Bed extended?

[Squatch]

Does anyone tavel with the pull out bed extended? Off road?
Storage can be tight in these campers. It occured to me the other day that it would be possible to travel with the bed extended so the cushions wouldn't need to be stored underneath. I was wondering if this might cause any problems I wasn't aware of.

 

[NorCalSteve]

I travel with my bed extended on occasion. Since I have a 2WD pickup, I am not sure I can answer for off road. Although, lots of washboard roads. When the camper was delivered, the bed was extended and the table was stored in that area. I don't travel with the extra bed pads since it is just me so that space comes in handy.

Steve

 

[Cayuse]

I leave mine extended to the queen size (one extra cushion, sleep east-west) full time. Haven't had any issues with traveling off road with it that way. I don't go to the north-south configuration because on mine you can't use the stove when the bed is extended to the king size, someday maybe I'll tackle swapping the sink and stove.

 

[pods8]

Review your lighting in relation to it. IIRC someone did that in the past with an incandescent fixture and it got switched on while jammed against the bedding and it either melted some stuff or actually started a fire, I can't recall the specifics off hand. I wouldn't forsee that with LEDs though. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[DesertDave]

I only 'un-extend' the bed on mine to lift the top, so I can get directly under the liftbar. Otherwise it is extended, in use, in travel, in storage. With my current layout there is no need to shrink the bed, even with two people at the dinette. If I brought in two more guests that would be something else entirely.

I had forgotten about storing the cushions and blocking the stove - that was the situation with my old 1997 FWC. This thread reminded me of yet another thing I like about my new one ;-)

 

[takesiteasy]

Our bed is always extended with the bedding on. The only issue we have had is the smoke detector beeping when the top is down in warm weather. We solved that by removing it when we are traveling. We have LED lights so Pods issue isn't a problem but I can see it being possible with incandescent fixtures.

 

[Squatch]

Thanks for the replies and info folks. I'll have a million of these questions in the next while as I set up and prep our new Eagle shell.

I hadn't thought about the lights. But the easy fix is just to turn off the main switch. On my Eagle that's right inside the back door.

 

[Lighthawk]

I'll play devils advocate. I removed the slide out and don't carry the extra cushions. On our Hawk that leaves a 48 x 78 bed, which fits the two of us comfortably.

I converted the slide out support next to the wall cabinet into a 24" long shelf where we park our laptop and phones. I have two twin USB outlets mounted in the side of the wall cabinet. The other benefit of leaving the bed the same size is we can keep the bed made up all the time.

 

[Squatch]

For us in an Eagle the east west would be snug. I'm a big boy and even though Mama Squatch is tiny she sleeps like a star fish. LOL

I don't think I'll need the mini office. I'm doing my best to be a Luddite these days.

I do love reading and hearing about all the various ways people outfit and use their campers.

 

[craig333]

Because of the width of the memory foam mattress I got I leave mine partway extended all the time. No issues so far.

 

[BillM]

We only used the stock pads for one trip (too hard) and then replaced them with a one piece foam pad. We leave the bed extended and made while traveling and have had no problems. After we pop up we flip the matress forward and slide in the bed extension to give us more room until bedtime. Last year I even added 6 inches of extension so that we wouldn't feel cramped at night.

 

[M1010 Mike]

Ours is extended 100% of the time. I have bounced the stuff out of the sink cabnet and the cutting board off the sink and no issues with the bed being extended. I do have LED lights but never have had an issue with them getting bumped on.

 

[100acrehuphalump]

I think I will have to keep it extended as I must sleep diagonally to fit. If I ever switch the sink and stove, then I will make a king slide out. I'm 84" tall.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

I bought the camper that had the "lights click on offroad" damage... The story goes : traveling off road with the bed left made, clicked the light on and caused a very unfortunate situation...
It was Jay (chnlisle) who had the unfortunate off road fire... It burned two nice holes in the canvas... I think that's why Jay gave me such a ripper deal on that old Ranger! Loved that camper..we still travelled with the slide out after that.. Just always had a piece of black tape keeping the light off... New camper has fluorescents, and the switch is different..no problema!
We travel with the slide out extended and keep all of our bedding and towels in the extra area... Super handy!

TT