Murphy Beds- opinions?

drsteve wrote:

Copperhead wrote:
Too bad that many other trailer OEM's don't offer the slide out for the pass thru front storage like Lance Trailers does.

Many motor homes have that feature, more TTs should too.

Personally, the amount of space I would lose with slides would be detrimental.

Copperhead wrote:
Too bad that many other trailer OEM's don't offer the slide out for the pass thru front storage like Lance Trailers does.

Many motor homes have that feature, more TTs should too.

drsteve wrote:

LVJJJ wrote:
I think pass-thru storage is a waste, can't easily access the middle, so only use as far as I can reach on each side. Also allows me to pack way too much heavy junk in there to haul around. However, we finally got a TT with a walk-around queen bed, so I'll have to put up with pass thru storage.

To make better use of the pass thru, put your stuff in plastic laundry baskets. The one in the middle can be pulled out with your awning hook.

Too bad that many other trailer OEM's don't offer the slide out for the pass thru front storage like Lance Trailers does.

The "Murphy" beds being offered can be a neat option in the smaller trailers which many who do dispersed boondock camping prefer.

I don't know what RV manufacturers are calling a Murphy bed but a true Murphy bed doesn't need set up or made up every day. Other than removing the pillows nothing has to be changed. Flip the bed up, flip the bed down. I designed and built my own Murphy bed. Ours has a 10" thick foam Tuft&Needle queen mattress which is the same as we use in the house.

We looked at them, but we decided that we didn't want to have to set up the bed every night. We like just going to bed like we do at home. We also like to put memory foam on our camper mattress, and I don't think it would fit on a Murphy Bed when putting it up.

LVJJJ wrote:
I think pass-thru storage is a waste, can't easily access the middle, so only use as far as I can reach on each side. Also allows me to pack way too much heavy junk in there to haul around. However, we finally got a TT with a walk-around queen bed, so I'll have to put up with pass thru storage.

To make better use of the pass thru, put your stuff in plastic laundry baskets. The one in the middle can be pulled out with your awning hook.

First of all, they vary a lot from one manufacturer to another. When we were shopping, we wanted to look only at models with a Murphy bed. The one in the Forest River/Rockwood models were the first ones we saw. Then we went and looked at the Palomini and absolutely hated it. The Forest River one uses a "real" mattress, while the Palomini had pieces of foam that you assembled to cover the "bed." Yuck. I find the comfort of the Forest River Murphy bed to be "acceptable," but not great. I'm 64 years old with some minor aches and pains. I'm not very big: 5' 6" and 165 lbs. We really wanted a walk-around bed, which this is.

As to the trade-off between storage and living space - yes; you do give up some storage. However, there is storage under the couch.

When we were making the decision we had a tow vehicle that was marginal, at best. The Murphy bed option opened the door for us to get a bit of a larger trailer than we would have otherwise considered - keeping within our weight limits. If we hadn't had that consideration, I don't know if I would have been willing to give up the storage space to get the Murphy bed. Wouldn't have needed to make the trade-off.

-Speak

On my TT the fresh water tank is in the front under the couch so it doesn't not have the pass threw storage anyway. I don't miss it because I've never had it.

We looked at a Mini-Lite with a Murphy bed. I just couldn’t imagine doing without the storage of a pass through which our camper at that time had.
The way I load mine, I have no problem accessing any of it.

I think pass-thru storage is a waste, can't easily access the middle, so only use as far as I can reach on each side. Also allows me to pack way too much heavy junk in there to haul around. However, we finally got a TT with a walk-around queen bed, so I'll have to put up with pass thru storage.