Twin bed or Standard King?

[JohnMalecki]

I am booked for pickup on Dec 16, 2020. It seems like a awhile but not really. I hope I can get down to Tenn at that time. I am Canadian and can't cross the border yet.

First trailer I purchased. currently have a class B Dodge Van RoadTrek. I dont think there is a better built trailer and look forward to 4 season camping, south in winter and US west coast and Canada in summer. Spending a lot of time on You Tube researching additional items to make life easier on the road. Air compressor, tools, water filters, ladder?

I am undecided about a compositing toilet, and more so that particular brand. I am kinda partial to C-Head for its simplicity. Any comments? Also I think I would like small window awnings on street side. What is available after market?

I am a single retired traveler,  base camp will be my farm 1 hour west of Toronto. Used to travel by water on a 36 sail boat. As a result I am familiar with fiberglass, shells, house batteries, water and waste tanks, A/C and heat, 12 volt frig and lighting, propane stoves and heat, etc. Now moving on land but will gravitate to the sea side.

Happy to join this thoughtful wise family and cant wait to take delivery and meet some of you on the road. 

john

 

[JohnMalecki]

I am leaning to the king with mattress up grade. I think I like the room. 30" single seems narrow especially since there is a curved corner at the head. I plan to stay in mine extensively. 

Whats been your experience?

[Ray and Susan Huff]

25 minutes ago, JohnMalecki said:

I am leaning to the king with mattress up grade. I think I like the room. 30" single seems narrow especially since there is a curved corner at the head. I plan to stay in mine extensively. 

Whats been your experience?

Our current RV has twin beds . . . . the same length as Oliver's, but 4" narrower.  I was concerned that they would be too narrow.  We then had the opportunity to see a twin Oliver in person and both of us felt they will be just fine - and my husband is over 6'.  

The only confining feature I could see is that the nightstand along with, as you mentioned, the curved corner, it would be tight for someone who likes to sleep on his back with this elbows out, hands behind head . . . . .  that would be my husband; I don't know how he can sleep like that!  Anyway, the remedy to that seems to be to sleep with your head toward the front (on the galley end of the bed).  Works for watching TV, too!

I was going to suggest you have Oliver find you a twin bed Oliver to tour, but if you are in Canada, that might not work.  Maybe make an outline of the beds on the floor and put a box in between them to simulate the nightstand.  It also helped me to look at pictures online of the interior with people in them.  I found this one of a person lying on the twin bed; you get a better feel for the size.  

What amazed me, when we saw the Oliver in person, was the amount of interior storage.  The overhead cabinets are much larger (deeper) than I had envisioned.  

[John E Davies]

11 hours ago, JohnMalecki said:

I am leaning to the king with mattress up grade. I think I like the room. 30" single seems narrow especially since there is a curved corner at the head. I plan to stay in mine extensively. 

A King lets you simply roll over to change position, you don’t even have to wake up... assuming there is not another person or a dog in the way. A Twin (it is really  a BUNK size) requires you to lift your body and shift it around without the roll. It may not seem like a big difference, but if you are a restless sleeper, you may find it very frustrating to keep waking up and you will quickly get tired of whacking body parts into hard objects. I tend to sleep for a very long time on my back and it doesn’t bother me very much. I am more bothered by changing temperatures as the hull cools. We very rarely run the furnace until morning. I have no regrets about not getting the King.

We both sleep with feet toward the back, it is much better. “Mouse” has the (discontinued) galley bulkhead option, designed to limit grease splatter onto the linens. It makes an admirable head rest. On the other side, the pantry serves that function. When your head is in that direction, the galley and pantry tops become easy to reach storage areas for glasses and phone.

I will let somebody else venture into the subject of beds and sex in an Ollie. I might get banned. I will however comment that the choice should be obvious, if this subject still matters to you.....

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited August 8, 2020 by John E Davies

[Overland]

No issues with the width of our twins. In fact now that we’ve switched to cushions from a mattress, I don’t even bother to remove the back cushions. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Overland

[Mike and Carol]

Welcome, John!  December will get here faster than you think, hope the weather and virus cooperates for your trip to TN.  We have the twin beds and have slept both ways over the years.  Right now we have our heads at the kitchen, it seems more open.  If you opt for the king and just leave it as a bed most of the time you still have the dinette.  The only drawback I can see is access to overhead storage in the back.  I think the king bed would be more comfortable, especially for one person (no climbing over your partner to get up) or if you are a big person.  Mike

[Jairon]

37 minutes ago, Overland said:

In fact now that we’ve switched to cushions from a mattress, I don’t even bother to remove the back cushions. 

Are you using the factory padding or something different? We're starting to seriously considering changing our order to the standard king layout; sleeping on benches with standard cushions and the table set up most of the time *seems* doable but I haven't seen anyone discuss this as being a workable solution 😬 The bench width is a little larger than our tent sleeping pads so I think I have some type of reference for what the sleeping experience will be like. If anyone does something similar, let me know!

[Overland]

We had our cushions made locally. The foam in them is a good bit stiffer than the factory, which is great for sitting but not so much for sleeping. I think something in between the two would be just right, so we’ll likely get the foam swapped out on the bottoms. We use sleeping bags rather than sheets, so the 24”+ width with the back cushions in place is just about right.  I think the same would be true for the king bench without the back cushions.

Some people do the cushions with a memory foam topper for sleeping; but for me, the thought of packing them up each day and finding a place to store them makes that not worth the trouble. 

We were tent campers before our Ollie, so a warm cabin and a nice foam cushion is luxury enough for us. 

As to the king vs the twins, I think the biggest difference is the nightstand, which we’d really miss. For us, the nightstand plus the versatility of our Lagun table is the perfect combo - it makes for a great lounge area in the day and coverts effortlessly to twin berths at night. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Overland

[TexasGuy]

Congrats John.   I hope all works out for your pickup!

I am in line for a May  delivery. As a single traveler as well I am curious what led you to Elite II over Elite I ? Thanks. 

[Jairon]

25 minutes ago, Overland said:

so the 24”+ width with the back cushions in place is just about right.

That is encouraging. We too are moving from tent camping so at this point everything seems like  a luxury 😁

27 minutes ago, Overland said:

As to the king vs the twins, I think the biggest difference is the nightstand, which we’d really miss. For us, the nightstand plus the versatility of our Lagun table is the perfect combo

Interesting. The night stand, while aesthetically pleasing, eats intothe seating around the table. With 2 younger kids, the extra space for a butt seems critical. We're still thinking that adding the lagoon mount to the king floor plan will allow us to ditch the table in the future should we decide it isn't as usable as we thought. Having the factory add the twin extensions is always something we could opt for later if our plans change. If anyone wants to point out flaws in my logic, please do! 😃

[HMD1056]

I have often wondered about the king standard arrangement and reaching the overhead storeage.  Would it be possible to have and use a standard or queen mattress in the back?  The remaining space could be used with cushions for seating or additional storage containers.  Not sure about a support underneath the mattress between the sides...what could or should be used?  Can the present table be easily cut down to accomodate a smaller mattress?

[Overland]

54 minutes ago, Jairon said:

The night stand, while aesthetically pleasing, eats intothe seating around the table. With 2 younger kids, the extra space for a butt seems critical. We're still thinking that adding the lagoon mount to the king floor plan will allow us to ditch the table in the future should we decide it isn't as usable as we thought. Having the factory add the twin extensions is always something we could opt for later if our plans change. If anyone wants to point out flaws in my logic, please do! 😃

Sounds like a plan.

[Overland]

41 minutes ago, HMD1056 said:

I have often wondered about the king standard arrangement and reaching the overhead storeage.  Would it be possible to have and use a standard or queen mattress in the back?  The remaining space could be used with cushions for seating or additional storage containers.  Not sure about a support underneath the mattress between the sides...what could or should be used?  Can the present table be easily cut down to accomodate a smaller mattress?

I want to say that someone has done exactly that, with a custom made mattress across the back, but I can't remember for sure.  Sounds familiar though.  You'd probably want a Lagun-type table top, or something that can use a single pedestal.  The fiber granite top can't really be cut down.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Overland

[SeaDawg]

1 hour ago, Overland said:

I want to say that someone has done exactly that, with a custom made mattress across the back, but I can't remember for sure.  Sounds familiar though.  You'd probably want a Lagun-type table top, or something that can use a single pedestal.  The fiber granite top can't really be cut down.

I think so, too, but I can't find a post. The closest thing I  could find was a post from over a year ago,  about the possibility of building a full or queen across the back, east/west, and adding storage. 

A solo camper friend of mine did something like that in a Casita, downsizing the full bed to a residential twin (39" wide), and adding storage in the remaining space. Left the little camper feeling more spacious, and a lot of extra drawers. Sorry, I don't have a photo.

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by SeaDawg

[WhatDa]

 

We went with the King layout, but only use a full 4" topper.  We probably would be fine with a Queen, but the Full is all we need, easier to move, and fits into the truck bed if we need to sleep there.  It lets us switch between day and night mode fairly easily, and the sheets are retained while folding (this photo was taken on laundry day).  They also have the 6" version of the mattress, but  we feel this is more than adequate on top of the cushions.  We got the 6" version of the case to make stuffing it in there easier.  This way we can put it in the truck bed, with sheets and even flat blanket if we have more than 4 people at the table.

You will ll note I guttted the rear cushion section to make room for this.  To sit at the head of the table, we use dinette cushions for the backrest. It also makes access to the basement from the top easier. If the table dropped like the Absolute Black trailer table, it'd be a 15 second conversion from day to night.

We currently sleep E-W, but could probably make it work to sleep with our head to the back as well.

[DavidS]

We spent time looking a various fiberglass trailers, and finally decided on an Oliver. We spent a long time deciding between the twin bed and the king bed configurations. Initially, we were planning on the king bed, primarily because the twin beds were only 30 inches wide, while a standard single bed is 39 inches wide. We later realized that a queen bed, which we sleep on at home, is 60 inches wide. Thus the 30 inch twin bed is exactly one half the width of the queen.

So we ordered the twins, and we are very happy we did. We did get the mattress upgrades, and we both sleep better in Ollie than we do at home. We do sleep with our heads at the rear, and the curve of the trailer has not been a problem for either of us. 

[Landrover]

The only problem I found sleeping with your head at the kitchen side being 6ft you have to bring your legs almost to the fetal position and swing out to prevent from getting your legs stuck at the night stand. Not a easy task with back injuries. 🤬 

[mossemi]

5 hours ago, HMD1056 said:

I have often wondered about the king standard arrangement and reaching the overhead storeage.  Would it be possible to have and use a standard or queen mattress in the back?  The remaining space could be used with cushions for seating or additional storage containers.  Not sure about a support underneath the mattress between the sides...what could or should be used?  Can the present table be easily cut down to accomodate a smaller mattress?

 

This solution is not quite what you are asking for, but it is an idea that Foy_Mirna custom built for another owner.  And I believe Mike and Carol built a version as well, but I can’t find it.
Mossey

 

[Ray and Susan Huff]

7 hours ago, DavidS said:

We spent time looking a various fiberglass trailers, and finally decided on an Oliver. We spent a long time deciding between the twin bed and the king bed configurations. Initially, we were planning on the king bed, primarily because the twin beds were only 30 inches wide, while a standard single bed is 39 inches wide. We later realized that a queen bed, which we sleep on at home, is 60 inches wide. Thus the 30 inch twin bed is exactly one half the width of the queen.

So we ordered the twins, and we are very happy we did. We did get the mattress upgrades, and we both sleep better in Ollie than we do at home. We do sleep with our heads at the rear, and the curve of the trailer has not been a problem for either of us. 

That's a good point - two Oliver Twins = one Queen.  We sleep on a Queen at home.  One disadvantage to the twins over the Queen is, I can't poke my husband when he snores . . . . . . 😀  But, he doesn't seem to snore as much when we are camping.

[Mike and Carol]

16 hours ago, Landrover said:

The only problem I found sleeping with your head at the kitchen side being 6ft you have to bring your legs almost to the fetal position and swing out to prevent from getting your legs stuck at the night stand. Not a easy task with back injuries. 🤬 

What works for me is to sit up scoot back then swing legs. 

[Mainiac]

On 8/7/2020 at 10:55 PM, JohnMalecki said:

am leaning to the king with mattress up grade. I think I like the room. 30" single seems narrow especially since there is a curved corner at the head. I plan to stay in mine extensively. 

We went with the king. We also went with a 6" mattress upgrade though I am not sure they still offer it. When traveling alone, and booking cross country without a time table, we have a tendency to go until the eyes or mouth says time to stop. By not unhooking we are able to lay whatever direction seems maybe a little head high. We use sleeping bags so the switch in direction is easy. When the two of us are traveling the king is also usually always set up as a bed. We have found the cabinets over the bed are not a problem. Guess it just depends on what we keep in there. When we want the table it is maybe a 5 minute setup. And during a rainy weekend we have had 6 of sitting around the table. There certainly wasn't any room in their SOB (Some other brands). The head is towards the bow (front) as maybe we might doze off while watching a dvd. 

 

[JohnMalecki]

Thank you all for the input. I am 'that' kind of sleeper, on back, elbows out or above my head and wish to roll over without repositioning. That made up my mind to go with the std king layout. However i like the idea of a queen across the back, sleep E-W and have two seats at the galley/pantry end of the bed. That would require a custom mattress (I think) and a partial centre support (ie: half the table.) I will have to speak with Oliver before I finalize the options.

Thanks again, John

[AndrewK]

John,

I don't know if you saw this on another post.

I too needed the elbow room and started with the standard floor plan.  We ended up not liking it and came up with what we call a modified twin.

Works great for us.

(Before and After Pictures)

Andrew

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by AndrewK

[Starshine]

 

So glad the forum is still discussing this topic. The decision on twin or standard has been a major one for us. So far we are leaning towards the standard for 4 reasons:

1. Although we do not travel often with them, we want the ability to take our 2 boxers with us. The wider sleeping area may accommodate 2 big dogs.

2. It has the additional benefit of having more floor space. You do have the  anchors for the table on the floor but maybe a rug will hide when not used.

3. There is more seating area for family and friends when visiting.

4. We need a larger table as a dedicated work area for 2 computers, books and folders. 

5. Reaching the upper cabinets has pros and cons for either pick. The standard seats I believe are narrower so I can get closer to the cabinets. However the standard table is larger when in use so it will be harder to access the cabinets. We plan on putting non essential items in those cabinets.

Saying all of the above, I do like the open look of the twin and not having to change the setup.  I will be grateful for either one. The Oliver is a beautiful travel trailer! Thanks for all the info.

Audrey

 

[GraniteStaters]

John, we have the same issue you do in reverse and haven’t been able to go to our summer home in PEI.  I suspect the border will be open just before you travel to TN as way to encourage tourism to Canada next year.  Maybe there is an option for quarantine to allow this necessary or essential trip.  Good luck.  
 

David