Tomb1269 wrote:...may just stick to a double high air mattress.
This was my first thought, and I actually bought one and set it up in the trailer. We first setup length wise in the trailer, and then across the back of the trailer. Several issues with the double high mattress:
1. The fill hole would not allow me to deflate the mattress using the pump. Using the pump is faster (especially with such a large mattress) and removes ALL air, making for smaller storage needs. I had zero interest in rolling around on top of the mattress trying to get all the air out each day.
2. The air mattress takes up all the floor space, so everything in the trailer had to moved outside during the night. This was mitigated to some degree when we put the double high mattress across the back, but we still didn't have enough floor space for stuff we had brought along with us. Since we didn't want some of the items wet, coupled with the risk of theft during the night, putting things outside just wasn't a viable option. I have a 30 foot cable and lock for the generator, spare tire, motorcycle ramp and gas can, but there's still a lot in the trailer I needed to deal with. We could have moved the bed closer to the kitchen and put stuff between the mattress and back door, but this eliminated all the room for moving around while my wife was cooking breakfast, so tossed that idea as well.
3. We tried the mattress length wise, and even with the 7 foot wide trailer, getting out of the bed on each side was no simple task, as there just isn't enough room. Hey, we are older, so have to get out of bed in the middle of the night to take care of some business, and we thought getting out of bed on the sides would be a cool idea. No dice, as we ended up falling back in bed trying to thread the needle along the edge while walking.
The lack of storage space is the number one reason I moved up the timeline to design a folding bed system. With our folding bed, we have lots of room under the bed for storage during the evening, and the air mattress, 1 inch memory foam topper, mattress pad and sheet all fold up nicely in the 5 inch space, even though I have to fold one end of the mattress and the other end of the memory foam so they are short enough to fit the folding bed storage area.
We use three GOOD fleece blankets, and these get folded in the morning and stored in the cabinet above the fridge. The bed legs go in front of the blankets, and the two pillows stand on the edge in front of everything. The door closes next to the pillows, which gets all the bedding material stored behind a door of some kind during the day or while traveling.
The one thing I have learned since finishing our trailer is that every MUST be organized and have a place. After last weekend, storing bedding material was organized as described above, and the items in the large plastic bins under the counter were organized based upon frequency of use, with less frequent items in the bins in the back corner.
I also organized the upper cabinets. For example, we access the sugar container more often than the coffee container, so sugar goes in front of coffee. This all sounds very logical, but if you don't plan it all out with a lot of thought, you will live in clutter while camping. I also added coat hooks under the window on one side, as coats, purses and keys didn't have a convenient place. Same for the two coat hooks high on the wall above the toilet, as our towels didn't have a place to dry after use.
Good luck on your bed design. The double high mattress will work if you don't mind the trade off with storage. Just wanted to give you our experience trying to use a double high mattress before you make the purchase.
by Tomb1269 » Mon Apr 27, 2015 1:01 pm 
