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mentaliss

mentaliss

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I believe some people use beach mats (the straw type) under mattresses to give a 'bridge' between the hard base and the mattress thus allowing air to circulate and prevent condensation/moisture. Also a wool blanket may have the same effect as it isn't as tightly woven as a man-made fabric blanket.
great, at least you understand my problem:):)
 

scotjimland

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sorry for being thick.. and probably still have the wrong end of the stick..

no matter.. replacing the slats with beach mat or any other type of mat will not allow the mattress to breathe and you will end up with a wet bed.. It used to be an isuue in the older caravans until the makers replaced the bed seats with slats..

I also had this problem in a double bed in our RV. It had a full size pocket sprung domestic mattress laying on an unventilated flat bed board, the material on the bottom side eventually rotted due to damp which developed into black mold.

To cure it I installed slats across which only raised the mattress by 15 mm .. hence the reason I didn't understand your first post.

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Chockswahay

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ScotJimland is correct.

When I put the slats that I have already suggested on my boat the reason was to prevent condensation. They worked perfectly everyday for 3 years! They will not raise the bed much more than an inch or so.

Don't forget we are trying to help you here :eek:
 

peter marshall

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Hi
I have a Transvers bed with slats they are only about 2in above the base, I as thinking if you remove the slats to lower them or some other system,does your bed have a side panel nearly the same height as the slats you will still have the same height to the side ,less of course the drop made by the new deeper aperture filled with the matress. Pete

Ps I use under the slats to store spare bedding, I hope you sort out to your liking.
 

Minxy

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It would be helpful to us if we could know what depth your mattress and slats are currently and what you are hoping to reduce them to as, to be honest, an odd inch or so won't make much difference to being able to get in/out.

How high is your bed at present - photos would help too.

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DP+JAY

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The front bed in our last van had a layer of course foam( like you see in filters etc.) under the mattress.
Worked well & lighter than slats.
 
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mentaliss

mentaliss

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Thanks everyone, but dont need to measure anything!! the fact is both my wife and I struggle to get in and out of the bed DUE to the bed being too high off the motorhome floor, so there's two choices, either I dismantle the whole bed support area and reposition the bed support/frame lower down into the garage area (in which this reduce's the interior height of the garage)..that's a lot of work, OR as already said, .......completely remove the original mattress, remove the suspended sprung slates, and replace the whole lot with one mattress..perhaps I should have this one question, how do you get a mattress to breath without weakening the mattress and raising it more than 15mm off the floor panel
 

makems

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On previous boats and in current van I use the Froli star, so good we stopped at their little stelplatz to pick up one last week. The good news is that they are at the NEC. Much more comfortable than a slatted system. Broken Link Removed
Another vote here for the Froli system. Very, very comfortable and has plenty of space for the air to circulate under the mattress. We had a memory foam mattress custom made to put on top (the mattress was an irregular shape).
Super, super comfortable.
 

Minxy

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Thanks everyone, but dont need to measure anything!! the fact is both my wife and I struggle to get in and out of the bed DUE to the bed being too high off the motorhome floor, so there's two choices, either I dismantle the whole bed support area and reposition the bed support/frame lower down into the garage area (in which this reduce's the interior height of the garage)..that's a lot of work, OR as already said, .......completely remove the original mattress, remove the suspended sprung slates, and replace the whole lot with one mattress..perhaps I should have this one question, how do you get a mattress to breath without weakening the mattress and raising it more than 15mm off the floor panel
Oh well, hopefully you've got it sorted now ... I assume you are also intending the 'new' mattress to be shallower to give you a worthwhile reduction in height, that's all we were trying to understand - how 'big' your problem is now and how 'small' do you need it to be!

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Coming at the problem from a different angle - what about using a step stool to assist in getting onto the bed, thus saving a lot of work trying to install a new mattress system.

We've just got one of the folding step stools to help with getting the bikes on and off our new rack.

I can see it doubling up to help with our transverse bed situation too, as if the person at the back of the transverse bed gets out and then needs to clamber back in over the front person the extra step will help.
 

Minxy

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Coming at the problem from a different angle - what about using a step stool to assist in getting onto the bed, thus saving a lot of work trying to install a new mattress system.

We've just got one of the folding step stools to help with getting the bikes on and off our new rack.

I can see it doubling up to help with our transverse bed situation too, as if the person at the back of the transverse bed gets out and then needs to clamber back in over the front person the extra step will help.
That's what we used to do in our Rimor, we had one of the caravan two-step metal ones which worked a treat but it is difficult to know whether that would have helped without more info ...
 

voyagerstan

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you can get a sheet rubberised hair which will solve ventilation problems it is also resiliant (bouncy) i used it in our 508 covered it with aduvet cover and matress on top bobs you uncle . an upholsterer will get it for you .:cool::cool:STAN

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mentaliss

mentaliss

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Oh well, hopefully you've got it sorted now ... I assume you are also intending the 'new' mattress to be shallower to give you a worthwhile reduction in height, that's all we were trying to understand - how 'big' your problem is now and how 'small' do you need it to be!

we need to reduce the height as much as possible but the maximum we can realistically achieve is probably about 6-7 inches overhaul height reduction, at this stage we have now to research what mattress's are available.....thanks for your views
 

Minxy

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Right, I've now found a picture of what I believe is the set-up at the rear of your van, you already HAVE a coulple of steps built in which are obviously not high enough sooooo ... instead of altering the bed height (ie mattress etc) which I don't think will realistically sort out your problem, and will cost you silly money and hassle for the sake of it, why not instead remove the 2 small steps (they look like it would be an easy job) and try some folding steps instead - you could store then in your garage during the day, or just plonk them on the bed! Some examples below - the first ones below (green - they are probably available in other colours.) are quite good as the 'bar' at the top is curved so would make it easier to step onto them from the bed:

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This may still allow the toilet door to be opened - difficult to say without knowing the measurements/seeing the van, even if you have to slide the steps out of the way to get into the loo there appears to be room to do this and it would be a lot less hassle than what you are proposing and you could use the steps for other things too. For the cost of a set of steps, I'd certainly give it a go if it were me.
 

Minxy

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Photo of what I THINK your bed layout is:

dethleffs T6571.jpg

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mentaliss

mentaliss

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Right, I've now found a picture of what I believe is the set-up at the rear of your van, you already HAVE a coulple of steps built in which are obviously not high enough sooooo ... instead of altering the bed height (ie mattress etc) which I don't think will realistically sort out your problem, and will cost you silly money and hassle for the sake of it, why not instead remove the 2 small steps (they look like it would be an easy job) and try some folding steps instead - you could store then in your garage during the day, or just plonk them on the bed! Some examples below - the first ones below (green - they are probably available in other colours.) are quite good as the 'bar' at the top is curved so would make it easier to step onto them from the bed:

Broken Link Removed
Broken Link Removed
Broken Link Removed

This may still allow the toilet door to be opened - difficult to say without knowing the measurements/seeing the van, even if you have to slide the steps out of the way to get into the loo there appears to be room to do this and it would be a lot less hassle than what you are proposing and you could use the steps for other things too. For the cost of a set of steps, I'd certainly give it a go if it were me.


Thanks Minx I must say I'm impressed with your tenacity, however even though you have pulled up the right Dethleffs model ( my profile)? the top step in my 2007 van is much further away from the mattress top..also when I tell you that my wife can easily hit her head on the underside of the bedroom wall lockers when laying down you might get to see where I'm coming from. I don't know why there is a difference but I have come to terms that I will have to do some alterations, I am perfectly capable of moving the bed structure down into the garage space ..but reluctant to do so as the next owner may require the larger garage, the step design in my Year van is quite poor especially if one would be older than my wife and I.
Newer Dethleffs which have Transverse bed arrangements now have the steps built into the bed front panel and there is a change in the design of the support slats.....(ideally we would like to change to the single bed design with a central wall way between the beds .....which has become very popular in Europe):)
I was hoping someone had already carried out this change as described in my original topic but that looks not to be, however I now believe the way to go is, one mattress sitting on an 'air'support system as mentioned here in various posts, Motorhome homers appear to like the conception of Memory foam mattress'es so it maybe a plus when it comes to selling the vehicle:unsure:

regards Larry
 

JimboT

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Our bed is slightly higher you can buy or make steps that would fit need picture of you bed access these steps un screw to access boiler/heater that you can access from cupboard.
if your wood is same colour as ours can find part number for you

 

Paddywack

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For what its worth, using the Froli system the height of the matress top is 14cm from the bed Base / garage top. Froli 4cm matress 10cm. More comfortable than the £1200, 28cm thick matress I have at home.

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