Surveyor 233t uncomfortable expandable bed

[thebrakeman]

I just finished the air-bed project. Will try to post pictures later. My front bunk (the only tipout on our model) looks just like the original pics in this thread.
I bought a 4x8 sheet (1" thick) of "Greenboard" extruded polystyrene from Lowes. I believe this is a fancy name for styrofoam, but it's very dense and quite resistant to compression. Goal is to build up that shelf 3 inches, but be able to remove and store the pieces easily during teardown. That's why I didn't go with lumber.

Taking careful measurements, I cut a 6'4" x 10¼" piece to sit flat on the "shelf" inside of the trim pieces. Next layer (11-5/8") extends over/onto the trim outer trim piece, and just contacts that wide rubber boot. The 3rd layer (13½") extends further to meet the rubber boot about 2/3 of the way up.

Once I had the pieces cut and dry fit, I cut everything in half (to 3'2" lengths) so they can store in a dinette seat if needed.

Finally, I bought an 11oz can of Elmers all-purpose spray adhesive (Meijer), to bond the pieces together. 1 leftside sandwich, and 1 righthand sandwich. These were left overnight in the garage with flat weights on top.

I placed these in place last night, and put the queensize Coleman air mattress on top. The mattress has a fabric on 1 side (for sleeping on), but a bare underside that was squeaking badly against the bunk board. A flat sheet on the bottom took care of that, as well as hide the ugly green foam board.

There is absolutely no hint of that hinge sticking in my back now, and I believe it will be quite resistant to compression, even when getting in/out of bed. I thought about some velcro to keep it in place, but cutting it to fit inside the trim seems to have it held just fine. The 2 pieces will simply ride on a dinette seat when in transit. If we have a 1-nighter where we don't deploy the bunk-end, it can go under the table, on the sofa, or even inside a dinette seat if they are in the way.

We'll see how comfy the air mattress is for our 2-week trip thru the Upper Peninsula.

[thebrakeman]

Air mattress worked well during the long trip:
-No hinge sticking in my back
-No folded mattress blocking use of the dinette seat when lunching en route.
-Latest Coleman airbeds are very easy to fold/roll closed. We actually kept the sheets, vacuumed out the air, rolled and stowed away.
-Foam supports were never in the way in transit. At only 3ft in length each, and light as a feather, they easily slide under the dinette, or on one of the rear bunks. The adhesive held things together, and I saw no signs of compression.

Downsides:
-Not as comfortable as our SelectComfort-SleepNumber airbed at home (but then, nothing else is!).
-Need to start the night with the bed very firm. Cool air under the tipout cools the air in the mattress thru the night, dropping the pressure. On very cool nights in Michigan Upper Peninsula, we were sagging by morning until we figured that out.
-The cool air also made the bed cooler. Great for me, but DW was chilly. But warmer PJs for her solved that problem.

[thawkshaw]

Same complaint as all the others but noticed the new models had a shallow storage bin now to make the floor level at the hinge. There is still a gap between the bed and shelf but it looks like an improvement. I might try something similar in my 2007 SV233T

[ethomps1]

Originally Posted by thebrakeman

Air mattress worked well during the long trip:
-No hinge sticking in my back
-No folded mattress blocking use of the dinette seat when lunching en route.
-Latest Coleman airbeds are very easy to fold/roll closed. We actually kept the sheets, vacuumed out the air, rolled and stowed away.
-Foam supports were never in the way in transit. At only 3ft in length each, and light as a feather, they easily slide under the dinette, or on one of the rear bunks. The adhesive held things together, and I saw no signs of compression.

Downsides:
-Not as comfortable as our SelectComfort-SleepNumber airbed at home (but then, nothing else is!).
-Need to start the night with the bed very firm. Cool air under the tipout cools the air in the mattress thru the night, dropping the pressure. On very cool nights in Michigan Upper Peninsula, we were sagging by morning until we figured that out.
-The cool air also made the bed cooler. Great for me, but DW was chilly. But warmer PJs for her solved that problem.

Two years later, does this still work? We've taken to sleeping with our feet in the camper so that this "bump" doesn't bother me. Hubby could sleep anywhere, so he doesn't care.

[LadyKat]

We bought our 233t 4 years ago, a 2003. It does not have the problem with the front bed. I sleep there. The mattress is awesome at about 5 inches thick. Sounds like we lucked out. I love my hybrid I would love the new Roo with slideouts on each side and a kitchen island. But this works for us and its light weight. We had a tent trailerfor2 years and this was a big step up for us. Tent trailer had8 feet of walkable floor space but the 233 t has 18 feet of walkable floor space.