East/West bed???

[missouri_dave]

Saw a comment on some youtube video about campers with north/south beds being better than east/west and so on and so forth. I didn't know there WERE any truck campers with east/west beds. I camp alone and think the east/west would be easier to climb in and out of. Who makes them?

[burningman]

My old ‘87 Vacationeer had a huge bed, you could sleep whatever way you wanted.
It was 72x80... that was cool. No compass needed.

[MORSNOW]

Now I know why a dog circles before laying down, it's looking for a north/south bed just like my camper.

[Beaker]

my own observation, I've found I sleep much better when my body is aligned North-South. Not sure why.

Has to do with the magnetic poles!:)

[Photomike]

My Northern Lite was east west and LOVED it!! Of course I camped alone.

[maxum1989]

Adventurer has a model of truck camper that has the East/West bed.

[SidecarFlip]

Our old / sold Lance was a N/S but the Palomino we have now is an E/W. Neither are / were a problem. The person with the weaker bladder sleeps on the outside (me).

[KD4UPL]

I had a Palamino pop-up TC with an E/W bed when I was single, it worked great. I got married and sold the camper within a year. The next one had a N/S bed.

[Travels_with_Yo]

Our Eureka truck camper comes with an East/West bed orientation. However, you can include an upgrade that uses a slide out platform to extend the width (East/West) allowing a North/South orientation. We use a tri-fold mattress that folds over on itself prior to moving the sliding platform back in.

The North/South platform extension


The collapsed position returning to an East/West orientation


As with most things in life, there are pros and cons to everything 🙂

[AnEv942]

East/west or north/south referring to the bed in the cabover of a T/C (and the length of the cantilever cab-over section). East/west was the norm back in the day for a T/C. Mostly due to construction of extended camper nose. When north/south started appearing more commonly was still offered as an option, now finding a hardside camper with east/west bed likely far and few between.

[kohldad]

If you are solo, an E/W bed is very nice and easy to crawl into. It is a bit more of a pain tucking in the foot of the sheets however. The only way I've found to do a decent job is to crawl under the mattress and then pull the sheet/blanket under as I wiggle back out.

I have one on my Lance 815 which was probably the most common in the Lance lineup. The 815 was offered with an optional extended cabover which changed the bed to a N/S but I've never seen one. Unfortunately, they quit making the 815 when the 850 came out around 2008(?).

Another option for you is to look at campers with twin beds. This was practical before they started putting a lot of cabinets besides the N/S beds.

[RCMAN46]

Both my Alaskan cab over camper and my first small Jayco 5th wheel had East West Beds.

As said the person towards the front had to craw over or have the person towards the back move to get out of bed at night for a potty run.

[NRALIFR]

Sorry, that information is classified for TT owners. :B

They are talking about which way the mattress is oriented in the cabover part of a truck camper. East/west used to be the norm, and you were sleeping across (perpendicular or 90 degrees to) the direction of travel. North/south requires a much longer cabover area, but became the norm after extended cab and crew cab truck became popular. With north/south, you’re sleeping parallel to the direction of travel.

:):)

[GordonThree]

Tvov wrote:
From a non-TC'er, what are you folks talking about? Pictures to show the difference?

x2 me either.

just to interject my own observation, I've found I sleep much better when my body is aligned North-South. Not sure why. I always try to land the rig with the head of the bed pointing North.

[Hondavalk]

Tvov wrote:
From a non-TC'er, what are you folks talking about? Pictures to show the difference?

I believe it refers to sleeping beds running either perpendicular or parallel to the side walls.