Central Bed (1 Viewer)

[Jands]

Looking to get my motor home when we retire in 23 months time so am spending this time to gather our thoughts to narrow down exactly what we want.
First thing is the bed.
Our thoughts on the sleeping arrangements.
Can't be bothered to assemble a bed each night
Want to be comfortable
Like sleeping in the same bed
Ease of getting in and out
Go to bed at different times

Leaves a central bed as the best option.
Any thoughts or advice or thoughts?

 

[Alistair33]

We had the exact same requirements and thoughts and have not regretted the decision to go for an island bed. As an other use, pull over the door and you have aseperate room. Ours pushes up to become shorter in day mode

 

[Dan and Jan]

Hello and welcome from Scotland. Island bed sounds ideal for you. Returning to MH after a wraparound lounge we went for a transverse bed, big mistake when you need to get up in the wee small hours. Now changed to single beds or a double if we want it. Bliss.

 

[Rapphil]

Hello and welcome from Scotland. Island bed sounds ideal for you. Returning to MH after a wraparound lounge we went for a transverse bed, big mistake when you need to get up in the wee small hours. Now changed to single beds or a double if we want it. Bliss.

Sorry can't resist:

"Or a double if we want it". !!!

 

[Dan and Jan]

Sorry can't resist:

"Or a double if we want it". !!!

Only if she wants it. I should have said.

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[Rapphil]

 

[Crazylegs]

My neighbours purchased a new Burstner with a central bed that lowered from above about a year ago, this year they traded it in for one with two rear singles above a garage. ( I believe they can be made into a large double) I asked why the change? Apparently if his wife went to bed early he had nowhere to sit and read, most of the cupboards were inaccessible with the bed down so it wasn't working for them. Lord knows what that little error cost them.

 

[Jands]

The van I am looking at has a central bed at the back with a sliding door separating it from the rest of the van.
I like to go to bed so no problem if she wants to read in the front area.
Also it divides if we need a bit of quiet time.
From the comments it appears that our thoughts of a central bed with a sliding door is the suitable choice.

 

[Clarky]

Island bed every time.
It does mean the van will be longer but if the bed if fairly high there is space for a decent sized garage underneath.

Richard.

 

[jessthedog]

As all the experts on here will tell you, its all about compromise.
Unless you go for a big tag axle. With the island bed you will lose abit of space up front in the dinette or whatever its got.
I have an island bed and like that you can close door and seperate bedroom from rest.
Theres nothing stopping you using the bed to sit and read or power nap in the daytime either

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[Jands]

That is my thought, having that extra room would make being away for a month easier.
Hopefully we will be mostly living outside but sometimes and on some trips will be living inside.
And having a but of space to get away is sometimes nice, especially if you can lay down to relax.
The dinette area is ok with the 2 driving seats reversed and 3 other seats.

 

[TerryL]

Autotrail Tracker RB has a transverse "island" bed which helps to keep the overall length down. Have considered it as a replacement, ours is currently a "French" bed.

 

[Rockcrawler]

As with anything I think it's all down to personal taste, for us it has to be an island bed as we have had our fair share of making up the bed every evening ( what a hard life )
We had a fixed corner bed in our caravan before our MH and found it quite small. So it's an island bed every time for us

 

[Lenny HB]

Only problem with an island bed is you sacrifice garage space. Our last two vans have singles at the rear and drop down double at the front, works for us.
Important to us are, fixed bed, fixed table, decent shower & big garage.

 

[Dan and Jan]

Only problem with an island bed is you sacrifice garage space. Our last two vans have singles at the rear and drop down double at the front, works for us.
Important to us are, fixed bed, fixed table, decent shower & big garage.

Just waiting to pick up new for us Burstner ixeo 726 with just that layout, Drop down bed in the middle works for the grandkids.

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[Jands]

We looked at the transverse island bed which initially thought was a good idea as you said reduced the length but on seeing it was a bit of a tight fit both at the "rear" side between the bed and the back of the van, also the length only just fitted so a squeeze at the foot of the bed.
We are looking for a van that can take a 125cc motorcycle, so looking for a large garage.
At the moment the Pilote fills this as the Garage height/bed is adjustable giving a max of 1200mm height.

 

[Blue Knight]

We looked at the transverse island bed which initially thought was a good idea as you said reduced the length but on seeing it was a bit of a tight fit both at the "rear" side between the bed and the back of the van, also the length only just fitted so a squeeze at the foot of the bed.
We are looking for a van that can take a 125cc motorcycle, so looking for a large garage.
At the moment the Pilote fills this as the Garage height/bed is adjustable giving a max of 1200mm height.

Hi Jands,

I love the Pilote Range (we've just bought one with a large rear garage) but you will need to be careful about placing a 125cc M/C in the garage due to axle weights and payload considerations etc.

If you opt for a 7.5m long Pilote Pacific variant then I would certainly add the air assist & 16" allow wheel package to alloy for such a large weight being placed in the garage space and subsequently more weight over the rear axle.

If you overload a Pilote's rear garage (on a 7.5m van with non Al-Ko or non air assist equipped chassis) then your steering will become light and potentially dangerous.

Good choice though in terms of bed layout.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[John Stanton]

Only problem with an island bed is you sacrifice garage space. Our last two vans have singles at the rear and drop down double at the front, works for us.
Important to us are, fixed bed, fixed table, decent shower & big garage.

We have the same requirements ... fixed bed, fixed table (but not one that completely dominates the living area), large garage, large shower and a living area where we can both pass each other and the dog without playing "human tetris".

It isn't true that island bed means small (or no) garage ... our soon to arrive Rapido has an island bed which raises and lowers electrically depending on what height you want in the garage. This matches what we had in our Hymer - plenty of room for two electric bikes, chairs etc. Ours also happens to have a much roomier living area than what we had before with two singles.

All personal taste I know, but we much prefer the island bed - you can actually sit up and read in it without being pinned to the side wall in a single bed, there's a side table for your morning tea or late night JD or whatever, and the sleeping area can be made private if we need it - oh and there's a "daytime" position for the bed too.

We will also have a drop down bed in the living area, but doubt we'll use it - in fact we'll probably remove the mattress to give a little extra payload.

Simples