Head up, or head down bed positioning.

[Wild Brambles]

I'm still experimenting with van layouts before my conversion next spring. I'm still undecided as to whether the bed should be longitudinal or latitudinal. I seem to sleep better when my feet are lower than my head, but last night I just dived into bed without thinking. The bed was latitudinal, and the road camber meant that my head was low. I ended up by having to swop ends in the middle of the night. I think it would be unwise for me to use levellers for single night stealth parking. Longitudinal beds seem to take up a lot of space, and I don't want to have the bother of making up folding beds at night. I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to be latitudinal with duvets, and just move the pillows to suit the parking angle.

Another alternative that occurred to me was running the wheels onto the kerb, but I'm reluctant to do that. Isn't it a parking offence anyway? I'm going to use a trunk and a storage box as a bed base, and experiment over the winter. How do other camper owners cope with camber variations?

 

[The Wino]

We have an across the van lowering bed. We just park in the opposite direction or use ramps easy!

 

[paddymcc]

Our beds are transverse and if not level and not wanting to use levellers we will just move the pillows and duvet. If you are planning from scratch then put a 12v reading light at both ends for comfort. Possibly also an adjustable angled board to lean against that can lie flat against the wall when not in use.

 

[Lumpy]

Our van conversion is front lounge and I arranged the bed/seats so that they can can be used in either direction, but wouldn't stop where it's not levelish or where we can't use levellers anyway.

 

[Jaws]

I'm still experimenting with van layouts before my conversion next spring. I'm still undecided as to whether the bed should be longitudinal or latitudinal. I seem to sleep better when my feet are lower than my head, but last night I just dived into bed without thinking. The bed was latitudinal, and the road camber meant that my head was low. I ended up by having to swop ends in the middle of the night. I think it would be unwise for me to use levellers for single night stealth parking. Longitudinal beds seem to take up a lot of space, and I don't want to have the bother of making up folding beds at night. I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to be latitudinal with duvets, and just move the pillows to suit the parking angle.

Another alternative that occurred to me was running the wheels onto the kerb, but I'm reluctant to do that. Isn't it a parking offence anyway? I'm going to use a trunk and a storage box as a bed base, and experiment over the winter. How do other camper owners cope with camber variations?

If it is that big an issue you could always lash out on a self levelling set up

The cost is high and contemplating such an outlay may concentrate the mind towards the 'sod it, any way will do' point of view

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[Mark and Mindy]

We now have levellers with a transverse bed and don't do stealth parking, but pre the levellers we were parked the "wrong way" so changed the heads to the other end, I hated being up against the bathroom wall and it just felt claustrophic and wrong, so changed back in the night while it made no difference to Mark.

 

[jezport]

Either way slope can be reversed by turning the van round.

 

[Brains]

It's a well known issue amongst mountaineering campers, who invariably are not camping on level ground that your always sleep 'up'. Head higher than feet, otherwise you end up feeling very spaced out after a few hours.

Assuming you don't have the space for a longitudinal bed (with head at the back), then the next best option is a lateral/traverse bed with a double end, so that you simply sleep which ever way is best.

Reading lights at either end, and plugs etc in a central position.
The only thing that has to be moved is the pillow!

 

[Kingham]

I need to have my head higher than my feet to sleep and having a longitudinal fixed bed in a van that naturally sits nose down when parked on the level, suits me perfectly.

It has to be quite a steep slope before the levelling ramps come out.

The head end of the bed is at the back doors and it has a cut off at the feet end, French bed style, so swapping ends isn’t an option and the bed is too narrow to sleep across it.

 

[Destination Unknown]

Ours is East, West. Can only really sleep the one way but never had a problem

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[Reallyretired]

We have a longitudinal French bed at the rear and a transverse drop down at the front. We dont use the drop down one but it does have reading lights at both ends so could be reversed. Never seem to have a problem but our van is naturally nose down.

 

[TheBig1]

i cant sleep flat so have a mattress raiser at home. i made one from a sheet of ply for the previous van. the current rapido has one built in

just add a piece of ply under the pillow end and add blocks of wood to adjust slope

 

[Rapido925M]

Evolution has ensured that valves in the blood vessels help fluid to get upwards from your feet to your heart and up from that pump to your brain. You are always welcome to try redesigning your body but it will take longer than building your MH.

Gordon

 

[maison]

Head at the “up” end.

If on a slope we move the pillows to the “up” end if the slope is gentle enough not to require levellers.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Tip for all- Download the free. Ez-level app to an i-pad

Does what it says on the “tin” and even if not level, will tell you how many degrees out, so you reference and learn what you are comfortable with

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[Caggsie1]

Have to be head up. No likey head down

 

[mitzimad]

build the bed with a center pivot and have wedges to level it like an old cannon

 

[Grianan]

Our priority was twin longitudinal ... wouldn’t change that now ... partly as OH is too tall for transverse ... partly as easy to get up to go to the loo at night.

we carry a tiny 2-way spirit level and try to make sure we’re relatively level. Of its really bad we use ramps. Need to have head higher and don’t want to roll either ...

 

[Brains]

build the bed with a center pivot and have wedges to level it like an old cannon

Keeping to the nautical theme, shove a couple of ring bolts into the wall and sleep in a hammock. Always level, and does not take up any space in the daytime (and surprisingly comfortable!)

 

[autorouter]

If it is that big an issue you could always lash out on a self levelling set up

If it was one of those beds that lowers from the ceiling on webbing straps at each corner, powered by electric motors, wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to make the bed self-levelling?

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[Anthea M]

We’ve had French bed , transversals beds and now longditudal twins . And find if not level swap duvet and pillows round, sometimes slipping down in the night but much better than rolling on a transverse double .
As you are wild camping and designing your own build this May be the best option for you and more storage.

 

[Wild Brambles]

Thanks for all the ideas. Before I invest in self-levellers, I think I should so something to close the doorway that a rat built in the gear lever gaiter. It sent a cold draft up my left leg, and my partner didn't appreciate it when I got to Somerset the other day.

A transverse bed, and a bit of pillow movement seems to be the best option. It saves space, and it doesn't require any advanced tools to install.

Once the election is over, I might send a link to this thread to the Lord Speaker. Maybe it can introduce some level headedness if he adjusts the woolsack. I gather all those important people go to sleep in the House of Lords during debates.

 

[jdk62]

My granny used to say..”fun’s fun, but keep your arse off the pillow..”.

 

[Wild Brambles]

My granny used to say..”fun’s fun, but keep your arse off the pillow..”.

Damn - Does this mean I have to chuck out the love cushion.

 

[Wellington]

I can’t bear to be head down, and not being level in general irritates me so much I had levellers fitted. They are worth every single penny in my opinion.

In my old house, my bedroom floor had such and awful head up slope that it readjusted my perception of flat. I felt head down even when I was flat. I only figured it out after I changed ends in the van several times and BOTH ends were (quite impossibly) head down! Fortunately I now live in a house with level floors, so can sleep on a level surface, thank goodness. Or they would be a real waste of cash!

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[two]

I wouldn't want to be swapping sides. Twin singles are best (IMO), especially as you get older.
If you have a transverse bed (which takes up much less space, you could raise the low wheel onto a sacrificial block of wood. Another solution might be to make the bed base 'float', so that it could be raised at either end.