We want to switch from our current travel trailer back to a motorhome. The thing is, I’m having a really hard time finding a bunkhouse class C motorhome in our price range. This means I’m probably going to have to get creative when it comes to making sure everyone in my family has their own dedicated sleeping space in whatever rig we buy.
The good news? There are ways to add RV beds to a motorhome or trailer. Here are a few of the best ideas I’ve seen.
Convertible RV Furniture
The first, easiest, and most obvious option is, of course, to use the existing furniture to create extra sleeping spaces. The vast majority of RVs come with a dinette and/or couch that can turn into a bed. It’s totally possible to switch one of these to bed mode and leave it that way as a dedicated sleeping space.
You can even add a real mattress or a mattress topper to make this sleeping situation more comfy. Just keep in mind that doing so will mean giving up a couch or table in exchange for a bed.
Disc-O-Bed
If you don’t want to give up any of your seating but still want to have a bed for your kid, you’ll need to find a way to fit a bed into an empty space. Unfortunately, empty spaces are hard to come by in an RV. Most are tiny, and some go away once you pull the slides in. This is where the Disc-O-Bed comes into play.
Disco-O-Bed is a small, collapsible bunk bed cot that is perfect for young kids. It’s smaller than any other bed we’ve found, meaning it fits in tight spaces. And because it can collapse, it’s easy to put it away on travel days when the slides need to come in.
Of course, it’s also nice that you can sleep two kids in a space that would normally only accommodate one.
Rollaway Bed
One option that I’ve looked into for my 5-year-old daughter is a rollaway bed. The idea is that we would remove the dinette (so we are still giving up the table) and put the rollaway in that space.
The benefit to doing this is that A) she gets a real bed, and B) it can be folded in half and rolled against a wall, giving us a good amount of open floor space when we need it. This is especially nice for us because I need a good amount of floor space in order to teach my online dance lessons.
Cabbunk
If you’re looking to add beds to a van or class C, you might consider a Cabbunk. A bit like a hammock or a cot, Cabbunk is awesome because it adds sleeping spaces to the cab of your RV, a space that is pretty much wasted while parked anyway.
Cabbunk can be installed without making any major modifications to the rig, and it can be put up and taken down quickly, so travel day isn’t a pain. The bed setup is also lightweight, making it easy to carry along, and the beds are supposedly surprisingly comfortable.
Luno Bed
Another option for a van is the Luno Bed. This is an inflatable bed that is custom-made to fit in the front of a campervan (though I’m betting you could also make it work in a class C). It fits across the two front seats and even leaves space for the steering wheel.
I could see it being annoying to set up and take down every time you drive, but if you’re willing to do that, it seems like a good solution. Just make sure you have some window covers for the windshield and front windows.
Custom Setup
Last but not least, there is the option of building a custom RV bed setup. For some, this means expanding the master bed to create a king-size bed and giving that to the kids to share. For others, it means building custom bunk beds that fit perfectly into whatever nook you can come up with. Get creative and see what you can come up with!
Note: It is possible to cut foam mattresses to size, so if you need to make your custom bed an odd size, you should be able to create a mattress that fits.
As you can see, we have a lot of options for adding RV beds to whatever motorhome we end up buying. Do you need to add RV beds to your setup? Which option will you use?
About the author: Chelsea Gonzales
Chelsea has the amazing opportunity to take part in full-time RV living and traveling with her tiny tribe. She homeschools her five-year-old son as they travel, and takes full advantage of their unique situation by using the entire world as her son’s classroom. A group of total Disney fanatics, Chelsea and her family often find themselves in the Orlando area in order to visit the Disney parks, but they have also visited over 25 of the 50 states with plans to see many more along the way. No matter where her travels take her, Chelsea enjoys riding bikes, gazing at beautiful sunsets, finding new coffee shops, Irish dancing, and sitting around a campfire with her family.
You can join her adventures through her blog, Wonder Wherever We Wander.
