SoundGuy wrote:
My wife seems to sleep in fine without a curtain even when I'm banging around making my early morning coffee but I still think it would be an improvement so if you have any pics I wouldn't mind seeing them! 🙂
Ha! We all make our adaptations, don't we? Glad your sweetheart can endure your coffee making!
So after seeing your request, I took a quick stroll from the house out to the rig in our woods to grab a few shots. Captioned below . . .
Here is the view of the sleeping area with the drapes pulled back and kept in place by the fabric hold backs that came with the original curtains (which my wife replaced with some she made). They can be out of the way and never interfere with our movements inside.
Here are two views on each side showing how they remain in place when moved to each side.
We installed a low profile ceiling channel to support these drapes. The key was to get the geometry correct so that the drapes would fully enclose the full size queen bed from wall to wall and yet have adequate support in the very thin ceiling material. So we curved the normally straight channel by starting with mounting points in the ceiling in the middle - where there happens to be a wood truss above the aft side of the ceiling vent. Once we were able to mount with the three screws secured in that wood truss, we were able to gently bend the channel in an arc on both sides to a termination point at each wall. It was a little tedious, but after about a year of running around the country, it all has stayed secure.
Here is a view from the opposite end of the interior with the drapes closed.
And just for fun, I crawled in bed and took this view as if I were sleeping in and my wife might be on the sofa either watching TV or reading early in the morning. Very little sound is attenuated, but enough light is blocked so that you actually can snooze away while your spouse is already up and around. For this shot I left on the LED lights above the galley sink and over the sofa. Hard to tell the effect, but it actually works for us.
We bought these drapes at Hobby Lobby and my wife hemmed them to allow for a custom fit. They are necessarily light weight since we knew that supporting much more than this might present a challenge to the integrity of the ceiling.
At any rate, we've enjoyed them when we've used them. I'm quite sure that lots of you folks out there are a lot smarter than me and could do a much better job and/or be more creative. If so, let us know, because there's not a lot of pride of authorship in this little project!
kbtravels wrote:
We are thinking about upgrading our Jayco 19RB to something with one slide-out to get more width / living space. Must haves are walk around or island queen bed, good storage space, enough floor space to roll out a yoga mat and have room to move, prefer a bigger fridge with a separate freezer compartment. Do NOT need fancy stuff like entertainment center, electric jacks, levellers, awning, etc. Would like to stay under 23' and under 4500 lbs. There seems to be very little out there that fits. Anyone have a suggestion?
I'll add another vote for the Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS. Our 2016 has been a faithful, reliable home on wheels for us for 2 1\2 years. Seems to check all of your needs list, as well. Living in the SE Texas area we are able to use it year round, and the unit has performed well in hot and cold weather (coldest extremes were north of San Antonio last January when we had 15-16F lows for two nights; hottest was summer before last in the lower Rio Grande Valley - about 5 miles from the Mexican border - went through 10 days of 105F temps). Point being that all systems have performed flawlessly in all kinds of weather.
Lots of storage space that we have not yet totally utilized, and my wife and I and our dog have enjoyed it every time we've been out. I would categorize the rig as a true "couple's camper." Though the jack knife sofa on the mini-slide is advertised as an additional sleeping option, I could imagine only one of our smaller grandkids camping with us. But I think that might be a push.
Weight-wise, when we are totally loaded with groceries, clothes, etc. and geared up for even an extended trip, our CAT Scale receipts see us clocking in at 4600-4700 lbs. That's with two full propane tanks but empty fresh, gray and black tanks.
Boondocking isn't our normal camping mode, but we did add a second G24 deep cycle battery on the occasion that I head to the deer lease. Our unit came with a full size, 80" queen bed, and we added a topper that makes our sleep absolutely delightful. And even though this is a relatively small trailer (22 1/2' hitch to bumper), we wanted to divide the interior sleeping area from the living/galley, so we installed draperies to allow one of us to sleep in while the other might be up earlier. So the space available works well for us both inside and outside (we use the 14' awning lots). But again, this is a unit that works best for two folks - and certainly your four legged companion, as well.
We've done a number of mods like most folks do, but recently we made a change for safety and reliability's sake; i.e. we replaced the original Chinese manufactured tires with a set of Goodyear Endurance tires. The previous tires were wearing prematurely and unevenly. - even though a check of our running gear confirmed that everything was solid and straight. So whichever trailer you end up getting, you might negotiate with your dealer for a better set of tires before leaving the lot.
