Adding bunk to Compact Jr

[Nancy H128]

I am looking to purchase a 1974 Compact Jr. Does anyone know if it is possible to add a bunk to the area over the table/bed section? I am trying to see if I can make it accommodate two people with less "cozy" situation.

[Donna D.]

Maybe I dreamed it, but didn't someone convert a Compact into twin beds. Maybe that would work? If not, I would imagine you could build a bunk... think platform. It could either be permanent, or foldable if you used canvas, like an old fashion camp cot.

Here's a topic about a Trillium: Bunk over Rear Dinette

and here's a picture that Chester posted... and more discussion about bunks: Chester's picture

[Bobbie Mayer]

I think the cot idea would work better than a bunk. The ceiling is pretty low over the bed area. It would work for a non-claustrophobic person, maybe.

[Joseph Domingos]

I remember somebody showing their Hunter sibling with a bunk made over the bed, but I agree with Bobbie, it would probably be pretty clostrophobic in it's dimensions, more fitting for a child than an adult... But I guess it's all in what you're after, right?
I don't remember the guy's name, but I remember he'd inherited it or bought it from his folks, and he had some great pics showing how they had made the pivot points in the wall of the trailer, and reinforced it so that it wouldn't tear through the wall...
Anyway, good luck on the hunt for your needed mod!
Joe

[Tom Trostel]

Nancy,
If the bed is made from side wall to side wall and from the front wall to the kitchen bulkhead, it measures 72" x 70". I know of no 13' trailer with a wider bed, though most have longer beds. And, because we can sleep lengthwise there is no climbing over someone to get up. We have slept several times with a young grandchild between us. I don't see the need to try to build a bunk above the existing bed.

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm41/to...sonphotos20.jpg

Tom Trostel

[Donna D.]

The bed would only need to be high enough for the one sleeping on the bed to turn over. If that individual slept with head toward the door and the bunk was built at the rear, the height would only need to be about 18 inches (depending on depth of bunk) because it would be over the individuals legs and feet. Years ago, my daughter and I would camp using the tug and canopy. I slept front to back, she slept side-to-side in a bunk made over the siderails of the pickup bed. Worked fine.

[Steve Hilby]

Tom's right; the Compact Jr. bed is huge. You and your non-cozy friend could just use sleeping bags and I think you'd find that you have plenty of personal space.

My sister owns a Compact Jr. and on her last big trip she never made up the bed; she just slept on one of the benches in a sleeping bag and the dog slept on the other (the dog did not have a sleeping bag ). So you might not need a bunk at all.

But if you did add a bunk, I'd suggest that you figure out a way to support it that doesn't depend on the trailer shell for support. That is, support it with legs going down to the benches or something like that.

[Harry Young]

I did this in one of the earlier incarnations of the my trailer when my children were small; The thing I learned was that the large windows rule out any idea of using the hull as structural support...The solution for me was to have a welding shop manufacture 1 1/2 angle iron box ends for the sides of the trailer that fit over the windows about midway so it transmitted the weight of the sleeper to the belly seam...then when needed the cross pieces were put into place and the cut 3/4 ply strips would drop in...it worked for 15 years...now the boys are 30 ish and 6'7" with boys of their own so I have removed it...Its present incarnation is the permanent large bed most go with...Although it now has hot water and a shower...Funny how you get older and roughing it has a whole new meaning? The windows being dissected was the price to be paid for the bunk...I would do it again for the memories that were made with my young family then but I do not know if you would, to many spartan is offensive, but at least you know it can be done.

A strong heads up here is this, condensation in the upper bunk is a big problem...to control this I made a solar silver cover cap for the trailer...sort of a second skin, then I open the fly in the upper pop top so humidity can exit and condense out side the trailer under the tarps surface, this puts a warm air buffer between the outer tarp and the underneath fiberglass hull, doing this I could control the condensation issue into the 20s in temperatures and the windows were the only thing that got wet.



Harry

I am looking to purchase a 1974 Compact Jr. Does anyone know if it is possible to add a bunk to the area over the table/bed section? I am trying to see if I can make it accommodate two people with less "cozy" situation.

[Cory Hilby]

Nancy,
If the bed is made from side wall to side wall and from the front wall to the kitchen bulkhead, it measures 72" x 70". I know of no 13' trailer with a wider bed, though most have longer beds. And, because we can sleep lengthwise there is no climbing over someone to get up. We have slept several times with a young grandchild between us. I don't see the need to try to build a bunk above the existing bed.

http://s293.photobucket.com/albums/mm41/to...sonphotos20.jpg

Tom Trostel

In my Compact Jr. I just sleep on top of one bench and the dog sleeps on top of the other--I don't make it into one big bed. Put the table down as a (shared) nightstand (the dog doesn't have much to put on there, however), and don't put in the other "bridging" inserts.

Question is what to do with the long "back" pillows when sleeping. I have learned mine can be folded under the (lowered) table; however, mostly I leave them at home as the dog doesn't need a back to his "chair" and I take two throw pillows and stuff them in a regular-sized pillowcase and use them for a back for me. Of course, if one uses a pillow at night (I don't) one could use that.

Cory