Advancing Alvar

[stanw909]

With the vibration feature I guess you will have to carry a lot of quarters.

[gerrym51]

David-do you fill in the mattress gaps?

[stanw909]

I take back the quarters crack because I realized that controlling the beds from your I-phone means you can use bitcoin.

[Davydd]

The vibrating feature just happened to be part of the package with the bed mechanism we finally settled on. It wasn't sought or requested, but with the absence of an Onan generator under the bed it will have to do.

We are on the road heading for home for a few days. I will gather and post information soon.

[gerrym51]

Originally Posted by Davydd

The vibrating feature just happened to be part of the package with the bed mechanism we finally settled on. It wasn't sought or requested, but with the absence of an Onan generator under the bed it will have to do.

We are on the road heading for home for a few days. I will gather and post information soon.

so a benefit of the onan i'm getting is a vibrating bed-who knew

[cjscott]

Beds very cool. We really like the color/look of the outside, is it more of a dark gray? Love the black wheels and black trim, very hot looking!

[cjscott]

What brand are those solar panels, did they tell you?

[Davydd]

The solar panels are custom manufactured per Advanced RV specification from a company in Europe. Who, I don't know. They are flexible panels adhered to an insulation board that sits tight to the roof and follows the slight roof crown.

A lot of Advanced RV stuff is custom manufactured. The lithium ion battery pack doesn't look like something you can just buy off the shelf and stick together. I saw the assembly of batteries, connectors, wires, controllers and management systems that went into it and into a custom insulated box protected by a thick aluminum skid plate. I think I might have to go back to college and get a degree in computer electronics to understand all this stuff.

[eurovanman]

Originally Posted by Davydd

We are at Advanced RV to pick up Alvar. We will be quite busy today but here are some photos. Note we have electrically articulated twin beds in our B. We can control the bed through our iPhone to raise the back, raise the foot and adjust the head. We can also program pre-settings such as Bed, TV Watching, Zero Gravity Lounger, etc. The center portion at the shoulders gives us a full king at that point and possibly our cat Callie may make her home there. The opening at the floor will be her passage to her own domain under the bed should she choose. Cats can be finicky.

Alvar Photos

Cool on the outside. I know - 'different boats for different folks' but it looks a little like an ambulance on the inside. The permanent beds take up half of the van. I can't even justify a permanent bed in my home because it is such a waste of space for something I spend 7 hours a day in. Where do you live? in the beds?

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by gerrym51

David-do you fill in the mattress gaps?

There are no gaps in the bed position. The mattress is 3 inches of high density foam topped with 1 inch of memory foam and the joints are tight and the mattress top is straight as there is no ballooning bulges like you see in some electric sofa/beds. When articulated the only joint that opens up is at the knee and that is no problem. The rest of the joints just compress tighter. We slept in it four nights so far. The first night we slept inside the factory itself so didn't have any systems on. The other three nights were all in below freezing weather down to 5 degrees the first night and 15 degrees last night. Everything worked great. We slept boondocking in the ARV parking lot, a Cracker Barrel and a busy city street parallel parked curbside. I can't be more pleased as all expectations were met.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by eurovanman

Cool on the outside. I know - 'different boats for different folks' but it looks a little like an ambulance on the inside. The permanent beds take up half of the van. I can't even justify a permanent bed in my home because it is such a waste of space for something I spend 7 hours a day in. Where do you live? in the beds?

I'm not sure I understand your comment. It is a Class B van. The beds are no bigger than any other Class B in that they are 74" long and take up the same space as any other twin bed design. And as I explained they do multi-duty as lazy boy chairs or zero gravity loungers besides beds. Can you show me a Class B that can provide that kind of comfort? As for living, it is zoned as the two front cab seats turn around to a table and the driver's seat turns around to a drop down computer desk. There are very few Class Bs with that versatility. The TV is designed so you can watch from the articulating beds or from the cab seats. We don't entertain inside our B with other people like you see with four captain chairs around a table in the front or a dinette with sit up lousy back rest sofa seats around a table in the back. We live outside in good weather. This past week the weather has been below freezing on the road boondocking and the two of us could do as we pleased inside be it watch TV, read a book comfortably or work at a computer desk. I should also add we don't have to make choices in converting a space's use. If the spouse wants to lie down so be it. I can still sit up and read almost any way I want comfortably or work at the computer up front.

I suspect too we have more back and under bed storage than any Class B Sprinter rivaled only by a Winnebago ERA 70C. I have to admit that ERA 70C gave me the inspiration for the twin bed shoulder area shared high platform but easy to get in and out of with the notch. The articulation made it more versatile for multi-use. So, yes we can sleep 7 hours and spend another 5 hours or more reading and watching TV in that setup.

Bed position.



Articulated on the left as a zero gravity lounger.



Sitting at a drop down computer desk. A table could be set up as well with the two cab seats.



In between the two areas is a kitchen galley on the passenger side and a bathroom, pantry, refrigerator, microwave and wardrobe closet on the driver's side.

[Davydd]

Here is an early plan I drew that showed the modifications to their standard plan. Basically I redesigned the whole area from the rear wheel wells back and shortened the front wardrobe cabinet to get a drop down computer desk. With the computer desk stored away against the wall it gives more room around the driver's seat. I didn't have to modify much in between.

[markopolo]

I like the beds. I'm definitely a fan of beds that you can get out of easily.

What is under the beds? Storage? Tanks?

[wincrasher]

I'm sure everyone is interested in seeing the dedicated storage for 2 kayaks and a pizza oven that was talked about. Curious how you get that under bed considering the articulating mechanism and drives.

[tgregg]

I like the beds too! So much so that I am wondering if I can afford to replace the bed in our house with them. Any idea who made the mechanism or is it custom design by ARV?

Congratulations on getting the Class B you wanted.

[markopolo]

I see that Froli makes motion or articulated beds. It's not what Davydd used but it (or something similar) might be an easier retrofit.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

I'm sure everyone is interested in seeing the dedicated storage for 2 kayaks and a pizza oven that was talked about. Curious how you get that under bed considering the articulating mechanism and drives.

Here is the under bed storage. I haven't measured the clearance yet under the head board but it is deceiving because it rises up past the head board. The middle connecting portion of the bed has a height of about 24 inches. The Outback inverter is that box on the left. In the center is a strip door opening 16" wide by 17" high so we can service an enclosed cat litter box from inside the van or from the back and the cat can come and go. The depth of the bed mechanism is around 10" and there is also room to store things under the bed like pillows and blankets. We also have trap door access to about 4 or 5 inches above the wheel wells for miscellaneous storage.



These are the three "basement" or trunk storage areas. The battery bank is forward of the middle basement. Those are lift off lids you see.



This is a deep overhead storage area where we can keep long items like walking poles, tripods, folding chairs, fishing poles, paddles, etc.

[wincrasher]

Originally Posted by markopolo

I see that Froli makes motion or articulated beds. It's not what Davydd used but it (or something similar) might be an easier retrofit.

That is really cool. Wonder if you could retrofit that to a 59K?

[Davydd]

In Europe those articulated Froli beds and slat beds seem to be popular for home use. I researched just about everything available and drew up suggestions for an articulated slat bed design and gave to Advanced RV. I almost attempted to build my own from an Ikea bed to test it out. None are sold in the United States that I am aware of. When I first proposed the bed to Advanced RV, the bed mechanism we eventually settled on or I should say Advanced RV found did not even exist yet. It comes from a USA company better known for hospital bed mechanisms. ARV got two of them and rebuilt them because our beds are not standard sizes obviously in that the mattresses are only 26-1/2" wide. Last September we went to ARV to test a mockup to determine maximum bed height I desired at 29", clearance under the upper cabinets in flopping into bed, width, aisle space, etc.

[booster]

Is there a cargo net for the overhead storage in the rear?