Have any couples or solo caravanners decided to go back to a 'make it up every night' layout after trying a fixed bed? The fixed bed is lovely and so easy but at a space cost to living/kitchen/shower room space.
Cheers!
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
No lol, we've had lots of vans that we had to make the bed up every night, when DS stopped coming we treated ourselves to a fixed bed, can honestly say we won't ever go back, I personally don't see that we've lost much day space at all, infact I think we've gained, as our previous vans had the dinette at the back, so the cupboards and loo were in the middle, making the van feel like a corridor, now we have a fixed bed, it gives the feeling of more light and airy.
I won't be changing back, I love laying in bed, knowing I haven't got to put it back to seats.
------------- "I'm a fool for my dogs"
Adopt a rescue, rescue dogs make great pets, don't support puppy farms.
The road can be tough and rough,but what you put in you get back 10 x more.
On the basis that I spend 8 hours a day in bed I prefer to be comfortable and therefore I prefer a fixed double with a proper mattress. Even in my old caravan which was a double dinette I left the bed made up most of the time. Everyone has their preferences and what I or others prefer should not really have a lot of influence on your preferences.
------------- 'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'
We have had vans that we had to make the bed up every night, was a bit tedious at times, and have to admit that alot of the time we never bothered, ended up sleeping on the seats, lucky for us we had 2 single sleeping bags that zipped together when needed as a double. We recently sold our 4 berth sterling to go back to a 2 berth as its just us 2 but when we were travelling around looking for 2 berth, we came across the new 4 berth fixed bed that we have now. I just fell in love with it straight away and after a 'few' days thinking about it, I rang the dealer and said put our name on it. The only thing that OH had to do was buy a new car as the old car wouldn't have pulled it, he was chuffed about that as he had got bored with the other car anyway.
So its fixed bed for us. And can't say I have noticed less space, we still have big end bathroom with shower cubicle, enough kitchen and seating space.seems to have more storage and more space. We do spend alot of time sitting in awning or outside(weather permitting)
Moved to a fixed bed van this year and never again will we go back to having to make up a bed again.
It is so much easier, and much more comfortable!!
And to be honest we haven't noticed we've really lost that much space.
We have just swapped back from a fixed bed because we have a baby on the way and the layout didn't suit us any more, we now need a big bathroom, lots of workspace and a side dinette/bed for the baby as they are now more beneficial to us than having a full size mattress taking up space 24 hours a day yet only being used for 8.
I always said I wouldn't switch back and was dreading having to make it up again but it really does take 5 minutes and that's if we're dawdling, once up the bed is much bigger than the fixed one which is very handy because we have dogs who curl up on it too.
I'd say the downside is that we lie in longer, I used to get up earlier and sit at the front of the van but now we lie in watching telly.
My parents also switched to an island bed, hated it, lasted one holiday and have gone back to making the beds up, the sacrifice of having a small bathroom and/or tiny worktop space wasn't worth it for them.
I don't think there's the 'perfect' caravan for anyone, they all have compromises in some department so you need to decide which one is the lesser compromise to suit your needs.
I always said I would never have one.
But we have now I love it.
The only thing I find is we are to getting any younger and it's a bigger van than we like .so towing cleaning etc is to going to be as easy . Everything else I love. It's so comfortable.
Thanks all for your comments, much appreciated. I LOVED my Avante 544 fixed bed van but (sad story) I no longer have it. My initial reaction was to replace it with pretty much the same van again but there's a part of me that thinks perhaps it would be a good idea to get something totally different and have a complete fresh start. I know, sounds mad!
------------- Tackling life the Western District way
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Topic: Fixed bed ... or not?
fixed bed for us too, the van is a bit longer perhaps to accomodate it, but I find it is well worth it for the comfort & convenience.
