Replacing twin beds with full/queen?

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scottydl

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Has anyone ever torn our their RV twin beds, and replaced them with a full/queen size setup?  So many of the motorhomes I'm seeing have twin beds in back, which I do NOT want... I want a full or queen for my wife and I.  But I hate for that to be a deal-breaker on an otherwise nice MH, and am interested in any conversion options.  My disclaimer is that I'm no carpenter, so building some sort of custom bedframe w/ storage, etc. is not really an option.  But I can tear stuff out!  ;D  So if it only means getting rid of the twin mattresses/frames and plopping something else in, I'm all for it.

Honestly I still can't figure out why twins are such a popular option.  It's like manufacturers think Donna Reed and husband will be the ones sleeping back there.  ::)
 
Wow, the whole time we looked for our motorhome never saw one with twins.  Saw a bunch with twins when we looked for our boat years back.  Try finding a woodworking contractor that might do extra work in your area and asking them about cost.
I do know that is you go to a place that works on motorhomes rehab it will be sky high.  We wanted to change out the smalll overhead tv in the front with a 32" and had to have some cabinet work done.  Est at a place that works on motorhomes 3 to 5 K, so we took the old tv out built a frame to mount the new tv on and moved the doors of the cabinets over couple of inches and filled in the space with the old frame on the tv and cost without the tv was about 100.00 buck +/- a few bucks. 
Good luck.
Cheryl
 
Yeah, having a conversion done "professionally" is not even a consideration for the cost reasons you mentioned.  Examples I've seen/heard of are (1) removing the twins and putting in a fold-out futon sideways (see this ElDorado on eBay), and (2) having the room set up like two twins, but there's some kind of flip-out mattress that covers the gap and actually makes a King.  Just wondered if/what something similar had been done by RVers here.
 
scottydl said:
Has anyone ever torn our their RV twin beds, and replaced them with a full/queen size setup?? So many of the motorhomes I'm seeing have twin beds in back, which I do NOT want...

When looking for my first MH about 10 years ago, I "did" come across a number of potentially workable rigs that had twin beds. In my hunt for my current MH over the past year, did not see one with twins. Do you suppose older units had more for some reason? Actually, at the time I was looking for twins -- and the plan was to remove one of them and make that my office desk area. That whole idea when south tho and have been using the dinette area of my RVs since then for an office.

Something you will want to look at is what is under the current beds. Water tanks and other stuff can be stowed there by the builder. My Tioga had the fresh water tank under the bed plus the focal point of all electric in the rig. That is also a concern if ripping out a dinette or other furniture to create an office space.

scottydl said:
Honestly I still can't figure out why twins are such a popular option.? It's like manufacturers think Donna Reed and husband will be the ones sleeping back there.? ?::)

Yep -- most old movies had twin beds. Movies today "are" a bit more liberal in conveying the real world. I recall a mattress commercial years ago that claimed, "It isn't the mad dash over that wears our the carpet between twin beds, but rather, the slow drag back". ;)
 
Scotty,

I have a 1998 Allegro Class A that has twin beds in the rear.  When I bought it back in the summer, I had the idea that I would convert the twins into a king size bed because I am 6' 5" tall and don't fit too well in a twin bed.  I have not tackled the project yet, but have an idea how I will do it.  First of all, my twin beds both have something under them, so they cannot be removed.  One side has the fresh water tank and the other side has flexible heater ducts and a fan under it.  My idea is to first remove the small bedside table that is between the beds at the very rear of the MH.  Then I will put two strips of 1"X2" boards on each twin bed box so that a piece of 3/4" plywood will fill in the gap between the beds.  I would also have to have a strip of foam matress made to the right size that would go on top of the plywood to fill in the matress gap.  The whole thing could still be removed easily to access the tank and storage areas under the twin beds  but would make one single bed that I believe would be about the size of a king bed (sleeping sideways across the back of the MH instead of front to back).  Anyway, that's my idea.  If I ever get around to finishing the project, I'll send you pictures of it.  I wouldn't let the twin beds stop you from buying a MH that is a good deal.  This could be an easy fix for it that you may be able to do yourself.  Good luck in your continued search for the right coach.

Dan
 
Thanks Dan, something like that is what I was thinking of... sounds workable.  And yeah I'd love to see the pics of the project, so get going.  lol  ;D
 
Dan    We've been married 52 years  -  I've never seen the bottom of that list yet.  >LOL
 
LOL Shayne, you beat me to it! I was going to ask if/how Dan saw light at the end of the tunnel.
 
Tom and Shyne,

Truth is, I'll probably have to sneak it in between HER items on the list!  We've been married for 35 years and you are right, the list just keeps getting longer. :eek: One salvation for me and that project, though, is that the last trip we made a couple of weeks ago, she said something about wishing the bed was bigger, so that may actually get put on my "Honey Do" list.  It would be great if it were her idea instead of mine. ::)

Dan
 
I've seen a lot of remodelling shows on tv where they put a mattress on a wider platform.  You could use Dan's plan and still sleep back to front rather than sideways, and you'd have a little extra space on each side that could be used to set things. 

Rather than having 1 mattress, if you keep it as 2, and if your added plywood is easily moved so it can be stacked under one of the twin mattresses, you can still have twins during the day so you can get into the room to easily access any overhead storage.

 
cuts_up said:
Rather than having 1 mattress, if you keep it as 2, and if your added plywood is easily moved so it can be stacked under one of the twin mattresses, you can still have twins during the day so you can get into the room to easily access any overhead storage.

Makes sense, a removable platform of sorts (kinda like many collapsable dinettes where the tabletop drops down and functions as a cushion mattress supporter).  Makes sense!  What material and how to do it would be my only other question(s).

Great ideas everyone, thanks for pitching in ideas.  Now get back to those chore lists!!  :)
 
Scotty -

This is off topic but I'm curious as to how the search is going. Every so often I'll come across a nice looking rig in your price range on ebay or craigslist (Seattle) and I think "Scotty might want to ck that out." Would you like to see them? I think you said you were open to the idea of hopping on a plane to pick up a MH if the deal was good enough.

Anyway - just checking in to see what's up and the status of the search.
 
chaajoad said:
Scotty -

This is off topic but I'm curious as to how the search is going. Every so often I'll come across a nice looking rig in your price range on ebay or craigslist (Seattle) and I think "Scotty might want to ck that out." Would you like to see them? I think you said you were open to the idea of hopping on a plane to pick up a MH if the deal was good enough.

Anyway - just checking in to see what's up and the status of the search.

Hey there, still looking... just waiting for the perfect rig.  ;)  For my price range (under $10k at this point), I'm not sure it would be worth it to fly anywhere.  At least I'm not there yet.  So my searching stays within a state of Illinois on all sides, which limits me but is fine for now.  I'll let you know if I'm in the mood for a jaunt to Seattle anytime in the future.  ;D
 
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