Where will we sleep?

[timtune]

My wife and I are looking to buy a small (21ftish) used class C motorhome. Our plan is to tow our motorcycle in a small enclosed trailer and then live in the camper for a 1-3 weeks at a time while we ride, and explore the local roads. We in our mid-50's and both in good health.

We have been looking at campers with a permanent bed in the back vs one where the table needs to drop down to create a sleeping area. We don't want to have to turn our bed into a table and our table into a bed every day.

So far we have assumed we won't be interested in sleeping in the bed up front over the "cockpit". Less head room & the need to climb up there we figured it was really just for kids.

Now I'm having second thoughts. Wondering if that's a perfectly legitimate place for 2 adults to sleep. If so it really opens up many options we could consider.

Lastly, if pulling a small trailer will we need a dually?

[Olddud]

pnichols wrote:
FWIW, we love the corner bed in the back. We don't "make it up", per se. We put a foam topper on it and that's what we make up - which is really nothing.

The DW has a bad back, so she has the corner bed all to herself so she can spread out on it.

I (6'2" tall & 75 YO) use the queen size cabover bed just fine. HOWEVER ... a point not discussed much in these forums: Our 24 foot Class C has a coach floor raised about 4-5 inches higher than the cab floor. One of the advantages if this is - it's less distance between the coach floor and the cabover bed to climb up into. Even given that, I can almost sit upright on the edge of the the cabover bed.

So the bottom line is that the DW and myself both have a queen size bed to sleep in ... her in a permanent one and myself in one I have to only pull out one-half of, once, whenever we first make camp.

Along with the two queens we have a full size dinette and a swiveling/sliding lounge chair ... but it takes a 24 footer to get this.

Similar to us, other than once in a while, I bed on the dinette thing. Also, went to the superbags on both -- much easier to us.

[pnichols]

FWIW, we love the corner bed in the back. We don't "make it up", per se. We put a foam topper on it and that's what we make up - which is really nothing.

The DW has a bad back, so she has the corner bed all to herself so she can spread out on it.

I (6'2" tall & 75 YO) use the queen size cabover bed just fine. HOWEVER ... a point not discussed much in these forums: Our 24 foot Class C has a coach floor raised about 4-5 inches higher than the cab floor. One of the advantages if this is - it's less distance between the coach floor and the cabover bed to climb up into. Even given that, I can almost sit upright on the edge of the the cabover bed.

So the bottom line is that the DW and myself both have a queen size bed to sleep in ... her in a permanent one and myself in one I have to only pull out one-half of, once, whenever we first make camp.

Along with the two queens we have a full size dinette and a swiveling/sliding lounge chair ... but it takes a 24 footer to get this.

[hotbyte]

rockhillmanor wrote:
I found out that when you are looking at 24 ft size and under MH's. You will either only have the pull out couch as a bed or even worse the dreaded corner bed in the back!

As I mentioned and BruceMc showed with floorplan, many mfr including Winnebago, Forest River, Thor, etc. now have a third option - east/west bed in a slide. As with any RV, there are compromises with primary one being the mattress is generally 2 piece to accommodate the slide being retracted. I would also call the beds more of a "scoot around" than "walk around." 🙂

[ron_dittmer]

Our Phoenix Cruiser 2350, the rear corner bed has the inconvenience described two replies earlier. I admit it isn't ideal, but as long as you are nimble in life, it does work okay. Significantly overweight people generally have trouble with a PC-2350.

I sleep on the inside, my wife against the outer wall. If she has to get up to go to the bathroom during the night, I simply get up so she can get out. I'll sit at the dinette until she's done, then I take my turn in the bathroom while she crawls back into bed. We work together to make it work. Though not ideal, it surely is a whole lot better than crawling out of a cab-over bed or setting up and tearing down a couch-bed daily.

Also keep in-mind that some rigs with couch-beds, one person still has to crawl over the other to get to the bathroom.

For most B+ rigs with main floor sleeping, if you want each person to have independent access to the bathroom, you have to add 3 more feet for near 27' to get twin beds with a rear bathroom. Add another few feet to get a walk-around double/queen bed inside a side-protruding slide out which places the bathroom in the middle of the house.

I did see a rear queen couch-bed inside a rear-protruding slide out on a shorter rig, but that is uncommon.

There are some creative ideas with Murphy beds too.

Do your research. You will be surprised what is offered these days.

[Farmboy666]

rockhillmanor wrote:
I found out that when you are looking at 24 ft size and under MH's. You will either only have the pull out couch as a bed or even worse the dreaded corner bed in the back!

The couch is really not comfortable for two.

The corner bed is even worse. If one person on the far side wants to get out of the bed they have to 'crawl' over the other person. Making a corner bed just sucks.

AND the corner bed floor plan eats into the bathroom leaving you with a bathroom that if you are over 5 ft un'do'able. I highly recommend you sit on the toilet of any RV you buy to see if you fit and/or even can close the door. Been there done that on my first RV AFTER I bought it.:B


I searched and searched for my first used MH, because I wanted to stay under 24 ft but to no avail for a floor plan that gave me a decent place to sleep and go to the bathroom easily. They just don't exist.

I ended up with a 31 ft with a queen walk around bed, a split bathroom that gives you tons of room to move around and sit and a great big glass surround shower with a skylight. Which gives you light and extra room if you are tall.

I've never regretted going up to the 31 foot for the bed and bathroom. :C

I have a Coachmen QB21, it's 25ft bumper to bumper. It has a queen corner bed and I'm 6'4" and have no problem with sliding off the end to get up without disturbing my wife. Same with the bathroom. No problem taking a shower either. Queen bed cabover stores tons of stuff. 5,000 lb hitch tows a dolly/Accord in the winter and a Harley on a trailer in the summer and not even close to max weight. Chevy Express 3500 6 liter.

[rockhillmanor]

I found out that when you are looking at 24 ft size and under MH's. You will either only have the pull out couch as a bed or even worse the dreaded corner bed in the back!

The couch is really not comfortable for two.

The corner bed is even worse. If one person on the far side wants to get out of the bed they have to 'crawl' over the other person. Making a corner bed just sucks.

AND the corner bed floor plan eats into the bathroom leaving you with a bathroom that if you are over 5 ft un'do'able. I highly recommend you sit on the toilet of any RV you buy to see if you fit and/or even can close the door. Been there done that on my first RV AFTER I bought it.:B

I searched and searched for my first used MH, because I wanted to stay under 24 ft but to no avail for a floor plan that gave me a decent place to sleep and go to the bathroom easily. They just don't exist.

I ended up with a 31 ft with a queen walk around bed, a split bathroom that gives you tons of room to move around and sit and a great big glass surround shower with a skylight. Which gives you light and extra room if you are tall.

I've never regretted going up to the 31 foot for the bed and bathroom. :C

[garmp]

We have a Phoenix Cruiser 2100 and love it!!! It pretty much should fit your needs. Sofa opens, with slide out, into the bed, full time dinette (which was big for us), dry bath and full kitchen. Only down fall is the sofa/bed is a sofa/bed. Got a 2" foam topper, cut into sections, for storage, as storage is a premo, and all is well.
Can't say enough things about the company and their quality and support.

[jack_the_Machin]

timtune wrote:
My wife and I are looking to buy a small (21ftish) used class C motorhome. Our plan is to tow our motorcycle in a small enclosed trailer and then live in the camper for a 1-3 weeks at a time while we ride, and explore the local roads. ...

...Wondering if that's a perfectly legitimate place for 2 adults to sleep. ...

...if pulling a small trailer will we need a dually?

That's exctly what we do. :C

We started with a Pleasure Way Excel, which was about 21 ft. It had the couch in the back which we made up into a pair of twin beds each night.

Based on the Ford E350 chassis, with single rear tires. We tow a Pace 6 x 12 Enclosed trailer with a ramp rear door. This combination worked great for us, except the bathroom was kinda cramped for me, 6'2", 200(+) lbs. The PW pulled the trailer (with an 1100 lbs trike inside) fine although we just had the 5.4 V8. The V10 might have been better.

Because the bathroom was cramped for me, especially when taking a shower, we recently traded for a Gulfstream BT Cruiser, which is supposed to be 23' but is actually about 24'. This one has dual rear tires. I like the dual rear tires because the are not loaded to the max like the single tires on the PW were.

One feature we like about this model is that it does not have a overhead bunk. The space over the cab accommodates the TV and some storage but does not stick up as high as a typical Class C and is much more aerodynamic.

Our is equipped with one slide and again twin beds. We like that the slide does not have to be extended to use the beds, very useful for over-nighting at Walmart. When the slide is extended, it's quite roomy inside. The twin beds are "jack-knife " sofas, which very quickly to convert to beds. We use sleep sacks (kinda like light-weight sleeping bags) so we don't have to make the beds each night, just unroll the sleep sack. In the morning it probably takes about 1 minute to roll up the sleep sack and move to jack-kine to the couch position.

We traveled about a month in it last summer, just as you do, towing the trailer 200-300 miles, setting up camp, exploring in every direction, the heading down the highway and doing it again. 🙂

We have also traveled on the trike, which we greatly enjoy, but this way we get to sleep in out own bed each night. 😉

It works great for us. I think you are on the right track. :C

[BruceMc]

We've had a variety of RVs over the years. As those years progress, we are finding the need to ease the access, as it were. The bed is particularly important.

In 2015, we downsized from a 27' Class C with a walk-around short queen to a 24' with the "east-west" slide, the Sunseeker 2250. We are both in our 60's and while we were younger we enjoyed the overhead bunk area in our pop-top camper and our 21' fifth wheel. My wife is alter-abled these days, so she's simply not able to climb into an overhead.

At your age, you'll probably want to start in the overhead bunk if all else is suitable with the unit your are looking into, but keep in mind someone will be crawling over someone in the middle of the night. I've done it hundreds of times, but certainly don't prefer the practice.

A motorbike on a trailer is probably no issue for a single rear wheels. The bigger issue is capacity. By the time you load the unit for yourself and lovely bride, then you'll need to determine what you have left from the Realistic Cargo Carrying Capacity (RCCC) and Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR). You'll probably find you will be at capacity or above.

Personally, I've never seen a single rear wheel axle on a Class C; they can be found on Class B and some (somewhat misnamed) B+ units.

Our C on the 4500 Chevy chassis has a GVWR of 14500, if I recall, with a 5000/500 lb hitch. The unit is more than capable of towing at those numbers. I don't recall right off hand the GCVWR number,

We didn't want a slide, but decided to try one over having something longer overall. So far, with proper maintenance, this unit has been trouble-free. Here's the floorplan:



We have a 6" two-piece dense foam mattress as well others with this design. The halves are angled at the junction, so we have never had an issue with feeling like we were "falling in a crack" or being rolled to the center. The bed is a full queen, so my feet no longer hang over the end unless I want them to.

Hope all that helps!

[Bumpyroad]

dicknellen wrote:
Get a rv with a bed, if not you will be trying to sell the 21' unit and buying a bigger one. Go with one with at least a corner queen bed. Dick

yep, do not only get one with the overhead bunk up front.
bumpy

[bukhrn]

Two people, find one with a rear queen,(Not a corner bed), also find one without that ridiculous cabover bed that you have to literally Climb into, find one with an entertainment center/storage up there. I'm sure you'll hear from one on here that loves their corner bed, & you'll hear from 12 that hate it.
Also If, you are going to travel with more than 2 a fold out sofa is easier to use than the drop down table.

[dicknellen]

Get a rv with a bed, if not you will be trying to sell the 21' unit and buying a bigger one. Go with one with at least a corner queen bed. Dick

[gbopp]

timtune wrote:
We don't want to have to turn our bed into a table and our table into a bed every day.

Very wise move. That gets OLD, real quick.

[midnightsadie]

theres a lot of small C,s with bed in the rear, ours is a leisure travel van 25ft and suits two people just fine www.leisurevans.com and the fuel mpg are great.

[ron_dittmer]

Tim,

You did not mention what your budget is, and if considering used or well used.

I ask because a 21-22 foot Starflyte made 1997-2005 has a double bed on the main floor, and a tiny dinette where a folding chair for person #2 works. My brother and his wife own one.

Our 10 year old rig HERE is 23'-8" long, with a standard dinette and main-floor standard double bed. It is as short and scaled-down as we could find in 2007 yet having all features "practical". Phoenix USA continues to offer our model with and without a slide out.