Murphy Bed vs. Separate Bedroom

[campbikemom]

I am looking for opinions for those of you that had murphy beds or at least considered them.

We are looking for a new camper and have been going back and forth between the pros and cons of a separate sleeping space that does not convert, versus a couch to murphy bed.

We are looking to keep the trailer at or under 30' and a GVWR of 7000 and less (max - the less the better, of course).

We need bunks for our boys, but am fine with twin sized (actually prefer them as my kids are small and doubles are wasted space for us).

Leaning towards a slide (currently do not have one), but are not set on one quite yet.

I came across this floor plan and it really would be perfect. Alas, it's already archived and very hard to find:
https://www.jayco.com/tools/archive/2019-jay-feather/24bhm/

I am also considering a number of floorplans with:

1. u-shaped dinette and the separate bedroom with a queen
2. u-shaped dinette and the couch/murphy combo
3. standard dinette, couch, separate bedroom, but no slide

The main considerations are:
- How much of a pain is dealing with the murphy bed? There are probably a lot of days it would never get converted to a couch because we are outside all day, but we're in NY so have plenty of awful weather.
- How much of an upgrade can you really get with a murphy mattress? will it ever be as comfortable as a normal bed?

This camper would go to us to a lot of bike races as a "team base" so having a couch is appealing.

[kristmody]

This is the design I have for my house.

I installed 3 Murphy beds in my house, and they really helped me in space saving. As you can see in the image that my house has a very limited space, but still i have extra space. If you're interested in Murphy Beds, I recomend the following;
Atlantic Furniture Southampton Murphy Bed Chest
Bestar, Cielo Collection
Bestar, Edge Collection
Bestar Queen Wall Bed Kit

All of these are great and affordable. You can get more from This is the design I have for my house.

I installed 3 Murphy beds in my house, and they really helped me in space saving. As you can see in the image that my house has a very limited space, but still i have extra space. If you're interested in Murphy Beds, I recomend the following;
Atlantic Furniture Southampton Murphy Bed Chest
Bestar, Cielo Collection
Bestar, Edge Collection
Bestar Queen Wall Bed Kit

All of these are great and affordable. You can get more from here
https://www.talkaboutsleep.com/murphy-bed/

[kristmody]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

If you were to full time a Murphy bed might be a bit of a pain.

I'm not a fan of slides, because I cold weather camp.

I would buy a used RV over a brand new unit as there are often multiple problems direct from the factory (it's not a bug it's a feature). Five years old is ideal age.

I think Murphy beds would be better because they can help you save a lot of space. We all know, we have limited space in camps,so it is also essebtial to save the space as much as we can for other tasks.

[bid_time]

This one may work for you Clicky

[OleManOleCan]

Trying to watch TV or play games from a Dinette is torture on us larger folks. Having a good couch is worth it's weight in gold on Rain days. IMO a folding table and a couple of folding chairs beat the U shaped torture device.

[Reader1]

Campbikemom - Yesterday we purchased the Rockwood 2104S with Murphy bed. We are downsizing from a 5th Wheel. I agree with the big TV instead of upper cabinets. We have camped for 40 years and the only time we have used our TV was when we had weather concerns which we can get on our phones now. We are going to live with it for a little while but will probably replace it with a cabinet. Just a thought for you.

[Reader1]

campbikemom wrote:
Man I have to do an eye roll at some of you. I grew up backpacking and living large in a popup and in my adulthood have continued to backpack, tent it at drive-up sites, had my own popup, and now have a single-room travel trailer. Never would "mommy and daddy time" for the 30 nights a year we camp even be remotely entertained in the decision on what type of camper to get.

Thanks for the input from those of you that have one. It sounds like 90% of the people out there who have a murphy bed appreciate the pros of having one vs. the potential cons. Especially with the type of campers that we are I think it will be the best bang for our desired footprint.

We did a walk through of a couple Rockwood 2509S models the other day (a 2019 and 2020) and I really like them. 25', a u-shaped dinette, and two pantries is amazing. I really wish you could order campers without an "entertainment center." They are so much wasted space. In the case of the 2509 there is no upper cabinets in the kitchen in lieu of a space for a big TV. Annoying considering we'll never use a TV.

[jseyfert3]

campbikemom wrote:

The main considerations are:
- How much of a pain is dealing with the murphy bed? There are probably a lot of days it would never get converted to a couch because we are outside all day, but we're in NY so have plenty of awful weather.
- How much of an upgrade can you really get with a murphy mattress? will it ever be as comfortable as a normal bed?

This camper would go to us to a lot of bike races as a "team base" so having a couch is appealing.

We have a 2015 Rockwood 2306 with a murphy bed.

Pain: Not really. Takes about a minute to put down and two minutes to put up. Fold the couch down, unlatch the two latches, and bring the bed down. Supports take nearly all the weight so it's fairly light. Unsnap the straps retaining the mattress, drop it down the headboard area. To fold up, reverse. Grab the straps back out of the headboard area. Stick your pillows under the straps. Make sure you don't have sheets/blankets bunched on the sides of the mattress and that the mattress is centered. Lift up, latch, fold the couch back up.

Downside is on our layout, the mattress covers half the door opening. While you can squeeze out past it, it's not fun if you are going in and out all day, so you pretty much have to put up the bed even if you're not inside the camper all day. It appears the 2509S you were looking at doesn't have that issue, from looking at the floorplan on the Forest River website.

The sofa is great for rainy days. I personally hate laying on a bed during the day, but that's just me.

As to the upgrade? It's a short queen. The previous owners raved about the built-in mattress heating pad, but the mattress was absolute garbage. We slept one weekend in it, immediately ordered a $300 short queen memory foam mattress off Amazon and threw the camper mattress away. The cheap memory foam was really comfortable for the price. Basically there's room for any short queen mattress you want to put there, so comfort really isn't an issue. Upgrade to your hearts content.

[Ride_S40T]

campbikemom wrote:


Interesting about the price because I feel like it is the same or more as a lot of the murphy bed options that we have looked at.

It also appears your particular model has been discontinued. That's too bad, because I think that is my favorite "pez dispenser" model that I've seen yet. I really like any models that have the "garage" although I have yet to see one that had windows on bunks like that, which is a big negative. I also wanted to have a "walk around" bed, but a big king might be a trade-off I'm willing to do!

Yes, our price was 2K less than any of them are (still) selling for, pretty much anywhere. It was a special order that someone backed out of. Score for us and the folks that ordered it did so with a 15K A/C rather than the 13.5. Score again.

It did have us a bit nervous about being a last run edition but they're still making the slides like the king pez dispenser so we should be GTG for getting parts.

We love the king bed, tons of room and the bed is out of the way for normal daytime routines. We had 7 humans (4 adults, 3 kids) and 2 dogs in it a few weeks ago and was not crowded.

And over 1 ton of cargo capacity? Oh yeah. Never needed but likely means less stress on frame and suspension to have the capability - but not using it to the max.

[campbikemom]

Ride S40T wrote:

campbikemom wrote:

Ride S40T wrote:
Murphy bed all the way. There is no substitute for the added floor space. Especially if there's no bumps. You'll appreciate that extra room on the occasional rainy day or when packing lots of family.

For us, it was either a murphy or the unit we have that pops out the back like a pez dispenser. We have as much floor space as a 30 footer wrapped in a 25 footer.

I have seen those - what made you decide on your pez dispenser vs. a murphy?

1) Floor space/floor plan, 2) front bunk space to house the dogs, 3) price.

We'd been looking for over a year and when we walked into it, we knew "this is it". It was laid out perfectly for our needs.

Interesting about the price because I feel like it is the same or more as a lot of the murphy bed options that we have looked at.

It also appears your particular model has been discontinued. That's too bad, because I think that is my favorite "pez dispenser" model that I've seen yet. I really like any models that have the "garage" although I have yet to see one that had windows on bunks like that, which is a big negative. I also wanted to have a "walk around" bed, but a big king might be a trade-off I'm willing to do!

[Ride_S40T]

campbikemom wrote:

Ride S40T wrote:
Murphy bed all the way. There is no substitute for the added floor space. Especially if there's no bumps. You'll appreciate that extra room on the occasional rainy day or when packing lots of family.

For us, it was either a murphy or the unit we have that pops out the back like a pez dispenser. We have as much floor space as a 30 footer wrapped in a 25 footer.

I have seen those - what made you decide on your pez dispenser vs. a murphy?

1) Floor space/floor plan, 2) front bunk space to house the dogs, 3) price.

We'd been looking for over a year and when we walked into it, we knew "this is it". It was laid out perfectly for our needs.

[brianosaur]

We bought a 2019 Highland Ridge Open Range 2802BH in June and love it. It has everything our old TT didnt

Bunks, recliners, u-dinette, 12'slide, cabinets above recliners, large pantry, NO FLOOR GRATES (all wall vents), 8cu refer, stainless sinks, ducted A/C, zero carpet (LOVE THAT), exterior ladder, full outdoor kitchen w/ metal sink area that drains, 21' awning that covers outdoor kitchen.

Box is 28' total is 31'

This is the 2018

[Snomas]

We just bought a 22' flagstaff Mico lite w/ Murphy bed and one large slide out. The bed folds up in one piece and was a little too firm so I just added a 1" memory foam piece over it and it is great. The Murphy bed gives us much more space in a small TT and is easy to lift up and down. The extra couch it allows in a small TT I think makes the TT More livable. I have had only one warranty issue in our new Forest River TT. My Dutch Star DP had more warranty issues than this TT so far. We don't camp more than a week at a time anymore so that why we went from 40' to 22' and it is simple to hook up and go.

[campbikemom]

Ride S40T wrote:
Murphy bed all the way. There is no substitute for the added floor space. Especially if there's no bumps. You'll appreciate that extra room on the occasional rainy day or when packing lots of family.

For us, it was either a murphy or the unit we have that pops out the back like a pez dispenser. We have as much floor space as a 30 footer wrapped in a 25 footer.

I have seen those - what made you decide on your pez dispenser vs. a murphy?

[campbikemom]

Man I have to do an eye roll at some of you. I grew up backpacking and living large in a popup and in my adulthood have continued to backpack, tent it at drive-up sites, had my own popup, and now have a single-room travel trailer. Never would "mommy and daddy time" for the 30 nights a year we camp even be remotely entertained in the decision on what type of camper to get.

Thanks for the input from those of you that have one. It sounds like 90% of the people out there who have a murphy bed appreciate the pros of having one vs. the potential cons. Especially with the type of campers that we are I think it will be the best bang for our desired footprint.

We did a walk through of a couple Rockwood 2509S models the other day (a 2019 and 2020) and I really like them. 25', a u-shaped dinette, and two pantries is amazing. I really wish you could order campers without an "entertainment center." They are so much wasted space. In the case of the 2509 there is no upper cabinets in the kitchen in lieu of a space for a big TV. Annoying considering we'll never use a TV.