Why so few Murphy beds ?
Especially on shorter (<22') trailers. It seems like a natural to me. Is it because you lose the under bed storage ?
Forum Discussion
Lots of misinformation in many of the replies here. Part of the reason is that (1) there are big differences in Murphy beds from one manufacturer to another, and (2) a lot of the responses are coming from people who don't have them. (Which is OK, because you don't have to have one to answer the OP's question.)
But - from the perspective of a person who has one - there are huge benefits and some significant drawbacks to Murphy beds. Ours is very well-designed and well-made. It folds down into a comfortable, walk-around queen. It is in the front of the trailer and becomes a north-south bed. No problem. The biggest benefit is that it gives you both a day-use and a night-use area of precious space in a small, lightweight trailer. The biggest negative is the loss of pass-through storage that you would otherwise have under the bed.
Our bed is nicely counterbalanced so that it is easy to fold up and down. I've seen some that were not. And I've seen some where you had to construct a padded area to sleep on, using cushions, instead of a dedicated mattress. Yuck.
We chose a Murphy bed model when we were looking for the most practical floorplan in a lightweight trailer. We were shopping for something that was under 5000lb loaded so we could tow it with an SUV. We didn't want to go too small, and the Murphy bed was the best compromise. There have been a couple of 6-week trips where I did get pretty tired of putting it up and down every day, but it does go into its stored position with the bedding in place.
Now - my answer to the OP's original question: I don't think most shoppers do as much research as we did concerning weight and how the trailer is designed to give the most livable space with the least weight. I think most shoppers would see the trailer with the bed in storage position and quickly conclude that it either didn't have a queen bed or that it would be too much work to fold it down every day.
-Speak
But - from the perspective of a person who has one - there are huge benefits and some significant drawbacks to Murphy beds. Ours is very well-designed and well-made. It folds down into a comfortable, walk-around queen. It is in the front of the trailer and becomes a north-south bed. No problem. The biggest benefit is that it gives you both a day-use and a night-use area of precious space in a small, lightweight trailer. The biggest negative is the loss of pass-through storage that you would otherwise have under the bed.
Our bed is nicely counterbalanced so that it is easy to fold up and down. I've seen some that were not. And I've seen some where you had to construct a padded area to sleep on, using cushions, instead of a dedicated mattress. Yuck.
We chose a Murphy bed model when we were looking for the most practical floorplan in a lightweight trailer. We were shopping for something that was under 5000lb loaded so we could tow it with an SUV. We didn't want to go too small, and the Murphy bed was the best compromise. There have been a couple of 6-week trips where I did get pretty tired of putting it up and down every day, but it does go into its stored position with the bedding in place.
Now - my answer to the OP's original question: I don't think most shoppers do as much research as we did concerning weight and how the trailer is designed to give the most livable space with the least weight. I think most shoppers would see the trailer with the bed in storage position and quickly conclude that it either didn't have a queen bed or that it would be too much work to fold it down every day.
-Speak
