Ned Newguy wants opinions!

[JayBea]

Hi all, This is my first post and I first must say how much I've learned in my first year of lurking, thanks. This is also the best moderated forum I've yet seen.

Well, I've taken the plunge and placed a deposit with Sportsmobile, Texas for an EB Sprinter, 170"WB, High roof, brilliant silver metalic. Now to fine tune my design. I will gladly share details as I go along; but for now, one major concern.

I desire to build in a platform bed, 75 in. long, in order to store bicycles inside, underneath the platform. In order to store the bikes without lowering the saddles the platform needs to be 40" above the floor. Now, the wife and I are still very agile in our 60's but we are looking at crawling into a 32" tall space above a 6" mattress.

So there is my issue. Does anyone out there with a similar platform care to share their experiances?

Thanks again...

[bratworst]

A Bunk Ladder

[windguy]

congrats on your first post and your new Sprinter. most excellent

for your platform bed, do you plan to sleep sideways, across the van?
how tall are you?

for your bike, when you say "saddle", that means seat, right?
wouldn't it be really easy and quick to lower the seat after use and raise before using?
Seems it would be better to do that and gain the extra head room for sleeping.
you will spend more time sleeping than riding your bike each day, right?

[WVvan]

Whenever I transport my bike I always remove the seat (saddle) along with the post since I carry the bike on the outside and I have a tool bag that hangs under the seat. I've found that after you do it enough times it's no big deal to get the seat back on and in the correct position. Easier still if you're only talking about lowering and raising it. My $.02.

[dhally]

How long are you planning to have the van and how flexible will you be then? There is a reason why they make walk-around beds in RV's.... We are 56, our bed is 18" above the floor, and it's still an interesting exercise to get in and out of bed considering my reconstructed knee.

[Ford_6L_E350]

Sounds easier than crawling up to the penthouse bed.

We are in our mid 60's and use the penthouse bed most of the time. Having cabinet that can be used as an intermediate step is very handy.

Mike

[GG7]

For me the ability to sit up in bed is important, and I would limit the ht. of the platform bed accordingly.

Glenn

[JayBea]

Thanks everyone for the opinions! I am currently building a mock up over a bed out of cardboard. I don't want to leave anything to chance.