RV travel trailer bed. Do I have a choice? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

DeltaDonna · RV-Dreams Community Member

RV travel trailer bed. Do I have a choice?

AlanB · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you are buying a new RV, yes, most manufacturers will offer various upgrades - for a price. If you are buying a used RV, then certainly you can replace whatever the used RV has with something more to your liking. However, you will be limited to what fits your RV. RV mattress sizes can be different from what you are used to. Keep in mind that RV's are generally platform beds, ie, the mattress sits on a platform.

Hope this helps.

igotjam · RV-Dreams Family Member

Or (if new) order without a mattress and supply your own. We did that (and deleted some furniture) but I'm not sure we saved any $, but we got furniture we wanted.

jayc · RV-Dreams Family Member

igotjam is correct in suggesting that you delete the mattress on a new unit and purchase your own choice. Your dealer can likely help you.

Bobc · RV-Dreams Family Member

The beds that comes with most new units in my opinion are horrible I would alwaysdelete, by don't be surprised by how little the credit is but it will be well worth it.
Allmost 1/3 of your time is spent in your bed. It is very important that the bed meets your expectations. We ordered a high end trailer and the bed was not up to our stands and we custom ordered the bed that WE WANTED, you can not compermise in this area in my opinion. Exspecial if you are full timing
If you are a weekend or a vacation only camper real no big deal.

CJSX2fromCT · RV-Dreams Family Member

We got rid of all our furniture and mattress and replaced with what we had in the house... matt. Select Comfort Queens size.. we love it. Sofa bed that was in there was one of the most uncomfortable things to sit on.. put the house sofa (which is lighter in weight) right through the emergency exit window (opened it of course first) fit like a glove. both recliners..gone. replaced it with the one we had and ALOT more comforable.
It's your home, do as you wish to make it that way.

PD CFK · RV-Dreams Family Member

Replaced our mattress with the Night Therapy Elite, bought it on-line. Read about it in Nick's Gypsy Journal blog when he bought one. Pat K

DeltaDonna · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks Everyone. Hope to full time it by Sept in a new 24-30' travel trailer. I guess bed sizes change with size of trailer and model?

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have successfully avoided non-standard bed sizes in our RVs, both had real queen size. With a normal sized bed frame, you can easily replace the mattress. We used Sleep Number mattresses, the latest is the fancy one with memory foam on top, which was over $2K. In some RVs, you are limited on how tall the mattress can be, since the bed needs to go under cabinets when the slide is brought in.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Back in 2010, when we ordered our DRV, the Select Comfort RV mattress was an option, so we ordered our coach with one of them. Select Comfort offers two models and I found that DRV would put in the Premium model with that option. We've really loved our mattress. In fact, Jo likes the RV Premium mattress more than she did the residential one we had in our homes. The Premium model has a thicker topper than the Deluxe model. Both are sized for the normal RV that needs a different sized mattress from a residential mattress.

Select Comfort RV Mattresses

If the manufacturer of the RV of your choice doesn't offer a Select Comfort option and you want to go that way, see if they would wire in a 110V outlet under the bed for the air pump.

When we go visit family, we are always anxious to return home to the RV so we can get back on our SC. We each like different settings. Jo likes a soft bed so she has hers set on about 40 to 50, and I like firm so my side is set on 100. As our family knows, we can both rave about our mattress, even with different settings.

Terry

JonRV · RV-Dreams Family Member

Most of the beds that come with new units are not the best. There are many options ranging from your standard matresses to something like memory foam that can work in an RV that its not worth having to deal with the standard option.

Diana and Jim · RV-Dreams Family Member

We also have a Select Comfort bed. Absolutely love it.

DeltaDonna · RV-Dreams Community Member

RE: RV travel trailer bed. Size question

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

RV travel trailer bed. Do I have a choice?

melody · RV-Dreams Family Member

Donna, I've been shopping for a solo lightweight unit that does not waste space on a queen, and they are almost non-existent in units that also have adequate storage space. (There are lots of smallish beds in the retro 'pod' style', but storage space is very small).

I've narrowed my field down a little, and measured the queen in one unit that at least tucks it in sideways. Turns out there is a hinged storage underneath, and if I decline the queen mattress, my memory foam twin will fit perfectly behind the hinge, then I can 'upholster' the OSB in front of the hinge, so it will look decent and I'll have easier access to the storage compartment.

Some day if I stick with this, maybe I can have a coach custom built to de-emphasize the giant bed/big dinette syndrome, but these days if you are buying off the shelf it's tough.

There are also some 'bunkhouse' units that might work for you that tuck a single over a double, but you'd have to crawl in some and see if you can really cope with the cave-like access, and take some measurements, they may be too short or narrow to squeeze a decent mattress into. And a lot of these are the single axle 'hunting' style units that have very little capacity to carry cargo weight, which rules it out for full timing.

PrairieRV · RV-Dreams Family Member

When I was considering a bumper-pull toy-hauler, I considered a floor plan with beds at the front - a large bed on the bottom and a twin above. I considered taking out the large bed and making it closet space and sleeping in the top bunk. But I wouldn't want to have to use a ladder every time I got in or out of bed.

Back in the day my aunt and uncle had an Airstream trailer with twin beds between the rear bath and kitchen. Other floor plans had a double bed on one side and storage on the other. I think the bed converted into a couch for day use.

DeltaDonna · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks everyone. Pleasant dreams!

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

One of the reasons we bought our mpg was to learn what we wanted/needed and didn't want/need. We had a queen bed at home and wanted a queen in our camper. The mpg had a "queen" bed up front (floor plan was the 181, if anyone is interested) that had walls on three of the four sides AND the bathroom wall taking up part of the fourth side. After the first attempt we gave up trying to put sheets and blankets on it and just used sleeping bags on top of the "mattress" that was there. We decided that our full-time coach HAD to have a walk-around queen. In addition, both of us wear glasses all the time so some sort of nightstand is necessary for glasses, tissues, etc.

The mattress that came with our 20-year-old Foretravel appeared to be fairly new, and was pretty firm. Of course, the couple we bought the coach from were pretty tiny and light weight. After sleeping on the mattress for a couple of years now we're also looking for a replacement.

As for sizes, yes, RV manufacturers seem to find an amazing number of sizes and shapes to put in their products. Smaller units will often have smaller mattresses simply because every cubic inch has to count (or at least appear to count). I'd strongly suggest buying a unit with a standard-size mattress in it, as that will make buying bedding MUCH easier (and cheaper).

Airstream makes a few models with twin beds. For singles, it might be possible to take one of those beds out (temporarily) and turn it into a desk or storage space. Just a thought.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

David,

Thanks for reminding me of something that I didn't think to put in either of my other two posts here. With regards to making the bed, the Select Comfort is also good because in our coach, the mattress is right next to both of the nightstands. It is easy for Jo to make the bed because the bed is light enough to pick up those corners and slip the fitted sheet over.

When we ordered our DRV Mobile Suites, we specifically ordered the Select Comfort mattress. To our surprise, while the king sized mattress only allows one night stand, when they installed everything in ours, they added the second night stand without us even thinking to ask for it. We both got a big surprise with that. The picture below is of our bed when we first saw the coach at the dealership. Without any sheets and blankets on it, it's pretty easy to see how much clearance is between the mattress and the night stands.

Terry

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for the picture, Terry. That's the arrangement that we need.

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

Donna, To answer your question about a tempurpedic mattress -- some do use that brand in their RV. You can use that type of mattress, if the dimensions (including height) will work with your selected RV. Tempurpedic mattresses are typically a bit heavier than other mattresses (i.e., ours weighs approx. 125lbs), something to consider when looking at your future RV's available carrying capacity and/or trade-off on what you will/won't bring with you.

Andrea · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi, DeltaDonna -

You could buy a memory foam mattress topper (go for at least 4" height or your weight on the thinner foam will simply flatten it and you get no benefit from it) and put it on top of your existing mattress. It works for me at home and that's what I plan to do when I go full-time.

All the best and sweet dreams.

-Andrea

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

This comment will not be applicable in all RV's, but it may be something to consider. If the bed happens to have its head in a bedroom slide, be sure and watch the clearance with anything on the opposite side of the RV where the foot of the bed might make contact.

With our DRV, the head is in the bedroom slide and when the slide comes in, the dresser has a feature where the lower part of the dresser gets pushed back for travel to allow for the mattress to come in under the top of the dresser. If the RV in consideration has a similar arrangement, then one would also need to watch the height of the bed as well as the length to be sure that the mattress will clear the dresser.

Picture of our dresser when set up and parked.

Picture of our dresser when "stowed" for travel.

Terry