A few years ago Barrie Bochoff posted how he expanded the bed in his Trillium by rotating his sleeping position and utilizing the space between the closet and the sink.
When we first got the trailer I replaced the rear dinette with a piece of plywood to make a permanent bed. The rear table was cut down to make a larger front dinette. By using that table, a wall mount table bracket ($10-15), a few pieces of scrap pine and some thread rod, I was able to make a very stable, easily assembled bed extension. Maggie is working on the bedding issues which include utilizing the front cushions. We'll let you know how it works out. Raz
Difference is that with ours I hung it under the origiinal table (taking off the table leg of course) so it slides in out of the way in the day time and I just flipped the mattress up onto the bed during the day. One side rests on our food cupboard and the other side has a fold-up leg to rest on.
We used it for about ten years now. Our little dog used to sleep with us and the cat still does, so we needed the extra space. The dog is gone and I had a hip replacement so found the climbing down to the bottom of the bed a bit of a pain so until I am back to normal, we are making "do" with the old system!!! Yuk!
Ten years. Sounds like you were happy with it. I have wanted to try this for quite some time and finally got to building it. We've yet to try it. I have to reverse the refrigerator door so it will open to get to the milk in the morning and move some things out of the closet. We currently have a puppy so she will fit any where. For now. Hopefully she won't get too big. Thanks for posting. I'm encouraged. Raz
Worked quite well. Because we are shorter people, I only needed to pull out the extension to the edge of the closet, which left the fridge door clear. I cut the closet door into two - a shorter one at the bottom with a longer one on the top. The longer one clears the bed extension so we could still get in the closet as well. I have attached a photo of the new closet doors. The seat just below the bottom door is actually the top of our food drawers, which I found short enough to fit under the extension (it actually rests on that on that side).
Since the dog slept on the bed, we had no problem but she was a little Shih Tzu! Cat just wanders around wherever he likes. You know how they are.
Enjoy and good luck. Post to let us know how you like it once you get to try it out for awhile.
We are considering cutting away the sink area down to bed level, cutting away the lower half of the closet in order to put in a Queen size bed in our Trillium 1300. Radical I know, but sleep comfort is our number one priority. Any thoughts?
Doug Leverton
I assumed that the kitchen and closet units add structural integrity to the trailer. If I were to do this, I would consider adding struts to support the ceiling and etc. but I'm a newbie.
This is exactly what I want to do. Thanks for the post. I assume though that you lose the storage space under the table/bed when you do this right?
Not really. We installed two outside access doors, one on each side allowing outside easy access to the areas under the table seats. We use those two spaces for jacks, blocks, tanks, anything that tends to get grubby.
The centre space beneath the table is still useable by simply putting stuff in tubs and attaching long enough pull strings on the tubs so we can pull them out to get at whatever is in them. The kitty litter box takes up the front area of one side at night and we put shoes, slippers, boots, spare linens etc on the other side. So all the space is still well utilized.
Enjoy.
Vivian
Not really. We installed two outside access doors, one on each side allowing outside easy access to the areas under the table seats. We use those two spaces for jacks, blocks, tanks, anything that tends to get grubby.
By "outside" do you mean on the ouside of the trailer? If so, I'd love to see pictures. Seems a very handy adaptation.
By "outside" do you mean on the ouside of the trailer? If so, I'd love to see pictures. Seems a very handy adaptation.
Yes I mean outside the trailer. Here is a picture of the off-side one. Both are the same.
They are 15.5" x 10.5" making them small enough to clear everything inside. All we had to do was move the side marker lights up. We hung them right side up in case they came open during transit, but some people mounted them the other way. Your option. We could not get small enough ones up here in Canada so a fellow over near the border brought these in from the US. If you can't find them let me know and I'll find out where he got them.
PS: We also ran an extension chord from our converter, under the bed and over to the door-side area, put in another outlet cap and pull the extension chord out so we have outside hydro on that side of the trailer. I didn't install a permanent outlet because I won't do anything with electrical and I do all this stuff by myself.
Enjoy
Vivian
Thank you Vivian, makes all kinds of sense to do that. I'm a newbie to trailer land but I may just find the courage to do this sometime. Thanks again for posting
Thank you Vivian, makes all kinds of sense to do that. I'm a newbie to trailer land but I may just find the courage to do this sometime. Thanks again for posting
You're welcome. Let us know if and when you ever do this, how you made out.
Vivian
Just back from a couple weeks in the Outer Banks of N.C. We used the bed arrangement the whole time. Because I'm using the front dinette table, we set up the extension each night. It took about 5-10 minutes to set up the support, attach the table, and add the bedding. Maggie used a fitted sheet tucked under the main mattress to hold the extra cushions in place. The extra space at the top was a big improvement over the stock bed. Maggie sleeps on her back. She really likes the configuration. I sleep on my side and tend to change sides numerous times in the night so I noticed the confined leg space more than she did. For the upper 4 feet, you have more than a queen and the lower 2 feet, less than a single (about 32").
The porta potti fit nicely at the foot of the bed. Since you can't exit the bed from the sides, to use it in the night requires a bit of a crab walk to the foot the bed.
When we first got our Trillium we went to a permanent bed using a sheet of plywood. It is short enough that by rolling the mattress at each end we can access to the rear storage compartments. Since the table/extension is removed during the day, all of the other storage is accessible. Raz
We are considering cutting away the sink area down to bed level, cutting away the lower half of the closet in order to put in a Queen size bed in our Trillium 1300. Radical I know, but sleep comfort is our number one priority. Any thoughts?
Doug Leverton
There is a video of the folks at Scamp pulling a shell half out of a mold. It wobbles like Jello. After seeing that I would be reluctant to modify any of the internal "furniture" without a plan to add replacement support. Raz
Just back from a couple weeks in the Outer Banks of N.C. We used the bed arrangement the whole time. Because I'm using the front dinette table, we set up the extension each night. It took about 5-10 minutes to set up the support, attach the table, and add the bedding. Maggie used a fitted sheet tucked under the main mattress to hold the extra cushions in place. The extra space at the top was a big improvement over the stock bed. Maggie sleeps on her back. She really likes the configuration. I sleep on my side and tend to change sides numerous times in the night so I noticed the confined leg space more than she did. For the upper 4 feet, you have more than a queen and the lower 2 feet, less than a single (about 32").
The porta potti fit nicely at the foot of the bed. Since you can't exit the bed from the sides, to use it in the night requires a bit of a crab walk to the foot the bed.
When we first got our Trillium we went to a permanent bed using a sheet of plywood. It is short enough that by rolling the mattress at each end we can access to the rear storage compartments. Since the table/extension is removed during the day, all of the other storage is accessible. Raz
When you take your extension off, what do you do with it? I know about the crab walk to get off the extended bed, but we are pretty good at that now, after ten or more years. We tried this year without the extension because our little dog was no more, but we just hated it, so back on it goes in the spring.
Vivian
When you take your extension off, what do you do with it?
Vivian
The extension is the dinette table during the day. It's larger than a standard Trillium front table because I took the rear table and cut it down with my saw. Raz
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Thanks for posting. I'm encouraged. Raz
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