Banging my head one too many times on my Safari Panther

[slemnah]

On my 2005 Panther (same as Monaco Dynasty) the head of my bed is up against the window which creates its own problems (pillows bending the shade, etc) but then Monaco in their infinite wisdom put a tall set of cabinets above the bed and then added insult to injury by placing 2 drop down decorative lights and 2 speaker grills for me to slam my head on every time I get into the bed. Of course my wife being shorter than me fits without too much problem but I can't sit up straight to watch tv and i have to be very careful when I lay down on the bed to keep from slamming my head. I see that mine isn't the only coach designed stupidly this way, has anyone changed the configuration to give more room? I am thinking of removing the cabinets and having them remade so that they are much smaller but my wife doesn't want to lose the storage. Please let me know if you have any options.
Thanks,
Happy New Year
Steve 05 Panther

[slemnah]

Timmac, that is exactly what mine look like. I will get an estimate for having the cabinets re-done.
Steve

[JimM68]

ours is similar, but do not have those really low cabinets over the nightstand area. I've never hit my head, but i'm only 5'10"
We never use those cabinets, but don't full time, and have a big cabinet where the "not so" splendide would be if there was one so plenty of storage

I wish I had that big window over the bed, we have lil ones on the slide ends, not quite the same.

We have a speaker switch on "her side" that switches the radio to the rear speakers.
I redid this, installed 2 speakers in the overhead over the dash on this feed, that way my kids can watch and listen to the tv on the surround sound without making it impossible for me to listen to the radio

[timmac]

Is this what it looks like, if so cabinet shops can fix this by making new smaller cabinets that match yours now.

My last motorhome had the window where the head is and that's why I did not want that on my new one.



Those cabinets are to big for above the bed.

[falconman]

Ivylog,

I do not see a switch for the speakers. There is one panel of switches on the side of the near side bed elbow banger cabinet that read as follows: Display Lights; Gen Start; blank space (no switch); Dock Lights, Gem Light; Ceiling Lights. There is another Gem Light switch on the underside of the overhead cabinets for the far side of the bed. There is one dual electrical outlet on the underside of each elbow banger cabinet, and a telephone line connection on the underside of the near side cabinet. No other switches. Any specific suggestions on where to look for the speaker switch?

Any other 05 Monaco owners show add'l switches or have a speaker switch?

[Mr_Mark1]

slemnah wrote:
Ivylog, I like that idea for the window. I think I am going to remove the cabinets and have them shortened so that the storage is still there but only smaller. I will also remove the hanging down lights and speakers and make them flush. Sleeping isn't the problem, being comfortable to enjoy my morning coffee while watching tv or reading while sitting up is the problem.

Slemnah, that's exactly what I would do too. Fix it right the first time and be done with it.

Our cabinets are apparently at an OK level even with the 4 inch rotating reading lights. We bought a new mattress that is at least 3 inches thicker than the old 'piece-of-junk' Sleep Number mattress as it's a real mattress and still no issues being closer to the cabinets.

One thing I really like about our bedroom set-up is that we have side windows, no window at the headboard.

You could build a new headboard that hinges down for window use and flips up, lock it in place, for watching TV, etc.

MM.

[Daveinet]

Ivylog wrote:
"Also, we haven't discovered what those speakers are connected to yet" There is a switch besides the bed that lets you select either the back TV or the dash radio. Unfortunately they did not twist the wires coming from the radio so you'll probably have a 60 cycle hum in it.

Probably not. The level of inductive noise on even a long wire runs, compared to the speaker level output is is nil. That is only going to be an issue with low level signals that are later amplified. More than likely, the amplifier output is bridged, so both wires are hot. This means that any signal induced on the wiring will not be amplified, as it is on the output, rather than ground. Where you can get into trouble is when you induce signal on the ground side. Since the low signal amplifiers are referenced to ground they could in turn amplify any noise on the ground, but even that is unlikely. This does not apply to car radios, because the output is not referenced to ground.

[Ivylog]

"Also, we haven't discovered what those speakers are connected to yet" There is a switch besides the bed that lets you select either the back TV or the dash radio. Unfortunately they did not twist the wires coming from the radio so you'll probably have a 60 cycle hum in it.

[falconman]

My wife and I feel your pain! literally . On our short list will be the removal and or modification of those overhead cabinets. Hard to believe they built more than a few of these and no one at the factory thought this wouldn't be a problem. It's like the people that design these rigs never actually go inside a finished one to see if everything works and fits properly. Since they appear to be modular I'm hoping to won't be too big of issue. One concern is how the valance is attached. I think removal is the first step, and then evaluate what will work best from there.

Please let us know what you find out about how they are attached and what mods you do, and we will do the same - I think you may get to it before us, as we have other projects in line (we just got our 05 Dynasty the day before Thanksgiving).

Also, we haven't discovered what those speakers are connected to yet; any enlightenment would be appreciated.

[Ivylog]

Buy one of these and you'll be able to drink your coffee lying almost flat. Also stays hot for hours.


And one of these:


Just the pillow :B

[slemnah]

Ivylog, I like that idea for the window. I think I am going to remove the cabinets and have them shortened so that the storage is still there but only smaller. I will also remove the hanging down lights and speakers and make them flush. Sleeping isn't the problem, being comfortable to enjoy my morning coffee while watching tv or reading while sitting up is the problem.

[Ivylog]

We like to lay in bed and read/watch TV so I found a metal grill the right length to span the window. Mounted it on hooks so I can still get to the emergency exit if necessary. I'm 6'4" and do not hit my head (same coach) because I only lay at about a 45 degree angle to read using two pillows against the grill. While this picture was taken to show the mounting of the TV, you can see the grill over the window. There is a gap at the bottom so I can get to the day/night shade. Hope this helps.

[B_s_Bunch]

sleep at the foot of the bed:B Newmar and some others made the cabinets shorter over the bed but it was still a pain to get in and out but at least it wasn't a pain in the head. Larry

[Daveinet]

You could do it the government way and just post a yellow sign warning of the impending danger. Hey maybe even some flashing lights with sensors so they go off, just before you hit your head. (OK, sorry, I was thinking of those YouTube videos of trucks crashing into bridges)

On a completely different tack than what has been suggested, would it be possible to mount the bed farther from the wall? It may be easier to fill in the empty space with a false headboard, than tear down the cabinets and modify them. That would also get the pillows away from the shades and keep DW happy to boot. You loose a little foot room when the slide is in, but a small price to pay compared to bandaids.

[MustangGT]

Now that I have googled your rig and see those low cabinets. They ARE low. I also HAAATTTEEEE bashing my head.
I am a hobbiest wood-worker. If it were me, I'd pull down the cabinets, since only screws hold them up and together, and modify the faceframes of those two cabinets immediately over the bed by trimming the bottom and tilting the faceframe bottom in 3 or 4 inches (or just 2 or 3, depending). you may get lucky and find the finish on the abutting cabinets is continuous on the newly exposed triangular areas.
If you are not capable of this, a cabinet maker surely could do it and would charge waaaayyyy less if you could do the de-install, install yourself.
The big problem would be if the cabinets are heavily glued with non-heat sensitive (hot-melt) glue. Then a new box would have to be made, but the original doors and faceframe could still be used.
Or just cut-off the back of the cabinets and re-hang.