uneven bed in Leisure Travel

[jword]

Hey all! We picked up our new-to-us 1998 Leisure Travel van on Friday and took our inaugural trip (driving daughter back to uni) over the weekend. Noticed that the couch that folds to a bed has two separate sections with the back (couch) being a teensy bit higher than the seat. We put a 3" piece of memory foam over but still found that the "outside" person kept falling into the "inside" person.

Anyone else have this issue? How did you solve it?
After reading through some of the mods in that section, saw someone used higher density foam and THEN memory foam. Would this level out the playing field so-to-speak? or would we be better trying to add height to the seat side of the bed/couch.

Fwiw, we don't need to fold the bed into a couch so any mods can be permanent.

ciao for now ... Jen

ps SO excited to be on this new adventure and thrilled to have found this forum!!

[RSchleder]

We have found the same situation with our 2012 winnebago ERA. We have decided to remove the rear couch/bed and store it. I plan on building/installing 2 permanent beds using a nice "clear" plywood base stained to match the cabinets with metal legs ( made from galvanized pipe, painted gloss black) which all will be nicely finished. The beds will each have a custom made mattress which will be approximately 32" wideX 6'6" long with storage under them. We will NOT be drilling into any cabinets or trim as we want to be able to offer with the OEM configuration (with coach/bed) or the custom made beds went it comes time to sell the unit in the future. I may also put a "bridge" between the beds about 24" in length which can be raised up as it will be attached at one side with a piano hinge.We will use a piece of firm foam rubber covered with a accenting fabric to fit on top of this piece which will be the same thickness as the custom mattresses. Hope this gives you some ideas on making your class B a little more livable/sleep-able. Best of luck! Ron

[markopolo]

Welcome to the forum! I think there are good number of Leisure Travel van owners here.

I recently looked at a 2000 regular body Leisure Travel van and tested the power sofa. It was pretty much perfectly flat but it hardly looked used at all. You must have a Wide Body model and sleep across the rear. I'd really inspect the sofa mechanism to make sure there is nothing bent or blocking the back of the sofa and preventing it from getting all the way to horizontal. It sounds to me like it is on a bit of a tilt and if it is tilted then that is what you need to solve because I think the tilt would transmit through layers of additional foam.

I had a futon sofa at home that would not open completely flat and guests complained that they rolled into each other. I solved that but raising the sofa mechanism enter mounting points by about 1" and that eliminated the tilt. I don't know if that idea will apply to your van.

Ron's idea of removing and storing the sofa and opting for a permanent bed would probably give you lots of new additional storage underneath.

[jword]

wow! y'all are fast!

Ron, yes I've actually thought of that. Having had the van less than a week though, I'm a little reluctant to start hauling stuff out. But. If it can't be rectified and getting a good night's sleep is at risk then we'll do what needs to be done!

Mark, yes, we have the Wide Body. I've looked underneath and it doesn't seem to be tilted in any way. I *think* it's that the back is a bit more stuffed than the seat ... convex vs concave... plus the gap where the seat belts come through of course, accentuating the problem.

I've put a bed pad on just the seat side and we're going to try it out tonight. Full moon watching!

Any other Leisure Travel van owner's I'd love to hear you chime in!

ciao for now ... Jen

[rbrtwareham]

I AM on my 2nd Leisure Travel van. 91 and 2002 Freedom 2 wide body. I have not had that problem with either. I do however, use 3in of memory foam for extra comfort. I don't use the bed as a seat, so it stays made as a bed.

[jword]

Originally Posted by rbrtwareham

I AM on my 2nd Leisure Travel van. 91 and 2002 Freedom 2 wide body. I have not had that problem with either. I do however, use 3in of memory foam for extra comfort. I don't use the bed as a seat, so it stays made as a bed.

Thanks for jumping in! It could be just us getting used to it though the back part of the seat is definitely more overstuffed than the seat part. We did try it with the extra mat just on the seat-side but there was still a decided list to center. We'll keep on using as is but prior to our intended (looonggg) North American trip I suspect we may attempt taking out the couch and replacing with a plywood bed-base. Costco has some pretty sweet deals on double 8"foam mattresses.

And as complete newbs to this whole camping a la turtle, gotta say we are pretty stoked about the ease of just goin' with the flow.
Thanks again for the input folks!

[slipbobber]

We have the same van! Love it.

The couch is a little different than most. It articulates. If you notice when it is only about 1/4th down the front edge of the couch rises up a little. Sort of like a recliner. I really use this a lot to watch TV in the evening. We sleep north and south, heads by the back door. Even with the 2" memory foam the bed can be raised a little for comfortable TV viewing. One of the features that we were looking for when we bought it (after looking for 4 months) was to sleep so that we did not have to crawl over each other to get out of bed. I thought that whatever we bought I would replace the couch with a permanent bed. after 8 months I am glad I didn't.

Forgot to ask, is yours a 4 seater or a 2 seater?

[booster]

We did the full time bed in our 07 Roadtrek 190 Popular, not because of comfort as much as getting the extra storage space underneath. The power sofa ate all of it up.

If you build your own, and want the area full and clear, and still strong without bowing, it takes a bit of "engineering" to keep the weight reasonable. It is very, very easy to double the weight of power sofa. Of course if you leave the center clear, like an aisle, it gets much easier. Here is a link the shows our setup:

http://classbforum.com/phpBB2/viewto...&t=2414#p13291

And another showing the access doors:

http://classbforum.com/phpBB2/viewto...&t=2414#p13300

A few more details here:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...3.cfm#23560903

We have a one piece custom latex marine mattress that covers the main, rectangular area, and separate ones that go on the bolsters, where only our feet are.

We really like the whole setup. Huge space gain, super comfortable bed, just about broke even on weight. I used lightweight plywood in a single 3/4 layer, thin wall steel tubing welded together, and a .093 thick reinforcing "stop" at the rear, so the underneath would be clear to the hinged with nothing under the plywood.

[jword]

slipbobber: our's is a 4-seater. weren't really looking for one but there ya go! I doubt we'd be able to sleep north/south ... we're short but not quite that short! I'm still not prepared to do any major mods until we've really gotten the gist of how we'll use everything (renovated enough houses!) and maybe we'll end up being able to address/get used to the subtle changes in the couch below. Thanks for your input!

booster: wow! slick very very slick! I'm such a newbie hadn't even thought about the weight implications of switching out tubular metal w/plywood. Thanks for the heads up. I was pretty convinced that we would eventually pull out the couch and replace w/a full-time bed but then have read enough other's hints/tips about how that back section was really welcome as an additional living space so might not be quite as quick to do so. As yet, our storage needs are well met with all the nooks and crannies but know that if we DO go on our round North America adventure, we may be faced with needing more.

Again, so thrilled with this forum and everyone's generosity to share and chime in. Thanks folks!!