many many moons ago, we toured OZ. The small Mazda 3000 had a rear kitchen with 2 small seats in the middle which formed the bed we HAD to make/break down every morning/night. It was a pita. Then we built our own campervan which had a fixed bed....luxury. Now we have a new to us Trafic lwb with a R n R bed and are wondering what to do sleeping wise. Is it going to be a topper and a double bag....mmmmm not too sure. Or the preferred option, topper/sheets/duvet....BUT we would still like to push the bed back up during the day. What do you do? Can we roll up the duvet sling it towards the back of the bed then fold the R n R bed in half leaving the sheet/topper on? or do they rip????
Personally, I dislike the restrictions of a sleeping bag and prefer to use a duvet instead.
I opted for a larger van, a MWB VW Crafter, so that I could have a drop down bed instead of a rock and roller, as I would find the need to set up and pack up the bed every night and morning PITA.
Personally, I would opt for sheets and blankets or duvets myself.
If you decide to opt for sleeping bags, I would strongly advise against getting a double as it can be very draughty!
Personal preferences and all that.
DK
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Some people recommend a Duvalay: different sizes & weights, info online.
We put our bed away daily, not a pita as our bed is a bench seat facing bench seat & they flip up on gas struts; all the bedding goes away underneath one side.
We have a mattress topper to protect the bench material, a king size duvet cover that we use like a sleeping bag (buttons side down under the pillows) & a duvet on top. We could use a sheet or fitted sheet instead of the duvet liner, but I need something over my knees when the dog steals the duvet off me.
We have always used 2 duvets, one thin, one thicker. We sleep on one and under the other, both with covers. The beauty of this is that we can use whichever duvet is most suitable for the weather on the top (thin in summer, thicker in winter) and if caught in really cold conditions can use one of the spare duvet covers we carry as a sheet and sleep under both duvets. It's also very quick to make the bed as all you have to do is shake out the bottom quilt and lay it on the bed then put the other on top of that, no fiddling with sheets. If you find the bottom duvet moves during the night tuck it down the sides of the mattress which secures it.
We've never bothered with a topper as they are too bulky and have found the beds comfortable enough as they are with a duvet on top.
The two duvets have been stored either behind the seat when it's in the seating position, the space under the bed or in the overcab space (they can often have more space than you think), depending on which space was the best in each individual van.
After some experiments I now have a wool topper, with a fitted cotton cover from Dunelm which works as a sheet. Duvet on top, and a bolster pillow. These roll up during the day and stash behind the seat. I have just fitted a net to the outer frame, to stop the roll falling out when the back door is opened: nasty incident with a puddle on one occasion last year!
As a solo camper, I have been able to make use of single 90cm standard widths: the 110cm bed width is harder to source. The wool topper is great for continental touring; I prefer it to memory foam, which felt damp at times.
we use 2 Duvalays and would never go back to sleeping bags,they have the same feel as a duvet but are joined at one side to the matress topper so do not slide off like the duvet can, they also roll up and held with the straps supplied and able to store under the beds.
We used a thin mattress cover inside a duvet cover for a base, and a normal duvet on top. Plus we each had a sheet to use as we wished, wrapped, tucked etc. With the old van/R&R bed, the back section was taken up with bikes, so the bedding travelled on the back seat.
Now we have a different layout, but still use the same basic set up.
We're new to all this, (Tent to campervan just before Xmas) and have the 112cm RIB Bed.
We opted to bung our double sleeping bag (already had it) in a fleecy duvet cover. That's on top of a 5cm bamboo topper inside a brush cotton small double duvet cover (this effectively being the "fitted bottom sheet".
All rolled up by day, and stored on "the parcel shelf" (effectively the top third of the bed), behind the bench seat, with boot storage below, accessible from the tailgate).
The roll is pretty much level with the seat top when in day/travel mode, thus maintaining good visibility out the tailgate window.
All working very well thus far, and we don't feel any of the fastened sleeping bag zips inside the duvet cover.
The sleeping bag fully splits in two, so once it warms up (after Easter?) we'll split it, and only use one half. We'll probably swap the fleecy duvet cover for something less wintery, whilst we're at it.
If at that point, we do feel any zips (now exposed) inside the duvet cover, we'll swap out the half sleeping bag for an actual (summer) duvet.
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Topic: Duvet or sleeping bags
via mobile 21/3/2025 at 10:13am
