Our major stumbling block in going for a caravan is going to be the length of the bench seating.
I am 6' 4" and the wife is 6' 2". We don't want a fixed bed nor do we want to make up a double bed. We want to have the parallel bench seats as two single beds and any other option will not be considered.
At the moment we have a 6 berth Folding Camper as this unit gives us two, permanently made up double beds and we use one each. However I can see a time coming when we will have to consider a caravan, for health reasons, and I am wondering if anyone on here knows of a make and model of caravan that would give us the necessary 6' 6" parallel bench seats that we fancy.
We are both tall and struggled, the longest we could find was 6'3 but that was awhile ago, seems internally caravans have got higher, for us taller folk, but when it comes to sleeping not advanced much yet.
We had to succumb in the end and make the big bed up, or sleep like a banana.
Hope you can find something :)
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Quote: Originally posted by madasaman on 19/6/2012
There are a few vans out there with twin beds, Swift challenger sport 564 is one.
Thanks for that. I have had a look but their 2 single beds are still far too short.
I guess that caravan manufacturers are unaware of the trend that bed manufacturers are following and making different bed lengths to suit all heights of people.
There is nothing worse than having to waken your partner just so that you can climb over them to get in and out of bed through the night, which is why we prefer single beds.
I wonder what proportion of the British Public who are above 6 foot and would like to enjoy the pleasures of caravanning but cannot because no one has thought to make a van with a decent bed length.
Considering that we all spend more time in bed than doing any other single activity, I am at a loss to understand why caravan manufacturers have not given this more thought.
Mass produced caravans are built for the majority of customers, as the average UK male is 5ft9" it would not make commercial sense for UK makers to reduce storage space to produce bed lengths that would not be needed by the majority of buyers.
The average German male is 5ft11 1/2", which will explain why German caravans often have longer beds....
Quote: Originally posted by Tentz on 19/6/2012
Mass produced caravans are built for the majority of customers, as the average UK male is 5ft9" it would not make commercial sense for UK makers to reduce storage space to produce bed lengths that would not be needed by the majority of buyers.
The average German male is 5ft11 1/2", which will explain why German caravans often have longer beds....
I don't understand why adding 6 inches to a bed length would "reduce storage space".
Our last van pictured below had one single bed at 6' 6" and the other at 6' 3". Your not going to tell me that other caravan manufacturers could not do the same to vans 2 and 3 times the length of that!
Any vans that we have looked at, come in a multitude of layouts, yet not one single manufacturer has given any thought to the taller individual.
It seems a bit perverse in the current climate of firms struggling to survive, that any group of manufacturers would deliberately ignore such a potentail market.
I'm 6ft 2" & I just make sure I have a caravan with a bed layout that does not have a bulkhead at the end of the bed so my feet can stretch over the end if I want. Most caravan fixed beds are 1.9mtres, just under 6ft 3".
Larger 'vans with beds made up from dinette at one or both end often have a bed length across 'van of 7ft so might be a better bet.
I have no idea why UK manufacturers don't make longer single beds but it is about the art of the possible & fact is there are caravans with single beds of 2mtres which is nearly 6ft 7", the twin bed layout is more popular in Germany than UK.
Both Hymer & Fendt list twin bed models with beds 2mtres long. here for example which answers your question in your op at least.
Try the L shaped lounge layout. The sterling eccles emerald would work feet to feet. . OH at 6' 4" can use either side. The width give you 6' 10 but the specifications only give you 2 bed lengths of 6' 3" The dinette bunks can be forgotten they don't even hit 6ft. Definitely no climbing over each other. The other reason for an L shape. Is feet size as in size 13s. two people sitting opposite each other have to sit offset due to the width in-between parallel sitting. No problem with L shaped.
Can you believe having to choose a caravan based on what size shoes the family take
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------------- Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
We've got an L shaped lounge so that our son and a friend can sleep on them without us making up a bed. Theyre nowhere near 6 ft but they have loads of (growing) room, and it gives us a great space during the day. There's normally only 3 of us plus the dog but our 'van is more spacious that our friends who have parallel seating. In fact, they now want to change to an L shaped lounge.
My Hymer Nova 470 ( 2 berth with an end bathroom ) has two front benches that are 6' 7" ) long. Best van I have ever had, and with headroom of 6' 6" along all it length it would do your job nicely.
------------- Bill
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Topic: 6` 6" parallel bench seats?
