The bed's not made...

[Sands]

As newbies in our beautiful little Scamp 16 certain aspects of living in such a lilliputian home have come to the forefront of our attention. The bathroom was covered under another thread, now I'd like to turn to the bed:

I don't have a single complaint about its size, shape, or comfort, it's when one gets to the making it up part that I'm a little consternated. Since it fits snuggly from wall to wall into the back of the trailer there is only one side actually open to easy manipulation. At 6' I am not tall enough, nor do I have the requisite core strength, to bend over and reach the far side of the bed un-supported. That means putting a knee down in the middle of the bed. Or a hand. And once you do that, pulling the covers over to tuck them in becomes like pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. Plus, if you use the 'one hand in the middle and one hand to tuck' method you're left tucking in about 4 inches of covers at a time. Tedious.

There is the 'lunge method', where you take a good double handful of messy covers and throw yourself across the bed, hopefully tightening the covers and tucking them in at the apex of your lunge. This is like trying to put your pants on both legs at once; doable in theory, difficult in practice. And if you miscalculate you end up with rat fur under your fingernails.

Modifications of the lunge method include the 'one-handed hop-lunge', in which you combine the 'one hand in the middle' technique with the 'lunge' technique; alternately "hopping" off the bed with vigorous thrusts of the supporting hand while quickly tucking with the other hand. This can also be tried with the 'one knee in the middle' method, and while proponents say this offers the best of both worlds, all it takes is one good head whack against the underside of the overhead cabinets to convince you that this technique is better left to the experts.

There is the 'one hand on the wall while tucking with the other' method. This increases the fore mentioned core strength, and works fairly well except once again you are left tucking the covers in at a rate of 4” per tuck, and not even Superman has the core strength to keep this up long enough to get the whole bed done.

If you have one, you can get your mate involved as an anchor (hanging on to the belt works...kind of) or flying buttress. The main advantage of these two-people operations is the joy of sharing the fun, none of them seem to actually result in a better made bed.

The good part of all this is the bending and stretching exercise it affords. It is like a game of Twister, only in multiple planes since you get to use the walls, which (by the way) are not just vertical, but also curved! Did I mention yet how much fun it is to try to get a good tuck of square beddings on a curved substrate? No? Well...it's fun, but not that fun. And that is why you'll find our bed a generally rumpled mess ALL THE TIME!

[Carl Pa]

We do not make the bed in our 16` Scamp. We use Sleeping Bags. One is down on bed and one we cover with. We find that is comfortable and warm. In hot weather we use one sleeping bag down and one sheet to cover or light weight blanket. Then we simply make up two bedrolls and use as pillows when table is up or set up as a lounger. 100% better then sleeping on the ground after all we are camping, if I wanted a full mattress and a walk around bed I would have a class A MH or just stay home. Carl

[Chris Z]

We used a thick comforter to cover whatever we used.

[ckayaker]

I go with the sleeping bag set up that Carl uses at the moment, however, I am considering a switch. I plan to buy two standard sized sheets, not the fitted ones and sew them together at the foot. I'll fold and sew the head of the bottom sheet to create a tube running the width.
When making up the bed I'm going to run a length of white plastic water pipe along the foot seam where the sheets are sewn together and tuck that under the bed cushions along the camper side wall. I'll slip another plastic pipe into the bottom sheet tube I made and tuck it under the opposite bed cushion. That will give me a bottom and top sheet which can be made up fairly easily without a lot of crawling about on the bed and elsewhere (I hope...). I will use a duvet as a blanket. Will it work? Time will tell...

[Doug in Sacramento]

Sands,
As owners of a relatively new Scamp 16, we can totally relate to what you're saying. To make things more difficult, we have a bed extension protruding a couple feet toward the front. This makes a "T" bed, allowing us to sleep in a "V" formation, which we love, but it also puts the head of the bed way out of reach. And I'm just 5'6". Great fun.

[DeanCHS1980]

Sands,

I have no real advice for you. My DW and I just bought our new to us Casita last month, so we have yet to spend a night in our first RV; however, I must thank you for a wonderful narrative that provided me with many visuals on you making the bed. I got several chuckles as I drank my morning coffee.

After reading it, I had to wake up Laura to read it to her. She did have a suggestion. Can you make the bed, kinda, while you are in it working your way out? Homework assignment. . .give it a try, would love to hear your report!

Can't wait to read your next thread! We are newbies, too.

Thanks,

Dean

[DebCost]

Ya'll need a 12 Step Program for your bed making OCD!

[crowwing]

You had me after Lilliputian.
John

[charlsara]

After fighting with making up the queen in our LIL Snoozy for a year, we replaced the mattress with a self inflating camp pad. we added a 3" memory foam topper to that. It is now more comfortable and much easier to make the bed.

[DavidGlen]

Sands,


We do not yet have a trailer... we are looking to buy a Casita Liberty 17' in the spring of 2016 when I retire. So your post was, er, instructional and is causing me to think about how to resolve bed-making in our own Lilliputian future.


I am working to imagine the 'flying buttress', and perhaps Dean's suggestion of making the bed when exiting could be called 'the snake shedding its skin'. I tried putting both feet into my pants once with disastrous results.


So far, I am most interested in pursuing a few possible approaches:


1. Ckayaker's sewn tube, or a variant, that can be held in place with elastic or weight as such as the plastic pipe that he suggests.


2. I may cover a 1" thick waffled mattress pad with a removable top that is made out of a bed sheet. Something like the second photo in this post here, only with a hinge down the middle instead of separate covers:
Fast Bed Changeover

3. Combining the tube with the covered mattress pad may create my ideal solution: a pocket-like cover into which a mattress pad is inserted. At one end, a top-sheet will be sewn to it. With that arrangement, the mattress topper can be quickly folded in half in the morning and tucked to the rear of the trailer. (I am willing to live with the mattress pad being neatly folded in the rear of the Liberty while we use the tables.) When I make one of these I will post a photo!

Thanks again for a thought provoking and interesting post.

David

[floyd]

this one makes itself....
Two inch quilted memory foam topper custom cut to fit then covered with a fitted sheet made onto it. When unfolded it automatically makes the bed with the sheet attached... The rest is easy.

[cchandka]

Our scamp fiver has undergone major reno this year including 90 deg turn of bed with ikea memory foam queen matress I did the sheet scenario and we gave it up after a week and moved to two snap together quilts with corner grommets to hold in place all that is needed is to pull up the top quilt upon exit Snaps make laundry possible in standard wash machines We head out next week for some snowbird warmth and experiencing retirement finally Agreed that after three months in 19 feet we MAY return in a larger rig OR may have gotten lots closer ... We shall see if we make it to 47 years! Happy new year, all!

[Jon Vermilye]

While is doesn't solve all the problems of making a bed surrounded by three walls, I found 3/4 size sheets at Amazon. There are a couple of different brands available. The ones I purchased have a fitted bottom sheet & a top sheet with elastic in the bottom. They fit the 48" wide mattress in my Escape perfectly.

[carleene]

brilliant, Floyd
I also just noticed I'm no longer a Junior member. What a nice surprise.

[sharon_b]

Floyd, love your idea, do you throw the whole thing in the washer? or take it to a laundry mat?

[floyd]

Originally Posted by sharon_b

Floyd, love your idea, do you throw the whole thing in the washer? or take it to a laundry mat?

The fitted sheet is removable for washing between trips.
We plan to make another cover, like a big pillow case made from flat sheets sewn together. We'll see if it works equally well.

[Alf S.]

Hi: Sands... I find the easiest way to make the queen sized bed is if my wife does it!!! She is a Yoga student and some of the moves are perfect training.
Watching can be invigorating to say the least.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Sheryl M]

Sands --

The simple fix for your problem is just get back in the bed, and forget making it. After all, you're camping, and it's not too early to start your afternoon nap.

[Cathi]

Sands, yes, we are familiar with all of that! After a while, I realized that I could have him do it!

We have two flat sheets that are bigger than the bed size (that can fit a bigger bed at home) so plenty of room to get them in at the top well and still have something at the bottom.

[Burro Bill]

I use a full size flat sheet. I have a 3" memory foam cut to fit and it is pretty easy to get the sheet tucked in. Then put my pillows down then a fleece blanket and finish off with the comforter. May not make the cover of Southern Living but works for me! I also leave the bed made up and ready to go.