Fixed bed vs no fixed bed?

Dilemma.

We always think of selling our wee 5.6m ES every year. Fixed Bed and Garage are in our top 3 requirements.

Crawled over hundreds of vans up to 7.x m. By the time ya take the bed space out theres less room than in our Nuevo ! So we're not chamging any time soon. Wasted day space gets us every time. Sleep 2x single downstairs or make up double. Different with 3. Once the ankle biter was in bed there'd be no room. It's dead space. Convertible rear bed, make up or leave down like our old Chausson mebbe.

Havingbsaid that We'll change to fixed bed when littly no longer with us definately. Island bed even !
 
Fazerloz said:
In reality how long does it take to make a bed up. Not long. Its not worth losing the living space for us unless you have a abundance of room.
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I agree it only takes minutes,but when you're blobbed out in front of TV,or exhausted from a hard day's relaxing,those few minutes can seem like climbing Everest.
 
Guess perceptions vary depending on where you are coming form....

I've had two VW Transporter based Campers and those would be way too small for a fixed bed. But moved to a LWB Sprinter based van SPECIFICALLY to have a fixed bed without loosing overall living space compared to the smaller Campers.
PLUS garage space to put all the various exterior bits & pieces like awning room, BBQ, chairs, etc nicely out the way.
 
Our Pilote has a bed that tucks away in the roof which we find better we leave the bedding on it so just have to straighten when we lower, I sit in the passenger seat when parked up and Ron stretches out on sofa to watch DVD's. If I want to go to bed it does not affect anything - would not want a fixed bed because it makes the van seem very small.:wave::wave::wave:
 
wildebus said:
Guess perceptions vary depending on where you are coming form....

I've had two VW Transporter based Campers and those would be way too small for a fixed bed. But moved to a LWB Sprinter based van SPECIFICALLY to have a fixed bed without loosing overall living space compared to the smaller Campers.
PLUS garage space to put all the various exterior bits & pieces like awning room, BBQ, chairs, etc nicely out the way.
Click to expand...


Spot on ....I guess it mostly depends how you roll AND what you use your van for ...

We were as i said above fixed on having a permanent double with storage under AND space for a dog pod .

We tend to spend more time outside and walking etc unless the weather is being typically British.
We sacrificed toilet as we tend to use public loos etc (or a shovel ;-) ) BUT still have room for a sofa to lounge on ...To be honest we went for the Transit jumbo to give us maximum space AND we could neither find (Nor to be honest afford ) anything off the peg that suited our intended use .
BUT our use is vastly different than someone elses use and so on etc ...
 
When we had our VW often we left the bed in place and just lounged on that when not using front seats, now we have the Globecar we lounge in front or on bed, so no wasted space at all for us.
 
Fazerloz said:
In reality how long does it take to make a bed up. Not long. Its not worth losing the living space for us unless you have a abundance of room.
Click to expand...

Probably could do it in two minutes to completion, but a relaxed three minutes. We store the bedding where more modern vans have a window over the cab and therefore lose the storage space. For the sake of six minutes per day I lose 2 metres in van length.
 
Hi Marie, hope alls well with you two, have you thought about an A class? WE are in the process of buying a Pilote with a drop down bed over cab, for exactly the same reasons as you - want an easier bed but don't want to lose all that space! Will let you know how it works out :)
 
We are now on our 3rd van and it's been fix beds of one sort or another all the way and i don't feel we have lost out on living space.

First van was 5 meter Hymer with a drop down bed that was ready for use just needed pulling down.

The 2nd was a 6.5 meter Autotrail, again the fixed bed took up no room in the van because it was over the cab, with a full size rear bathroom.

And the present van is 7.2 meters Autotrail Tribute 715 with a proper french bed in the back, again we have not lost living space but have sacrificed the big bathroom.

The advantages have already been well aired, permanently made bed read to fall into, no storage of bedding required, great under bed storage, different bedtimes etc. and very hand for those afternoon naps. :sleep-027:
 
Haaamster said:
Size of your bus Wully I'm surprised you've not got a swimming pool.
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O you mean the skating rink we don’t youse it as a pool until at least May lol. Once seen a van in America with a drop down deck on back with a hot tub atached would love to turn up to a wc meet with that.
 
Fazerloz said:
In reality how long does it take to make a bed up. Not long. Its not worth losing the living space for us unless you have a abundance of room.
Click to expand...

Not long - but it's back breaking and involves persuading the dog to get off it while I do it. It doesn't give me any more "living space" when it's away - more room to stand but no extra seating as the dog claims it anyway - but when it's out it means I can't access the cupboards under the sink which is a pain as they are about the only storage I have.
 
Fixed for me in the last two vans, Transverse over large garage for all the toys, the must have were large garage and fixed bed so worked out just right. 7.6m Long.
And as said before useful long baguette holder in the day too.
 
Love the big drop down bed in our a class.

Can be down and still leave all the living room available
 
Definitely a fixed bed for us.

Currently in the final stages of building our camper. Not only a fixed bed, but it needs to be an island bed, accessible from both sides. We went this route a couple of years ago in our touring caravan, and having now decided on four wheels rather than tow, this was the number 1 priority in our build.
 
TimW said:
Currently in the final stages of building our camper. Not only a fixed bed, but it needs to be an island bed, accessible from both sides. We went this route a couple of years ago in our touring caravan, and having now decided on four wheels rather than tow, this was the number 1 priority in our build.
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Interesting. What base vehicle are you using Tim?
 
mariesnowgoose said:
Bet there's a thread about this already - sorry if there is!
I did a quick search and couldn't find anything so here we go.

Who's in the fixed bed camp and who thinks they aren't necessary and why?

Me and t'other half strongly disagree on this, especially when it comes to full timing.

I'm eager to listen to arguments for either setup & give them due consideration before making my mind up :D
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Why don't you start a poll?
 
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Ahhhhh,,,,,Comfeeeey
 
Depends on whether your happy getting a longer motor home for a bed!

We have given up the fix bed to get a shorter Motorhome! In a 5.9 the bed comes down electrically from the roof ! Best of both worlds with the advantage of being able to park in more places.
 
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