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Old 07-11-2017, 08:22 PM   #1
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What would you like different about your penthouse bed?

So, as I am in the middle of my home build, I am trying to improve on some of the sportsmobile experiences. The big one for me now is the bed. Mine came with the one piece, but I would love to hear what people think about it and if they would like something different. Also, this is for a RB50 layout.

So, some questions for those who have been lucky enough to sleeping/using a penthouse bed for a while:

1. If you have one, do you like your 1 piece bed?
2. If you have one, do you like your 3 piece bed?
3. My bed platform is 67" long, do you wish yours was longer?
4. Noticed the padding is very thin, did you do anything about this? How did you get it to fit under the closed roof?
5. DO you like how it is hanging from the roof? Do you always raise and lower the roof with the bed attached? How do you get the bed to come down in the right spot without guiding it on the way down?

I go back and forth on what I want out of the bed. I really like the head space when standing up. But I find how it is attached to the roof cumbersome. Thinking a 3 piece gives a lot of flexibility, but could also be more annoying when moving it for headspace. How are hte 3 pieces kept from sliding apart while you sleep?

Basically, any comments you have on anything to do with SMB beds, I'd love to hear!

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Old 07-11-2017, 10:30 PM   #2
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Mine was a 3 piece and the pieces were pretty easy to stand at the back when we needed them out of the way but I got to thinking about how there was dead space above so I fused the forward two with aluminum angle and hung mine the way SMB does. I really liked it as a 2 piece with the big piece hung up out of the way but the problem was that it's too heavy to do lift with the PH. I had to raise the PH and then push it up and hang it from either end.
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Old 07-11-2017, 10:40 PM   #3
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re3: we often wanted a bit more length. Our solutions was to pull the bed out from the back about 6inches. This provided the extra length and also allowed more heat from our rear furnace to flow up.

re5: we always attached it but have had it fall on particularly bumpy roads. As a result we often left a pillow up there to stop it bouncing off the rails. Extra padding would have done that trick nicely. I had considered upgrading the 3 loop connectors but hadn't decided on what I wanted yet.
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Old 07-12-2017, 12:43 AM   #4
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I have a walkthrough layout with the 1 piece bed, I really like being able to just put the while bed up top and out of the way when at camp. There are enough other loose items in my van at camp, dealing with multiple bed panels seems like more stuff to deal with. With the walkthrough layout I am able to walk the entire length of the interior without crouching. I am 5'9" so the length isn't an issue and we also do what Pritikin said and move the bed slightly off of its hard stop and place our pillows over the gap so no toes are hanging over the edge. As far as raising the PH top, I usually just unhook the back loop and leave the front loops connected. This way I am not raising the PH and the entire bed at the same time. As far as lowering the PH top, it's really not that hard to line the bed up in the rails. I just lower the PH top half way then rest the bed lightly on my back and move the bed left or right depending on where it needs to go, but again we are talking maybe 1/2" of adjustment either way, nothing major. Also, if I don't get it perfect in the rails, I just give the whole thing a bump up with my back and it usually lines back up and all is good.

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Old 07-14-2017, 10:30 PM   #5
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I almost never leave the bed attached but the EB-50 allows me to slide the longer portion of the 2 piece bed on top of the shorter section after I lift the top. All my bedding is folded on the long section so I just leave it on top... at night I pull the section back into place and throw my bedding over the complete bed and crash. Zero degree bag and a fleece cover bag that I usually use as a sheet. As far as the foam pad, I'm fat and would probably not get any good results with more foam. Besides I've always felt so much better after a backpack trip when sleeping on the ground. YMMV.
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Old 07-14-2017, 10:47 PM   #6
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Pritkin, you win for best signature on the whole interwebs. Nice way to make light of a sh**ty situation. Thanks for the laugh!
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Old 07-15-2017, 07:29 AM   #7
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We have two pieces; we leave the front portion attached with no issues to date and when we raise the roof the rear portion becomes shelf or we balance it up on end to create maximum standing room.

The foam is adequate but if I sleep up there I put my memory foam topper on, it does three things of note: 1. it is more comfortable 2. it pads the metal arms that raise the top 3. It becomes a brick when it is very cold outside! A phenomena we learned for the first time sleeping near Mono Lake in 19 degrees, our foam pillows were like cool bricks- the scientists in us were enthralled, the sleepy heads in us were grumpy.

We love the two piece set up, its easy to adjusting different positions, like make a shelf up front instead of the rear. And, it easier to stack and store the two versus one large one.

Figure out how to pad the bars to the best of your ability and to bulk up the portion of frame that is immediately next o the outer sides of the foam 'beds', those areas have nothing but fabric.

Oh, I got a story about slipping off the bunk late one night to pee and the unfortunate placement of the handle ...
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