New To the forum

[TheJH]

Hello All. I'm John, and I'm new to the forum.   I do not have a travel trailer yet but seriously considering the the Legacy Elite II.  My wife and I live on a small farm in the Sandhills of North Carolina with our two sons, ages 4 and 5.  We are former tent campers but haven't' gone camping since having children.  We are interested in getting a molded fiberglass travel trailer and the Oliver seems to be at the top of the list. We hope to purchase/order next year so we have time to do our research.  One question I have is anyone using their Oliver to sleep 4?  Has anyone made any mods like a bunk bed? We are a close family and the king size bed and dinette converted to twin bed will be fine for now, but. the boys are only 4 and 5 and I'm sure in a few years they will want their own bed.

[Mike and Carol]

John, welcome to the forum.  I don't recall seeing any mention of bunk beds by anyone.  I do think it would be a good option for Oliver to consider, it would provide options for family camping like you want to do.

 

Ask lots of questions.  We're a friendly group.

 

Mike

[SeaDawg]

Welcome to the forum, John. I know of no one who has created bunks, yet.

Sherry

[rideandfly]

John, Welcome!

 

We have been thinking about taking our Grandchildren camping, ages 5 & 7. The 7 year old will sleep in the dinette/bed. Will cut out short foam mattress and place in the floor between both twin beds during the night for the 5 year old child.  This will leave room to step off the end of the beds, when needed with the mattress between the twin beds. Our Daughter and Husband will eventually buy a camper, so when the Kids are older, they will stay with Mom & Dad.

[TheJH]

Thanks for all the replys. I was not even thinking the twin bed option. Just assumed I would get the king bed.  Certainly given me something to think about.   If we were to go with the king bed, is there enough room between the stove and the dinette bed for a small cot and still scootch by to the bathroom?

 

Buzzy, no cows. We live on a 12 acre "pleasure farm" in the middle of a long leaf pine Forrest in the Sandhills of NC.  We are just minutes away from Pinehurst (golf mecca). I work a 40 hour a week from home IT job.  We have 3 horses, 3 dogs, 2 barn cats, 30 something chickens and bees.  I'll try and post some pics when I can.

[TheJH]

11

[Try2Relax]

A couple of things to consider. The twin bed comes with the night stand between them, the king bed does not have the night stand, thus is a full length area, place a mattress topper down and wire a switchable light and most boys up to early teens would be fine here, in their "sleep cave" while the other is on the dinette.  This way the path to the bathroom is not blocked.

 

With any bunk situation, the AC is fairly strong across that height level in the trailer.

 

Once the kids are old enough you can consider using the following option.

 

http://newatlas.com/sheltapod-camping-awning/45147/pictures

[topgun2]

John -

 

You might want to PM Hardrock (Coy) as I believe that he was investigating this issue of bunk beds.  Also, a call to the factory might be in order in that there was some discussion on this topic with the factory way back in 2008 (do a "search" on bunkbeds here on the Forum).

 

Good luck!

 

Bill

[TheJH]

We are a hammock family so the idea of a hammock option is appealing.  I wonder if it would not be so hard to add some hammock anchor points over the dinette.  I would assume some reinforcement of the fiberglass would be in order and possible a low weight limit.

[Overland]

I doubt if either the pantry or bath wall would be strong enough for a hammock.

 

The simplest solution would be to build a frame out of 80/20.  I'm thinking something like a crate - two 4-piece platforms and a leg/riser at each corner connecting them.  Probably all out of 1" x 2" pieces - it's strong stuff.  12 pieces total.  You could use plywood or, if you want to be fancy, honeycomb panels for the mattress platforms.  You might want one 1x1 mid brace for each platform.  If you really got into it, then you could do multiple cross braces and then set the platforms into the frames so that you end up with a 1" lip all around to hold a mattress pad in place.  You'd have to measure carefully to account for the angled outside wall, radiused corners, etc.  Set the frame across the dinette seats, fasten in a few good points to keep it from moving during transport, and you're done - though I'd probably want to bolt it through the seat bottoms to make sure that it doesn't tip when climbing into the top bunk.  You might build a ladder out of 1" x 1" extrusion and attach it to the face of the frame.  Their standard corner connectors would probably provide plenty of rigidity, but if you want to be super safe, then they have diagonal corner braces too that would guarantee that it doesn't rack.  The whole thing would make for a nice storage platform even if you don't need bunks.

 

The only drawbacks would be cost, since there would be a lot of connectors, and maybe weight - those extrusions are pretty stout.  But I've built stuff out of it before and it's super easy to work with and incredibly sturdy.  You can cut it with a miter saw and it all goes together like an erector set.  Slam dunk.  Go for it.

 

edit - like so:

 

[Overland]

By the way, here's a link to 80/20's website if you aren't familiar with it - https://8020.net

 

They run an eBay store where you can get small quantities at a discount, overruns and the like - http://stores.ebay.com/8020-Inc-Garage-Sale

 

Here's a roof rack that I built a few years ago to hold Hardigg cases - it's way overbuilt but I wanted the depth to lock the cases in place -