Murphy Bed Option

I know from traveling with our GS setting up and taking down the dinette or sofa got real old, quickly.
I would not want a Murphy Bed for regular use or even short trips.

I guess it'd depend on whether you plan to move it up and down much or instead just leave it in place and want the murphy option for a 'just in case' alternative if you have people join for a meal or something....kinda like what 'Josh the RV nerd' (salesman at a Michigan RV dealership) said about bunk beds...'they're not for the kids...kids will sleep anywhere--on the floor, curled up in a dog bed, outside in the back of the pickup...the bunks are for the PARENTS...so they don't have to convert a sofa or a dinette into a bed every night'

Guessing small camper because either small tow vehicle or (like us) you'll use the trailer more as a way to be where you want to be (while as a bonus using your own bed, bathroom and kitchen instead of a hotel or a family member's house) rather than a 'place to be' in and of itself...we're outside of our trailer 'most all the time except for breakfast (lunch and/or dinner generally bbq) and to sleep...if you plan to use in that way, murphy makes sense to me...if instead you'll actually 'murphy' it up and down a lot, might get tired of that pretty quickly

I agree that they get old real quick! Not sure about how Lance does it but we had a FR with it and friends had a different make and the mounting for both left much to be desired. Having a full time bed is handier than you might think.

trailernovice wrote:
I guess it'd depend on whether you plan to move it up and down much or instead just leave it in place and want the murphy option for a 'just in case' alternative if you have people join for a meal or something....kinda like what 'Josh the RV nerd' (salesman at a Michigan RV dealership) said about bunk beds...'they're not for the kids...kids will sleep anywhere--on the floor, curled up in a dog bed, outside in the back of the pickup...the bunks are for the PARENTS...so they don't have to convert a sofa or a dinette into a bed every night'

Guessing small camper because either small tow vehicle or (like us) you'll use the trailer more as a way to be where you want to be (while as a bonus using your own bed, bathroom and kitchen instead of a hotel or a family member's house) rather than a 'place to be' in and of itself...we're outside of our trailer 'most all the time except for breakfast (lunch and/or dinner generally bbq) and to sleep...if you plan to use in that way, murphy makes sense to me...if instead you'll actually 'murphy' it up and down a lot, might get tired of that pretty quickly

Thanks. Your second paragraph describes us. As someone else said, we're travelers, not campers.

We can always leave the bed in place (down), since the door is on the other end. Then we can have a couch if desired.

My Murphy bed converts to a two person sofa for when I have more than two guests at the same time. Otherwise it stays a bed. Do you really need it?

I'd consider a Murphy if just the two of us.. but have always gone bunkhouse because we have a young son

When we bought our TT we opted for a Murphy bed. The reason? We were towing with a mid-sized SUV, and we wanted to get the most possible trailer with the least possible weight. The Murphy bed option got us a reasonably-sized trailer (for the two of us) and allowed us to have both a "bedroom" and a "livingroom" in the same space. We put it down every night and up every day.

At first, our longest trips were the typical vacation 2-week or 3-week trips. Now that we're retired we're taking longer trips - 6 weeks or so. Putting the Murphy bed up and down is getting old. Plus, we are now towing with a half-ton pickup. We have much more towing capacity than we currently need. So now, I'm thinking it's time to upgrade to a bigger TT, and I won't be going with a Murphy bed.

Besides the up-and-down every day there is also the sacrificed storage space that would ordinarily be under a bed.

Murphy beds are great for certain benefits. But they do have some down sides.

-Speak

google 'josh the rv nerd murphey bed' for a good video of the ups and downs (get it??? the 'ups' and 'downs'???) of Murphey beds in travel trailers

I don't know about a Lance. We bought a Mini Rockwood last year with a Murphy Bed downsizing from a 5th wheel. We love it!! There are just the two of us and because we have a Murphy our 21 ft. TT has a couch also. We fold back the couch and bring down the Murphy. It takes less than a minute. I checked before buying it to make sure our bed could be fully made with comforter before folding and it does. Our mini has so much room with the Murphy and it is as comfortable as any RV bed.

SpeakEasy wrote:

Besides the up-and-down every day there is also the sacrificed storage space that would ordinarily be under a bed.

This is a big one, especially for small trailers. One of the biggest storage areas is under the bed but the murphy option eats up most of that space.