Electric drop down beds

[Wellington]

Can they be fixed at any height for sleeping or transit, or only at preset positions? I am only 5 foot tall, and my ten-agear has yet to reach even theses dizzy heights. This means we don’t need nearly the amount of headroom provided in most MHs. I’m wondering if I can lower the bed to a height that works for her, and I can still walk underneath without farting about with beds every day?!

 

[AXO66]

Might have been mentioned , but any designs with bunk beds at the back of the van ?

 

[spitfire]

Might have beem bentioned , but any designs with bunk beds at the back of the van ?

Yes have friends with back bunks and drop down front bed and huge living area . Is an Initeo? A class but sorry don’t know the model .

 

[spitfire]

Slightly off topic but we now have central drop down bed and will go away with duvet but not pillows . Is that usual ?

 

[Minxy]

I am looking to be able to walk under it while she is in it, but also not to stow it completely up during transit so I don’t have to climb up and move all her stuff around every time we set off. It will be her personal space to store books, clothes, toys and so on, as well as laze around in. She won’t mind if it’s a bit cozy (She’s used to a loft bed and is clamouring for an overcab bed, which is plan b) but I will mind if I have to remember to duck, or to fart about with the bedding on a daily basis. I really cannot be doing with it! I am planning on getting either an island bed or more likely a twin for myself. The combination of the drop down bed and the carseat in the 138 rendered the lounge virtually useless to us all last summer.

Okay, I've just had another read of your above post as we seem to now be clarifying some bits and bobs which I understand to be:

1. She sleeps in the drop-down bed and wants all her stuff up there which you have to remove to stow the bed for travel
2. She's 10 so can travel in the front all the time now so no need to put her seat in the dinette anymore but you have to remove her seat to drop the cab backrest down to use the bed.
3. You want to be able to use the lounge when she's in bed.

Answer to no 1. - let have the rear bed? No moving of all her bits and bobs around all the time, it would give her a little 'home' which is undisturbed and it can be curtained off to give privacy. This means that you are not at risk of disturbing her if you sit up, make a cuppa etc. All you would then need to do is move the child seat and drop the bed down and clamber in.

Answer to 2. there isn't an easy one so you'll just have to accept you'll have to move the seat - you may be able to unfasten and tip it forward onto the dash with the seat backrest lowered onto it as you don't have to put it completely down to use the bed (ie no lower than the steering wheel).

Answer to 3. - if she's in the rear bed you can use the lounge as much as you like.

I think you really need to have a good think about what you really want to be able to achieve and what realistically is going to give you this. From what you've said so far:

• You don't want a large over-cab bed (ie coachbuilt with a luton) due to the handling of it when driving etc and having the weight over the front.
• Your idea of travelling with a partly lowered central drop-down electric bed is a no-go for various practical and safety reasons.
• You are thinking of single beds but as your daughter gets older she's likely NOT to want to sleep next to you (does Mummy snore?) and once you've had a double bed on your own you probably won't want to be restricted to a single (they're not as big as domestic ones) so you'd likely be back to using a front bed again.
• Sometimes you appear happy with your 138, other times not ...

What I'm trying to say is do NOT throw the baby out with the bathwater ... make sure that selling your 138 doesn't leave you wishing you hadn't because you can't find what you want in another MH.

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[DBK]

Slightly off topic but we now have central drop down bed and will go away with duvet but not pillows . Is that usual ?

No.

 

[Wellington]

I have an electric overcab bed .

Stop it, I'm driving everyone nuts as it is!

 

[spitfire]

No.

:-(

 

[thebriars]

Slightly off topic but we now have central drop down bed and will go away with duvet but not pillows . Is that usual ?

It all depends. Duvet should be no problem, but.

You need to adjust the upper stop to allow for the depth of pillows if it has that type of mechanism..

You will lower the headroom.

Best bet is to leave a duvet on but store pillows elsewhere.

 

[Wellington]

Hi, ive seen you mention this issue of the 'useless lounge' in the i138 before.
i have one of these and i can assure you its perfectly possible to have 3 adults and a child in a car seat in the lounge together...
i suspect the difference is that you are looking to keep the drop down bed 'down'?
when taking daughter and g'daughter away, OH and i sleep in the drop down (normally its the rear bed for us when on our own) and daughter/g'daughter(age 3) in the rear.
car seat stays in the inside belted position.
come morning, we get up and the drop down is swung up (with bedding in place) and stowed, leaving plenty of room for OH and i in the swivelled cab seats and the two others in the dinette seat....theres even a spare jump seat.
can this arrangement not be used?....how many in your party?
on the face of it you dont need to change the van to sort this....
good luck...

I did say 'useless to us' I love it otherwise, honest. I got this van as a used van with the intention of buying a new one if it works for us, because I wasn't sure about a drop down bed. This is what we did last year, and I don't like the dropdown bed. I tried really hard to get along with it, but if just felt like so much work on holiday, I couldn't sit and relax in it, and I didn't have a window. I know other people do it all the time, and I know it's a five minute job, but for me it's one too many to feel like a nice holiday. I simply do not want to faff about with beds. It is a lot more a faff from down here! I also have memory foam pillows and the drop down couldn't accommodate them when up. I was also forever leaving things up there (or down) and had nowhere handy to store my personal stuff. I kind of felt like there was no 'my space' in the van. Her Ladyship did fine, ensconced in the rear double bed with a curtain over the entrance way (and, annoyingly in France's heatwave last summer, the air con!) The car seat went in the dinette, but you can't then sit with your feet up. I'm too short for my feet to reach the floor and the my back to reach the backrest, so most seats are uncomfortable after a short time anyway. I also really struggle to get the seat backs forward, as it hurts my hands (why yes, I am a crumbling wreck!)

It's hard to get across to people how helpful it is not to do little jobs when you are parenting on your own. It's a world away from having two adults, even part-time. I've done both (ie with a co-parent who works long hours and been widowed) and it's very different, especially after a few years. I completely appreciate it looks incredibly finnicky, but its the difference between a holiday and a big round of endless chores. One of the reasons she got the big bed is that you need to put kids out of the way while you pack up, so they can't be in the drop down while you're getting ready to go. Otherwise they drag something out that you just put away, or wander off (actually, she isn't so bad at this part. We each have a list and race to do a personal best packdown time. Our record is 17 minutes, but she says that I cheated by doing parts of my list as I was making breakfast)

I have to change the van if possible. I'm applying for a mortgage from the lender who made the balls up that left a £50k hole in my finances last year. But they won't lend me what I want to borrow, because of the van finance. (Even though they know that part of what they are lending will pay off the van finance.) So if I can sell the van and get another, I should be able to do the borrowing in one hit and have a new kitchen as well (ironically, also because I am short and want a kitchen that is designed for my working height!) If I didn't have to change it, I would try to get the drop down adjusted somehow so that it works for and put her in it. I can live with putting up and down, even if I do need a step. But I can't be doing with moving pillows and whatnot around. and being so short it seems absurd to have all that headroom we can't use!

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[Wellington]

Hiw about going for the twin single layout to suit in future, but for now fashioning a screen / curtain / tent around one of them to give her a hidey hole? Drop down beds are quite heavy and eat into payload

This was plan A. Having had the rear king all to herself last summer, Her Ladyship is not keen! (Of course, she may have to suck it up, she isn't paying! But I'd seen the electric beds and they do seem like a good solution, given that I don't need any headroom. One of the models I'm looking at has one.

 

[thebriars]

This was plan A. Having had the rear king all to herself last summer, Her Ladyship is not keen! (Of course, she may have to suck it up, she isn't paying! But I'd seen the electric beds and they do seem like a good solution, given that I don't need any headroom. One of the models I'm looking at has one.

If they are the sort that descend on straps you cannot travel with them partly down.

 

[Compactliner]

hopefully, heres a bit of help based on our own three years with the i138....but i am biased as we love it...
the drop down bed will definitely accommodate two pillows...the trick is to push them a bit further towards the windscreen as there is more of a gap there.
easy to move them when you get up in the morning, and easy to move back to your sleeping position when you hop up there.
i dont get what you mean about the 'no window' other than you mean there might not be a rooflight above the bed?....if so, certainly an easy fix and mightily cheaper than remortgaging to by another van.
if you put the child seat on the inner of the two seat belts you dont need to remove any of the side seat cushions which will mean you can put your feet up on the side seat when sat in the passenger seat...
i can see you're determined to change the van but, while I do appreciate what its like to be away with a 'youngster' (and OH, too), other than moving to a four (or six) berth overcab plus rear beds version i cant see you would be getting anything different with a change of drop down bed....
however, rear fixed bedded plus overcab vans are likely to be a lot longer, heavier and, crucially, wider than the Compactline.
i wish you luck with your search and your particular set of requirements.
its obvious from your post that a van, any van, has to work for you, such a shame that a classy, roomy yet compact van with two large double beds and a garage for storage cant accommodate two people.
we spend 6 months a year in ours and take plenty of 'gear' for our two 3 month stints.
again, good luck, but the search will be difficult...in the meantime, have a(nother) look at my two simple suggestions....often what seems a mountain to climb looks different to someone else and may go some way to helping you sort your dilema.

 

[Wellington]

Okay, I've just had another read of your above post as we seem to now be clarifying some bits and bobs which I understand to be:

1. She sleeps in the drop-down bed and wants all her stuff up there which you have to remove to stow the bed for travel
2. She's 10 so can travel in the front all the time now so no need to put her seat in the dinette anymore but you have to remove her seat to drop the cab backrest down to use the bed.
3. You want to be able to use the lounge when she's in bed.

Answer to no 1. - let have the rear bed? No moving of all her bits and bobs around all the time, it would give her a little 'home' which is undisturbed and it can be curtained off to give privacy. This means that you are not at risk of disturbing her if you sit up, make a cuppa etc. All you would then need to do is move the child seat and drop the bed down and clamber in.

Answer to 2. there isn't an easy one so you'll just have to accept you'll have to move the seat - you may be able to unfasten and tip it forward onto the dash with the seat backrest lowered onto it as you don't have to put it completely down to use the bed (ie no lower than the steering wheel).

Answer to 3. - if she's in the rear bed you can use the lounge as much as you like.

I think you really need to have a good think about what you really want to be able to achieve and what realistically is going to give you this. From what you've said so far:

• You don't want a large over-cab bed (ie coachbuilt with a luton) due to the handling of it when driving etc and having the weight over the front.
• Your idea of travelling with a partly lowered central drop-down electric bed is a no-go for various practical and safety reasons.
• You are thinking of single beds but as your daughter gets older she's likely NOT to want to sleep next to you (does Mummy snore?) and once you've had a double bed on your own you probably won't want to be restricted to a single (they're not as big as domestic ones) so you'd likely be back to using a front bed again.
• Sometimes you appear happy with your 138, other times not ...

What I'm trying to say is do NOT throw the baby out with the bathwater ... make sure that selling your 138 doesn't leave you wishing you hadn't because you can't find what you want in another MH.

This is me thinking!

I slept in the drop down last year, the car seat is a pain wherever the bloody thing is (it doesn't even fit through the hab door, it's so bulky and awkward) but the overcab wouldn't go away with my stuff on it either, and I didn't like it AND I found it a faff, and I overload it. It's simply not for me as a permanently-in-use solution. (I could absolutely get behind it as a guest bed.) It was great her having the rear bed. As well as feeling like a princess, she had a big play space, and access to all her stuff in the lockers, so she played all kinds of make believe up there, and I wasn't falling over her toys. I'd forgotten that, which is perhaps another point against a 14 inch bed depth!

I was almost ready to go for the overcab, but I can't find one with twin singles over a garage. They are all electric drop downs. I LOVE the 138 except a little bit for the A class drive and a lot for the faffing about with the drop down bed, and the fact that it has two foot of head room I can't use. Hence the question about fixing the electric bed in a position that works for us within that headroom (I accept its no go, but if you don't ask.... It seemed such a neat solution for us, too). It might still work if she could access the lockers and clear her stuff away for take off, though. She is great with keeping her bedroom tidy at home.

She doesn't want to sleep next to me now (at least in theory) Ten-agers are like cats. If you're not interesting and they are not hungry (or scared and don't want to admit it) they want their own space. If there's a big storm, they want to sleep with you! Although I may snore after a gin or two. I couldn't possibly comment....

 

[Rob Hammond]

This is me thinking!

I slept in the drop down last year, the car seat is a pain wherever the bloody thing is (it doesn't even fit through the hab door, it's so bulky and awkward) but the overcab wouldn't go away with my stuff on it either, and I didn't like it AND I found it a faff, and I overload it. It's simply not for me as a permanently-in-use solution. (I could absolutely get behind it as a guest bed.) It was great her having the rear bed. As well as feeling like a princess, she had a big play space, and access to all her stuff in the lockers, so she played all kinds of make believe up there, and I wasn't falling over her toys. I'd forgotten that, which is perhaps another point against a 14 inch bed depth!

I was almost ready to go for the overcab, but I can't find one with twin singles over a garage. They are all electric drop downs. I LOVE the 138 except a little bit for the A class drive and a lot for the faffing about with the drop down bed, and the fact that it has two foot of head room I can't use. Hence the question about fixing the electric bed in a position that works for us within that headroom (I accept its no go, but if you don't ask.... It seemed such a neat solution for us, too). It might still work if she could access the lockers and clear her stuff away for take off, though. She is great with keeping her bedroom tidy at home.

She doesn't want to sleep next to me now (at least in theory) Ten-agers are like cats. If you're not interesting and they are not hungry (or scared and don't want to admit it) they want their own space. If there's a big storm, they want to sleep with you! Although I may snore after a gin or two. I couldn't possibly comment....

I think it all inclusive for you Wellington

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[Compactliner]

while its not my problem to solve, i see Mel and I (with the same van) are on the same wavelength....the van is too good to chick away.....cheaply or to find regret later.

i know you dont like the drop dow, ive used ours and i agree on the sitting up for a cuppa, but the bed is massive at 1.60 m wide and not claustrophobic at all...

so, here's a complete curve ball....

1) get dealer to fit rooflight above bed, much nicer for you
2) get dealer to fit electric operation to drop down bed, simple to raise and lower
3) stick with it until daughter can sit in booster seat which does away with all the car seat faff.

 

[Wellington]

Might have been mentioned , but any designs with bunk beds at the back of the van ?

No garage. I would consider it, but for the bikes. Putting an electric bike with a rear motor and a FollowMe tandem on a bike rack was awkward and painful at times. There was most definitely language unbecoming a mother!

If it weren't for the garage, I would go for something like the Bailey Advance, with the side electric bed.

 

[Wellington]

I think it all inclusive for you Wellington

Brilliant! (I have considered that, too. One of the reasons I am no longer going to spec a new van is that I want some funds for different holidays too. I love the MH, but its quite labour intensive for one adult. I do like be able to visit all our far flung relatives with out own space. And pillows!)

 

[Wellington]

hopefully, heres a bit of help based on our own three years with the i138....but i am biased as we love it...
the drop down bed will definitely accommodate two pillows...the trick is to push them a bit further towards the windscreen as there is more of a gap there.
easy to move them when you get up in the morning, and easy to move back to your sleeping position when you hop up there.
i dont get what you mean about the 'no window' other than you mean there might not be a rooflight above the bed?....if so, certainly an easy fix and mightily cheaper than remortgaging to by another van.
if you put the child seat on the inner of the two seat belts you dont need to remove any of the side seat cushions which will mean you can put your feet up on the side seat when sat in the passenger seat...
i can see you're determined to change the van but, while I do appreciate what its like to be away with a 'youngster' (and OH, too), other than moving to a four (or six) berth overcab plus rear beds version i cant see you would be getting anything different with a change of drop down bed....
however, rear fixed bedded plus overcab vans are likely to be a lot longer, heavier and, crucially, wider than the Compactline.
i wish you luck with your search and your particular set of requirements.
its obvious from your post that a van, any van, has to work for you, such a shame that a classy, roomy yet compact van with two large double beds and a garage for storage cant accommodate two people.
we spend 6 months a year in ours and take plenty of 'gear' for our two 3 month stints.
again, good luck, but the search will be difficult...in the meantime, have a(nother) look at my two simple suggestions....often what seems a mountain to climb looks different to someone else and may go some way to helping you sort your dilema.

The most frustrating thing is that it ALMOST works. If one could adjust the lowered and stowed height of the overcab bed it would be perfect. Obviously, the bed is designed to have lots of space when down, which we don't need, and lots of headroom when up. Which we don't need! Adding more than metre length to get something we could make work if I could just fix the height it is the problem!

I sleep with four pillows packed around me due to a phenomenally knackered back (I really am falling apart!) and constantly rearranging them is the reason I wasn't sure why the bed would work, and the 138 was a trial (I was planning on going for the 141). We had seven weeks away, and the bed fell on my head numerous times, and I didn't put the bed away when I would have like to use the lounge, I just had an early night instead, or get it out when I would have liked a lie down because I couldn't face another thing to do. Previously we had a rear lounge which we used as twin singles, and that was great, except that there wasn't anywhere for the child to eat. Two singles over a garage would work for us, if Princess Wellington was not used to her double (there is loads of room for toys at the end of the 6 foot 6 bed when you are only four and half feet tall!) I think it will still be the way to go, to be honest. Pity about her play space, but I can't see a way to make it work.

I accept that vans aren't built for two short people, and thats why I need to modify them for our needs. I also accept that she isnt the only princess, and our wants are specific. Best advice my mother in law ever gave me on travel is that she 'refuses to go anywhere where I am less comfortable than I am at home'. And that's what the motorhome gives us. Home comfort, when away. (Or would, if I could just get it working for us!)

 

[Wellington]

while its not my problem to solve, i see Mel and I (with the same van) are on the same wavelength....the van is too good to chick away.....cheaply or to find regret later.

i know you dont like the drop dow, ive used ours and i agree on the sitting up for a cuppa, but the bed is massive at 1.60 m wide and not claustrophobic at all...

so, here's a complete curve ball....

1) get dealer to fit rooflight above bed, much nicer for you
2) get dealer to fit electric operation to drop down bed, simple to raise and lower
3) stick with it until daughter can sit in booster seat which does away with all the car seat faff.

It's not going cheaply. I suspect it may not sell at all, but given the the mortgage, I need to try (I am not remortgaging because of the van, it's an add on for a lot of other boring reasons. I have done two, am doing a third and will need to do two more in September. I don't think I can face a sixth, but the kitchen makes my back ache)

I have a roof light, but I don't want to look at the sky. I want to look out of a window at stuff going on. I thought I would be OK with just sleeping in bed, but it turns out I like to relax with my feet up whenever possible!

Booster seats are no longer legal and not very safe anyway, sadly.

An electrically operated bed wold be wonderful. Can you set your stowed and sleeping heights? (dear Liza, dear Liza....)

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[thebriars]

No garage. I would consider it, but for the bikes. Putting an electric bike with a rear motor and a FollowMe tandem on a bike rack was awkward and painful at times. There was most definitely language unbecoming a mother!

If it weren't for the garage, I would go for something like the Bailey Advance, with the side electric bed.

We get 2 electric bikes, a mobility scooter and the spare wheel in our garage, plus a table and chairs.

 

[Devon Sue]

Ok, think outside the box. Is it so necessary to have an overhead bed? What size van you are comfortable with? Can you go to a longer van with 2 separate areas.If you aren't keen on the overcab bed, and a drop down isn't looking practical how about a transverse double across the rear - they usually have a narrow access so the princess can feel as though she is in her own room (and hide away from the staff) Meanwhile you have the rest of the van to lounge and sleep, you just need to find a seating arrangement without too many jigsaw bits that would give you a decent bed to sleep in as well as comfy seating.

Take your time, I'm sure the right layout will come along.

 

[Minxy]

You know how you've got a tandem-bike set up ... how about towing a caravan?

 

[Compactliner]

it certainly sounds like you have a set of parameters and, to paraphrase your mum, youre going to struggle to replicate what you have at home...motorhomes arent like that.
we certainly love ours, but it is different to our large, four bedroomed home.
some vans, like Geman ones, focus on sleeping space/comfort and storage, hence two large beds and the garage in ours.
some vans, like uk ones, major on lounging space...often at the expense of good beds and decent storage.
to find a van (essentially for one adult and one child) that fulfills all those briefs is likely to be a larger one....
unfortunately, alongside your requirements, you also have a series of 'disadvantages' you describe (short, weak, bad back) that will make operating many motorhomes tricky at best...
again, i wish you luck in your search but theres not much i can add to the discussion as there seem to be too many hurdles for you cross....

a Devil's Advocate might ask you if motorhoming is the right way forward and that perhaps a more spacious caravan and a tow car that sees your daughter alongside you on your journeys (with no car seat issues) might be a possible way forward?

edit.....SNAP, Mel...

 

[Minxy]

Are you definitely sold on a coachbuilt/A-class or would you consider a van conversion Now stick with me it's not as daft as it sounds!

I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, you could consider a Globecar Campscout Revolution ... 2 rear assive kingsize 'bunk' beds and a huge storage locker over the cab. Princess 'could' in theory sleep in the overcab if you took the door off and put a mattress in and maybe a small rooflight above.

Or you could raise the rear upper double bed to the roof but still to a usable height for her and you could have the lower one ... you 'may' be able to get your bikes in there if you remove the front wheel on yours to make it lower, or raise the bottom one up a bit to give you more space. You need to make sure though that if you DO go for one of these it has both the upper and lower bed pieces for the rear as I believe some people didn't get the lower bed parts.

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[Wellington]

Love the garage! First stupid decision I made with the Autocruise was 'I don't want a garage'.

You know how you've got a tandem-bike set up ... how about towing a caravan?

I think you know exactly what you can do with your caravan! (although I continue to advocate this as a better solution for most families if they don't hate towing as much as I did, and already have a family car tow with!)

Seriously, Thank you all for taking the time the think about and reply, I appreciate all your thoughts. I

 

[Compactliner]

Are you definitely sold on a coachbuilt/A-class or would you consider a van conversion Now stick with me it's not as daft as it sounds!

I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, you could consider a Globecar Campscout Revolution ... 2 rear assive kingsize 'bunk' beds and a huge storage locker over the cab. Princess 'could' in theory sleep in the overcab if you took the door off and put a mattress in and maybe a small rooflight above.

Or you could raise the rear upper double bed to the roof but still to a usable height for her and you could have the lower one ... you 'may' be able to get your bikes in there if you remove the front wheel on yours to make it lower, or raise the bottom one up a bit to give you more space. You need to make sure though that if you DO go for one of these it has both the upper and lower bed pieces for the rear as I believe some people didn't get the lower bed parts.

along the same lines, the Adria Twin 600 SPB has two full sized beds in the rear, one above the other....with the ability to fold up for bikes while travelling...
i came across this one while looking for my daughter/SIL who have two young children so need four sleeping places and four seat belts, but wanted a slim easy to drive van.

 

[Wellington]

it certainly sounds like you have a set of parameters and, to paraphrase your mum, youre going to struggle to replicate what you have at home...motorhomes arent like that.
we certainly love ours, but it is different to our large, four bedroomed home.
some vans, like Geman ones, focus on sleeping space/comfort and storage, hence two large beds and the garage in ours.
some vans, like uk ones, major on lounging space...often at the expense of good beds and decent storage.
to find a van (essentially for one adult and one child) that fulfills all those briefs is likely to be a larger one....
unfortunately, alongside your requirements, you also have a series of 'disadvantages' you describe (short, weak, bad back) that will make operating many motorhomes tricky at best...
again, i wish you luck in your search but theres not much i can add to the discussion as there seem to be too many hurdles for you cross....

a Devil's Advocate might ask you if motorhoming is the right way forward and that perhaps a more spacious caravan and a tow car that sees your daughter alongside you on your journeys (with no car seat issues) might be a possible way forward?

edit.....SNAP, Mel...

Yeah, but she didn't mean it! I did tow, when I had a big car. Apart from it taking three years to get anywhere, I don't have the big car anymore. Don't need it either, with just the two of us.

I do sometimes wonder if motorhoming is for us. I accept that none of them are made for our family (nothing ever is for my family!) but there are so many advantages. Like anyone else, I just want the best use of space for my cash. A variable height bed does not, on the face of it, seem like a difficult mod!

 

[Compactliner]

IMHO, 'the best use of space for your family' may well be that caravan....
if the MH and your current (small?) car were sold you'd be able to get a small (but roomy) caravan, that could be towed with a mid sized car....
again, resolving the sleeping conundrum and that ever present car seat issue...
perhaps when your daughter is old enough to not need the car seat, you could switch to a PVC (with two double beds/bunks) as mentioned or a different type of MH.
you never know, you might (re-)take to towing...

 

[Wellington]

Ok, think outside the box. Is it so necessary to have an overhead bed? What size van you are comfortable with? Can you go to a longer van with 2 separate areas.If you aren't keen on the overcab bed, and a drop down isn't looking practical how about a transverse double across the rear - they usually have a narrow access so the princess can feel as though she is in her own room (and hide away from the staff) Meanwhile you have the rest of the van to lounge and sleep, you just need to find a seating arrangement without too many jigsaw bits that would give you a decent bed to sleep in as well as comfy seating.

Take your time, I'm sure the right layout will come along.

Overhead, not at all. It just needs no faffing around with. Literally, none. I drive, navigate, find places to stop and shop, cook, clean, do tanks, stow everything, play and nag. I have had it by bedtime! And how else are you going to get effectively two doubles into a van? I'd go up to 7.5 m, if need be. Plenty of room on the drive. It just seems silly when all I need to make it work at 6.4m is a bed that can be fixed a different height.

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[Wellington]

Are you definitely sold on a coachbuilt/A-class or would you consider a van conversion Now stick with me it's not as daft as it sounds!

I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, you could consider a Globecar Campscout Revolution ... 2 rear assive kingsize 'bunk' beds and a huge storage locker over the cab. Princess 'could' in theory sleep in the overcab if you took the door off and put a mattress in and maybe a small rooflight above.

Or you could raise the rear upper double bed to the roof but still to a usable height for her and you could have the lower one ... you 'may' be able to get your bikes in there if you remove the front wheel on yours to make it lower, or raise the bottom one up a bit to give you more space. You need to make sure though that if you DO go for one of these it has both the upper and lower bed pieces for the rear as I believe some people didn't get the lower bed parts.

It's fab, I'll have a look at one. I'm wondering about storage. I used every single nook and cranny on the 138 last year, and had everything we needed (and not much we didn't). I love van conversions, but do not need a repeat of the 'electric-bike-falling-on-my-foot' incident of 2018. Nor the interesting new words my then-seven year old learnt from it!