Why so few Murphy beds ?

I am reading a lot of the negatives about the Murphy Bed. We just downsized from a Cougar 26SAB 5th Wheel to a Rockwood Mini 2104s with a Murphy Bed. We love it! We travel all over the country and wanted a smaller camper that we could still be comfortable in. The Rockwood Mini is perfect for us. We have a slide out so the kitchen, dining area are really spacious. There is a lot of storage and a couch. The couch folds down for the bed. The Murphy Bed stays completely made so when we lower it, you just get into bed.

SpeakEasy wrote:


But - from the perspective of a person who has one - there are huge benefits and some significant drawbacks to Murphy beds. Ours is very well-designed and well-made. It folds down into a comfortable, walk-around queen. It is in the front of the trailer and becomes a north-south bed. No problem. The biggest benefit is that it gives you both a day-use and a night-use area of precious space in a small, lightweight trailer. The biggest negative is the loss of pass-through storage that you would otherwise have under the bed.

You gave a great explanation of the pros and cons - and I'll be honest, I hadn't noticed that with the Murphy, you lose that passthrough storage. When I think of how little "basement storage" these small trailers have to start with - that certainly would have been a deal-breaker for us.

On the other hand, if there's more than 2 people in my trailer, we're going to have to set up a camp chair for them to sit on (which is no problem since I have all that underbed storage....LOL!)

There's so many floorplans because every family's needs are different.

Lots of misinformation in many of the replies here. Part of the reason is that (1) there are big differences in Murphy beds from one manufacturer to another, and (2) a lot of the responses are coming from people who don't have them. (Which is OK, because you don't have to have one to answer the OP's question.)

But - from the perspective of a person who has one - there are huge benefits and some significant drawbacks to Murphy beds. Ours is very well-designed and well-made. It folds down into a comfortable, walk-around queen. It is in the front of the trailer and becomes a north-south bed. No problem. The biggest benefit is that it gives you both a day-use and a night-use area of precious space in a small, lightweight trailer. The biggest negative is the loss of pass-through storage that you would otherwise have under the bed.

Our bed is nicely counterbalanced so that it is easy to fold up and down. I've seen some that were not. And I've seen some where you had to construct a padded area to sleep on, using cushions, instead of a dedicated mattress. Yuck.

We chose a Murphy bed model when we were looking for the most practical floorplan in a lightweight trailer. We were shopping for something that was under 5000lb loaded so we could tow it with an SUV. We didn't want to go too small, and the Murphy bed was the best compromise. There have been a couple of 6-week trips where I did get pretty tired of putting it up and down every day, but it does go into its stored position with the bedding in place.

Now - my answer to the OP's original question: I don't think most shoppers do as much research as we did concerning weight and how the trailer is designed to give the most livable space with the least weight. I think most shoppers would see the trailer with the bed in storage position and quickly conclude that it either didn't have a queen bed or that it would be too much work to fold it down every day.

-Speak

colliehauler wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:

colliehauler wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Especially on shorter (<22') trailers. It seems like a natural to me.

Is it because you lose the under bed storage ?

Because they are uncomfortable as a bed or a couch, just a guess.

a murphy bed is NOT a couch. It's a regular bed that folds up against a wall. The one in my brothers winni has a very nice comfortable couch in front of the murphy bed, couch folds over, murphy bed comes down, easy access from either side, as comfortable as any short queen RV bed. Uses a typical RV short queen mattress.

you do give up underbed storage, but in a small trailer gain a nice couch in addition to the dinette.

Now a jacknife sofa, another story. doesn't usually make a good couch or good bed.

I have no experience with them, the one I seen the mattress folded over to make a couch of a daytime.

what you describe is often called a jacknife sofa. I agree it doesn't make a good couch or bed. Murphy bed is just a regular bed that folds up against the wall. Usually has counterbalance to make it a easy one hand job to raise or lower.

The toy haulers have a sort-of one in the back/garage area, but they are fold-down couches that also can fold flat up on the wall.
The issue with Murphy bed is that if you want a double or a queen then it is tall so will end up folding down on the floor.
I built one in a cargo trailer that folds down but magically ends up at bed height (little higher), so there can be stuff on the floor with bed deployed or not.
Most camper beds have necessary RV items under, be it water tanks or storage or other. So that floor space is needed to build the RV sometimes and if you had a folding bed, then those things under the bed would have to go somewhere else, taking up space just the same...
I think many campers are built to appeal to buyers on the lot, so making things too practacle would scare buyers away.

GrandpaKip wrote:
We forewent the Murphy bed for a dedicated walk around queen. Didn’t want to lose the pass through, the hassle of putting it up and down, and it looked like I’d be fixing it later on as the one we saw wasn’t the best built thing.
We don’t need a couch. Our u-shaped dinette works if we have to be inside.

You are echoing my thoughts as we looked for a small TT. Ours has a couch, though, no dinette. The whole Murphy bed thing just looked like a hassle....

A Murphy bed is not anything like the crummy and lumpy beds that come in couches. With a foam matress pad, mine is very comfortable. I sleep out there often. I can have a couch if I want one. This whole package fits nicely in a 24 foot trailer. It is what I have always wanted.

I will be sleeping out there again tonight with the full moon a the owls.

ktmrfs wrote:

colliehauler wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Especially on shorter (<22') trailers. It seems like a natural to me.

Is it because you lose the under bed storage ?

Because they are uncomfortable as a bed or a couch, just a guess.

a murphy bed is NOT a couch. It's a regular bed that folds up against a wall. The one in my brothers winni has a very nice comfortable couch in front of the murphy bed, couch folds over, murphy bed comes down, easy access from either side, as comfortable as any short queen RV bed. Uses a typical RV short queen mattress.

you do give up underbed storage, but in a small trailer gain a nice couch in addition to the dinette.

Now a jacknife sofa, another story. doesn't usually make a good couch or good bed.

I have no experience with them, the one I seen the mattress folded over to make a couch of a daytime.

colliehauler wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Especially on shorter (<22') trailers. It seems like a natural to me.

Is it because you lose the under bed storage ?

Because they are uncomfortable as a bed or a couch, just a guess.

a murphy bed is NOT a couch. It's a regular bed that folds up against a wall. The one in my brothers winni has a very nice comfortable couch in front of the murphy bed, couch folds over, murphy bed comes down, easy access from either side, as comfortable as any short queen RV bed. Uses a typical RV short queen mattress.

you do give up underbed storage, but in a small trailer gain a nice couch in addition to the dinette.

Now a jacknife sofa, another story. doesn't usually make a good couch or good bed.

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Especially on shorter (<22') trailers. It seems like a natural to me.

Is it because you lose the under bed storage ?

Because they are uncomfortable as a bed or a couch, just a guess.