Longer bed (the sleeping kind)

[Seattle_Lion]

Our current TT is our first RV purchase and when we were told it had a queen-sized bed, we assumed it was the same as a residential bed. The first night we learned we had a "short queen" which is 6" shorter than an 80" residential bed. I am 6'2" so my feet hung out over the end of the bed. It wrecked my sleep. We bought a couple of "body pillows" and used them at the head end of the bed to allow us to push the mattress out past the end of the platform. Without the support the hanging end drooped with the weight of my feet.

I was thinking that I could replace the bottom half of my bed platform (it is hinged there) with a 6" longer piece of wood and then install a residential mattress. We have what is laughingly referred to as a "walk around bed". There is probably a foot or so of clearance at the end of the bed. So it is possible to extend it. I will just have to be careful not to squash my wife when I need to make a midnight bathroom trip.

Has anyone made mods to get a full length bed? I would love to know your experience.

[opnspaces]

I'm almost 6'6" so I feel your pain. I wanted to extend the bed for sleeping, but put it back to short in the morning. Here's a link to my solution.
Link

[brulaz]

My old trailer had a light-weight Al-Foam sandwich supporting the short queen foam mattress. Didn't want to replace that, so added a 6" shelf at the end of the bed frame. The new mattress hangs over the end of the Al-foam sandwich when it's lifted up, but is supported by the shelf when it's down. Added a lifting strap too.

Only problem was the new mattress was too heavy for the supports. So Added a third 80# strut in the middle of the storage area and pointing in the opposite direction as those on the sides.

But with the new trailer we just pull out the mattress 4" and stuff the hole. Easier to get around during the day, much simpler, and I don't notice the difference at night.

[klewis98]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0heCY0IMdic

[colliehauler]

Seattle Lion wrote:
Our current TT is our first RV purchase and when we were told it had a queen-sized bed, we assumed it was the same as a residential bed. The first night we learned we had a "short queen" which is 6" shorter than an 80" residential bed. I am 6'2" so my feet hung out over the end of the bed. It wrecked my sleep. We bought a couple of "body pillows" and used them at the head end of the bed to allow us to push the mattress out past the end of the platform. Without the support the hanging end drooped with the weight of my feet.

I was thinking that I could replace the bottom half of my bed platform (it is hinged there) with a 6" longer piece of wood and then install a residential mattress. We have what is laughingly referred to as a "walk around bed". There is probably a foot or so of clearance at the end of the bed. So it is possible to extend it. I will just have to be careful not to squash my wife when I need to make a midnight bathroom trip.

Has anyone made mods to get a full length bed? I would love to know your experience.

I replaced the plywood and replaced the mattress with a reg queen. I have never brought a new trailer home with the mattress in it. I give it back to the dealer. Life is to short not to have quality bedding.

[dieseltruckdriv]

We went the opposite direction. Ours came with a queen, but the mattress shop only had a full size that we liked. We bought that, added a 3" memory foam to it, and added foam to the head area where our pillows are. That gave us a full queen length, and the best bed either of us have ever slept in. We were both surprised that the full size vs. queen size width didn't bother us at all.

[spike99]

DutchmenSport wrote:
Did the same thing as you're suggesting on our previous TT. Worked just fine, but only had about 6 inches between the foot of the bed and the wall. Still worked very well, and since I don't sleep walk, never had any problems getting out of the bed!

Same with our 2006 Jayco as well. re: Removed short RV Queen and installed longer (normal) House Queen mattress (only the mattress).

Below is something I recently posted in the different thread. This worked for my 2006 Jayco.

Also... RV Queen and House Queen mattress has same width but the normal House Queen bed is 7" (or so) longer. For my TT, I simply removed its factory RV Queen mattress and installed normal house queen mattress. And to support the longer length over hang, I simply installed some flat trimmed down 5/8" plywood at end of bed (under the new mattress). And, rounded its outer edge corners. For every 6" overhang, ensure 4x6" material under the new mattress. re: Cantilever support design.

[DutchmenSport]

Did the same thing as you're suggesting on our previous TT. Worked just fine, but only had about 6 inches between the foot of the bed and the wall. Still worked very well, and since I don't sleep walk, never had any problems getting out of the bed!

[Yeti_plus]

Our trailer has a rear bed slide. 2009 it was a queen and sleeping was crossways in the bed. So the person in the back had to crawl over the other person to make that middle of the night trip. The 2010 model came with a king bed and sleeping is with the length of the trailer. AH HAH! I cut a piece of plywood that slides under one side of the bed and stacked the cut off pieces from the king sized memory foam topper( on the queen sized bed) on the plywood, on the other side, we put a duffle bag of clothes topped with another piece of memory foam on the dinette seat. Now we have an almost king bed and we don't disturb the other spouse when making those middle of the night bathroom trips. If you only need your side lengthened you could do the sliding plywood thing as well, and then it can be slid back under the mattress for "walk around" ability.
I guess the key to our mod was getting the king size memory foam topper to make the RV queen bed more comfortable.
Brian

[jffkrn]

We were very lucky in that we have the size plywood for a standard queen, not the RV standard, but the household type. We were disappointed in the density of the mattress, which is as we all know, not the best in an rv. So, before our first month long trip a few years ago, we went to Bedmart and looked at them. We were surprised that an inexpensive, by that I mean about mid range simple mattress, somewhat firm as we like that best, set us back only a couple hundred bucks. The mattress would probably last about 3 to 5 years at most is you used it every day. We believe we will get about double of that maybe 6, 8 or even a few more years. So, go down to a mattress place, do your measuring and get what you want. We were lucky enough to have the space in our unit. If it is a matter of making a few adjustments to the wood and it will work out for you, just do it!!!! If not, just curl up in a ball and you should fit on the bed!!!!! Good Luck & Be Safe ! ! !

[GaryWT]

X2 on laying in the bed before you bought. I laid in a couple dozen beds at a rv show when we were looking as well as sitting on the toilet with the bathroom door closed to see if I fit.

Does your room have 2 doors to get out or are you going to have to get by the end of the bed because that will get old fast. We tried it in our last trailer and had to go back because it was a pain. We did it to try a better mattress, for some reason I don't mind my feet hanging off some.

[301TBS]

I did the same as above. A little tight to walk around, but I sure sleep better.

[Sprink-Fitter]

Seattle Lion wrote:
Our current TT is our first RV purchase and when we were told it had a queen-sized bed, we assumed it was the same as a residential bed. The first night we learned we had a "short queen" which is 6" shorter than an 80" residential bed. I am 6'2" so my feet hung out over the end of the bed. It wrecked my sleep. We bought a couple of "body pillows" and used them at the head end of the bed to allow us to push the mattress out past the end of the platform. Without the support the hanging end drooped with the weight of my feet.

I was thinking that I could replace the bottom half of my bed platform (it is hinged there) with a 6" longer piece of wood and then install a residential mattress. We have what is laughingly referred to as a "walk around bed". There is probably a foot or so of clearance at the end of the bed. So it is possible to extend it. I will just have to be careful not to squash my wife when I need to make a midnight bathroom trip.

Has anyone made mods to get a full length bed? I would love to know your experience.

You didn't lay on the bed before you bought the trailer?

[kaydeejay]

neschultz wrote:
We bought a piece of 6" thick foam from a Joannes Fabrics store and added a 6 " wide piece of it at the head of the bed - after replacing the plywood with a 6" longer piece. Works great. Good luck.

x 2

[naturist]

I'm 6'3" and had the same problem. I also noted that the plywood platform was a little thinner than I was comfortable with, so I cut some pieces of 1/2" plywood and glued and screwed them down to both extend the platform and strengthen. Then I went to Sam's club and bought a 10" foam mattress in residential queen size. It sleeps really well.