Bed lid advise please

Ours is a queen bed, it came with a pair of gas struts to hold it open.

We called the props sticks when we were kids. Quite useful and plentiful in most areas except between the Ok and Az lines on I40 and in Va where they are destroying all of them.

I'd suggest posting some photos so we can see what you have and what can be done.

The gas struts can sometimes be installed incorrectly at the factory. That happened to a friend's TT and they weren't even close to being right and they needed to hold the lid up. I redid them for them and it opened easily afterwards. I have seen a diagram on the 'net somewhere before that shows the correct mounting positions of the brackets and the correct strut rating for the lid + mattress.

The attachment points of the gas struts sometimes need improvement by adding reinforcement, sometimes they use any old screws that are close at hand and sometimes wood can be split. You may need to add some wood backing or maybe a piece of plywood to increase the surface area the brackets are attached to.

I also modified the under bed storage. I added two drawers and a fixed tray above them and a removable tray on the other side. This increases the utilization of the space inside the box quite a bit. Things are so much easier to find and get to than plastic bins and cardboard boxes. Note that I installed 2x3 blocks for the brackets at one end. This makes the lid stay closed better because the strut exerts a slight downwards force when the lid is closed.

I also removed the OSB that the lid originally had and replaced it with plywood. The lid had quite a sag in it. Hard to see in the left photo but I installed a small strip around the perimeter on 3 sides and rounded off the edges with a router so that the edge is nice and smooth to grab onto and the sheets won't catch on it either.

Rbertalotto wrote:
Had the same issue with my Grey Wolf 19RR. I added an outside door and an inside door. Very easily accessible now. Article about conversion on my web site... www.rvbprecision.com

The OP's rig has a king island bed that doesn't butt against the exterior walls of the trailer as does the bed in your GW.

To the OP - regardless of whether you add cabinet doors to the end of the bed platform as I did you can still manually lift the end of the bed platform if you want to store a rather large item that won't fit through the door openings ... and there's no need for gas shocks as you can simply prop the platform in the open position with a piece of wood notched at each end so it doesn't slip out of position - just as shown in my pic. When you're done simply remove the wood prop and lower the platform. :)

We went to a more comfortable mattress so the gas shocks weren't up to the task of holding the bed up but they help lift and a proper length broom stick holds it in place.

I did the same thing with gas struts. Works fine with just one hand.

Had the same issue with my Grey Wolf 19RR. I added an outside door and an inside door. Very easily accessible now. Article about conversion on my web site... www.rvbprecision.com

Oh my goodness what a neat idea, we have lots of cabinet doors, we want have to buy anything to do that...
Thank you so much, that will make life easier.

Anneliese64 wrote:
Thanks for all the help, I will post my success story when I am done with that project.

Why lift the weight of the bed platform and mattress when it's so much easier if you install a cabinet door or two on the end of the bed platform - just as I've down with our own Coachmen trailer. :)