Bed decision

[Gillus]

Hi all

Opinions please. We are still looking for a Motorhome. We originally thought we wanted an overhead bed so we didn't have to make a bed every night. We use to have a small vw camper and the bed making use to do my back in and it was a pain to do anything else once the bed was down. Which do you all prefer, is it easier to make up beds or are we better looking at the fixed ones? Any particular motorhomes you would recommend with easy bed making (my only other stipulation is that it has an oven)
Any advice welcome

 

[Gillus]

Thank you all for your replies they have been very helpful

 

[Minxy]

We love our fixed bed! Loads of storage for our canoes, bikes etc and it actually gives 2 distinct lounge areas - the normal lounge and the bed itself which you can slob around on ... just because it's a bed doesn't mean you can only sleep there (or whatever else you get up to!).

Hubby gets up before me and potters, and goes to bed before me, so having 2 areas works very well for us ... also the dogs think it is a giant dog bed for them!

 

[westy77]

Over cab bed depends on your agility I'd say. We have one that's used every time, great having the bed mostly made (ours slides back as the cab seats are part of the living area when spun). Climbing the ladder is usually no issue, but if your agility isn't great, getting through the hole might not be ideal. Ours also has the dining area which makes into a bed from the cushions. We do use this at the moment as our little un sleeps there with the Mrs. I hate making this bed up! We also have bunks in the rear, I'm looking forward to when little un sleeps there, we use can bed and living area stays put.

Regards oven, I noticed most Europe vans have a hob (ours does have an oven, or rather a grill). I think the Europeans like to sit out and bbq with a vat of wine while the British sit inside (because it's raining, again!) doing a full on Sunday roast.

 

[jezport]

Fixed bed every time, our German Frankia van has Oven and Grill, and its for sale

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[Allanm]

Our last van had a fixed French bed. Very comfortable, even with the cut out and I was the one that slept that side. We didn't like the idea of climbing a ladder to go to bed ( already had one of those) or making a bed up every night ( been there too in a VW camper)
Lounging space was also important to us as we have 2 dogs that needed to lounge about too. So we went for a van with the fixed bed and 2 side sofas. Being able to swivel the cab chairs meant we had different combinations of seating too.
We were able to seat 8 comfortably at the table many times.
The downside was we had a separate table that needed to be set up every time, but we also had a small table that slotted in the floor between the cab seats and we used that when travelling.
We had a full size cooker with oven which we used a lot but could have lived without the oven except for cooking bread and pizzas.
Our current van has a separate end bedroom with Queen size island bed, a 3 seat sofa bed, 4 seat dinette that coverts to a double bed, swivel cab seats and a separate "tub" chair.
Perfect layout, but the payoff is a larger vehicle.
If we were looking for a new European van, we would try and find one with a few slide outs. Best of both worlds, small and manoeuvrable but with the potential to create a large living space when parked.

 

[peterc10]

It seems some of the foreign makes i.e hymer don't seem to to have ovens just hobs is this always the case?

Few of them come as standard with ovens, because most other Europeans nationals tend not to use them. However most makes, including Hymer, offer them as options, at least for the British RHD market. And most UK dealers tend to put them in when speccing vans for stock. Our dealer specced Hymer has a small oven above the fridge.

But you need to ask yourself how often you are going to use an oven. When we are away we tend to eat out more or have BBQs or salads. We would never want to be faffing about with a roast dinner. Having said that we do use our small oven for ready made meals and reheating stuff. But, for us, having a large sized oven would waste too much space.

 

[Christoph]

We had a T5 and the bed making nonsense influenced our bed layout decision when buying a MH. Island bed was the only choice for us. Permanently ready to get into and space to get in and out from either side. Bliss!

 

[peterc10]

We have fixed beds as well - with two longitudinal singles above a big garage. That is what suits us as we both get up several times in the night (old age) and we can do so without waking the other. Great to just go for a quick lie down as well. And supremely comfortable because, unlike converted settees, it uses Froli springs.

We also have a drop down double at the front but only used so far for storage. I have been told that I will be sent to it if I start farting too much though!

Remember that the drop down double in the front is much lower in an A class than in a C class, so is easier to get into.

 

[cliffanger]

We have a Hymer B564 and sleep in the drop down bed. I sleep on the inside which is very hot as we don't have a roof hatch. Cliff had an unfortunate accident climbing down the pathetic ladder on our first night in the van (he had been celebrating buying the van.....) so we went straight out and bought these

They fold up and sit on top the bed in the day and make it much safer for getting out of the bed when half asleep!

I think all vans have a compromise. We didn't want a van any longer than 6 metres, so to get a spacious, comfortable lounge we went with the drop down bed option. 3 years later and we know we made the right decision for us.

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[DanielFord]

We have an overcab, essentially it is our daughters bedroom, and it stays made up for her (she's 7). When I am on my own in the van I do tend to throw a sleeping bag up there and use it, because it is easy. But if the wife, or the dog are with me, I make up the rear bed. The dog is weird, and will only sleep under the bed, and the overcab is too small for two adults.

 

[Minxy]

The dog is weird, and will only sleep under the bed, and the overcab is too small for two adults.

We had a dog that used to sleep under the made-up dinette bed ... we used to call him the 'pit monster'!

 

[Peter Ashcroft]

I think it depends on the Van, we had an auto quest 180, the overcab bed was awful and cramped, we now have an Autoroller 600 based on a transit cab, the overcab bed is fantastic, a lot higher very spacious and very comfortable!

 

[mitzimad]

a fixed bed was the one thing we wanted we had a rambler before and putting the bed together was a challenge especially after the pub but it is a compromise as you do loose lounge space

 

[Jasz]

We have a front dinette and rear lounge, which we normally leave made up as a transverse bed. So far we have found it to be very comfortable and I definitely sleep better than I do at home. It has the advantage of being put back to a lounge if required but the disadvantage of less storage space than there would be with a fixed bed.
We felt that we wouldn't want to use an overcab bed and so went for the option of having cupboards there.