Modified Lil Snoozy - What do you think?

[MCDenny]

I'm really liking the Lil Snoozy but we really do not want to have to crawl over each other to get up in the middle of the night. Here's my thought on how we might reconfigure a Lil Snoozy to pick up a little more storage and provide decent sized twin beds with an access aisle.

First the Lil Snoozy standard floor plan taken from their website:



And here's my thought:

The chairs are easy to move around on wheels and we would have a 20x30 stowable table to put between the chairs for eating.

We have never owned a trailer and I am hoping you experienced folks can tell me if this looks like a good idea to your experienced eyes. We hope to use this trailer for 2-3 months snowbird duty in FL in the winter plus misc warm weather excursions of a week or three in the north.

We plan to visit the Lil S factory 4/4 and of course discuss this with them.

[Bob Miller]

Thise beds are a bit on the skinny side. How about thinking about a twin or a full on the bottom and a twin as an upper bunk??? Don't forget, someday you will want to sell it and not everyone wants twin beds, especially small ones.

[Donna D.]

Take some masking tape and tape it out on the livingroom floor. Then lay down in the space. Is it doable for you? You've actually made the beds 2" wider than a baby crib (Crib Mattress Size: 28" x 52"), Twin beds are 39" x 75"

[DannyH]

Interesting plan. We have a single trundle bed in one of our rooms. Like Donna said, it's 39" wide and I think I can comfortable sleep on a 36" wide on because ours is slipped under the frame 3", leaving 36" wide. I think the 30" might be a little tight for me, but do the tape on the floor idea and see if it works. One idea I'm working on is putting one large queen bed in the same direction as your drawing, with the idea of getting in and out like a Scamp or Escape 5th wheel, at the bottom. This way you wont have to go over the other person.

[Bobbie Mayer]

Army cots are 30 inches and are perfectly comfortable in terms of size. I have slept on many a camp bed that size. And it is more than half of a full bed. But I think your plan has a lot of wasted space near one of the chairs. How about a small built in couch there and then pull the other chair up with a table for meals?

[Ken C]

There is eggcamper in your home state. I didn't know if you were aware of them or not. For your plan above, those little RV flexsteel swivel chairs might be another idea.

[honda03842]

I personally think 30" is wide enough. However to gain width you could remove the dresser between the twins and have beds that are wider at the head, say 38 inches wide at the top tapering to 30 at the foot with the walkway between the beds.

Other shapes like this might do as well. For example a non twin bed, possibly a gueen could have a similar shape, wide at the top and narrower at the foot, very common in boats.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by MCDenny

I'm really liking the Lil Snoozy but we really do not want to have to crawl over each other to get up in the middle of the night.

We have never owned a trailer and I am hoping you experienced folks can tell me if this looks like a good idea to your experienced eyes.

I think being able to choose between a Queen and a Twin bed version would increase Lil Snoozy's sales.
The body of the trailer is 6'6", or 78" wide, which is pretty standard. There are no wheel wells, unlike other brands.

My suggestion would be to keep it simple.
Make the beds equal in length, and the same total as the Queen you're replacing, or 78" x 30" each.
What good is a ceiling high enough for a tall person to stand up if he can't lie in bed straight?
That leaves an 18" aisle between them. Is that enough bed? Is that enough aisle? Ask the person who has to make up the beds; this is a zero sum balance.

• My Fiber Stream has two 75" x 27" beds in the "Twin" configuration, leaving a 24" aisle.
  For full-time twin beds I like your dimensions better. I don't think a 14" wide aisle would justify 32" wide beds.

[Nancy]

Those of us who sleep on the front bunk of the Scamp have about 30 inches at the hip area, less for shoulder. Either my husband or I can do that. What I don't want to do is sleep on the side dinette which I think is only 24?

I really think 30 inches is enough. I hope you are in a position that you don't have to worry about resale and can have it the way you want to meet your needs.

Nancy

[Karen M]

Many folks modify the Casita Liberty, which comes with an option for 22 inch twins, into 30 inch twins. I have done that and just took my first 5 day trip in it. I was perfectly comfortable and even have the 30 lb dog sleeping with me. I think the aisle is 14 or 16 inches. That works fine as you don't walk up and down it much.

I like your plan although I think Bobbie's idea of the using the space on the street side where you have a rolling chair as a small couch (think storage) and having one rolling chair is a good one. As you think about it no doubt you will come up with more refinements. Good luck!

Karen

[Cathy P.]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Take some masking tape and tape it out on the livingroom floor. Then lay down in the space. Is it doable for you? You've actually made the beds 2" wider than a baby crib (Crib Mattress Size: 28" x 52"), Twin beds are 39" x 75"

I agree with Donna's idea here. I worked at a manufacturer who customized and more than once, when the people actually saw their completed unit, it wasn't the way they imagined. We also did this when we were considering building a tiny camper and learned that a blueprint doesn't tell the whole story.

If you customize, it will limit your resale possibilities but if don't care about that, no problem. Also, you'll need a way to secure the loose chairs so you want to plan for that. I am wondering too if you will have enough storage space keeping in mind that each cabinet, etc. has a thickness that takes away from the interior space. I am betting though that the folks at Lil' Snoozy might have some helpful advice to get the most out of the available space.

Have you looked at the floor plans of other manufacturers to see what might be closest to what you would like to accomplish in a design? That might help.

[HikeSticks]

I had the same problem with my 13' Trillium. I resolved it by building a removable extension that attached to the front edge of the dinette/bed. It provided king size width at the head and more than sufficient leg width at the extension. I had no problem getting in and out from the foot of the extended bed. This option leaves everything else in place. The only downside is you have to make up the bed each evening and break it down in the morning but it provides for the very efficient use of space. I have previously posted pics of the renovation.

All the best.
Barrie

[Donna D.]

Depending on the size of the individuals and typical position of sleeping... a 30" bed can be perfectly comfortable, or feel like sleeping on a ledge. Do you own sleeping bags? Can you comfortably sleep in one? If you have one, measure it, that also will give you more information for your needed width.

[Mike Magee]

MCDenny, there's one thing you have to remember about the front of the Snoozy. The queen bed was put there for a reason: the bottom front part of the shell does not extend all the way to the front. That aisle you drew between the twin beds will not exist as a flat floor to walk on. I suppose you could sort of have stairs there though.

Also, due to the way the front tapers in from both top and bottom, there won't be much room for a dresser at the front. And you will have to sleep with your heads toward the rear and feet toward the front, or you'll be bumping your heads in that narrow space.

[Carol H]

If I was going to use the trailer for more than just a couple of week-ends a year I think I would avoid a 30" bed. I slept in the top bunk of my scamp which is 30" on one occasion and never sleep all that well as I was worried I might fall out off it. Actually have had a teen fall off it in the middle of the night once. I think that the issue of too narrow a bed would be an even bigger problem for someone bigger than myself or the teen that fell out of my scamps bunk.

[Raz]

Most Fiberglass trailers have furniture, closets, kitchen cabinets, or poles to support the roof. I believe the bed "arch" serves that purpose in the Lil Snoozy, i.e. it's structural.. If so, to rotate the bed space you need to consider the arch. Raz

[MCDenny]

Here's the side views showing the kitchen counter tops, bath, closet and beds. You can see how the curved front of the shell affects the space available in the very front. I believe there is space though to sleep with my head forward (20" headroom one foot behind forward edge of bed). The upward slope of the floor starts 18" before the bottom of the dresser and has risen 8" by the time it intersects with the bottom of the dresser.

I called the factory and found the wood frame separating the bed from the rest of the trailer is just decorative.






Both beds are now 75" long. The top of the mattress is 30" above the floor. I did a little mock-up and can easily walk down a 16" wide aisle without shuffling sideways. Even a 12" aisle would be shufflable with toe space under the bed box.

Not much space between the end of the beds and the closet wall, though.

We have a 30" wide futon and that seems OK. Neither of us are very big.

[Mike Magee]

I stand corrected. I had pictured the front slant as being sharper and cutting deeper into the floor. Looks like you will be able to stay on level floor until you get halfway or better alongside the bed. And there should be room to sit up in bed without bumping your head, too! I notice, though, that your 75x30 rectangle sticks out past the front of the trailer a bit... so in reality won't it have to come toward the back another 2 or 3 inches?

Having a 30" wide bed isn't terrible; the queen bed is 60" wide, and that's 30" per person. However, having those 30" up against a wall on one side really crimps things in practice. Get any bed and put it against the wall, mark off the open side somehow so only 30" is left, lie on it and see if you can live with it. My own preference would be to keep it a queen, centered in the (76"?) space so you have a bit of room on either side to set things down, drape the blankets over the edge, etc. At that height it will be easy enough to get into bed by simply kneeling on it and moving forward.

Thanks for posting this, btw. The Snoozy is looking more versatile by the minute. It gets me thinking.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by MCDenny

I called the factory and found the wood frame separating the bed from the rest of the trailer is just decorative.

Want did they think of your mod?

[MCDenny]

Raz, I didn't discuss it with them yet, other than to confirm they can build anything that fits inside the empty shell.

I want to get my thoughts narrowed down to one "best plan" before I start confusing them with how 'bout this, how 'bout that.