Surveyor 233t uncomfortable expandable bed

[thebolt]

Hello everybody... I just bought a 2009 Surveyor 233t expandable. After getting it home and opening up the fold out beds I noticed that on one side more than the other there is a huge bump at the end of the bed where the hinges are located. Even with the mattress over it you can feel it when laying down. There is no way my wife and I can both sleep on the bed without one of us having this bump right in our back. Is this normal or is there something wrong with the hinges not allowing the bed to go all the way down?

I have attached a few photos so you can see what I mean. The white pump is where the hinges are located and the mattress covers this but this side seems higher than the other side.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Dave

[bikendan]

our Roo has a similar thing.
we just have a memory foam topper, which nearly all add to the factory mattress.
it has helped the DW a lot, since she sleeps over it and she's a real "Princess and the Pea".

[Cjc5602]

I was just logging on to a dress the same issue!!!!!!! We just bought a 05 surveyor and tested it out, I ended up sleeping on the couch. The design is just terrible.
I'm actually considering building it up and scraping the matress and getting a real memory foam mattress. Just haven't been able to work on it due to 19 inches of rain

[Rugged Brown]

I think its an issue inherent to Hybrids. We purchased a hybrid last summer , slept in it for 10 nights before deciding we could no longer take the sleepless nights. Traded it for a fifth wheel.

[adkjake]

I just sold a 2004 233t that i purchased new and had the same issue. The answer for our trailer was we purchased a sleeping bag mattress pad from dick's sporting goods approx 24 inches wide and doubled it up to fit that area.Yes its a poor design but the pad made sleeping more comfortable .My wife and i are now enjoying our 2011 rockwood 2604ss ,but really loved our surveyor 233t which is another great forest river trailer.Enjoy your 2011 camping and i hope this will help.

[thebrakeman]

We've only had 1 trip in our '04 261T, and definitely need to do something about that bump. My wife cut up some "egg crate" foam and put 2 layers under that area, but it's not enough to help.

Building up the low area on the end does not address the problem. The problem is the 1" trim piece that will still be there, stickup up into your back. The mattress isn't firm enough to mask it.

I'm considering building up the low area (to match the height of the rest of the bunk), scrapping the mattress, and going to an air mattress. Like one of those dual-twin "Quick beds", since a standard queen airbed is probably too long for the tenting.

[ethomps1]

Our first trip with the 233T Surveyor will be the weekend of Aug 19th - I have the 3 inch memory foam that we used in our former trailer and hope that it will take care of this issue. Especially as I am certain that will be my side of the bed! I'll report back in a couple of weeks.

[acadianbob]

Might it be an option to put some foam UNDER the mattress? Not the whole thing? Just to manage the bump?

[ethomps1]

I'll have to sleep on it to determine if that will work. As ADKJake wrote about about the sleeping mattress pad, I think I have one with my tent camping items. Worth a try anyway!

[Cjc5602]

I ended up buying a quality memory foam mattress topper. We put it on top of the regular mattress and it works great

[ethomps1]

Update: The 3 inch memory foam did NOT take care of the problem. What a design flaw! I did purchase a foam mattress pad, that helped. The next night, I took that pad and folded it in half length-wise and that was even better. I might take another pad and fold it also. My husband also mentioned replacing the foam in the mattress for heavy duty car upholstery foam or commercial grade foam cut to the correct size.

The man designed that bed should be made to sleep on it for a month and see what he thinks of his great idea.

[Jack Durant]

I ditto the memory foam mattress topper idea. When we first got our hybrid, we tried sleeping on the existing "mattress". Bad idea. My wife went out the next day and found a wonderful topper that works great.

[dennis5_0]

My wife and I bought a surveyor 224t, we couldn't stand sleeping on those beds, even our daughter couldn't get comfortable. We traded it in on a Tracer 2910bhs, we love it, now have a queen bed and daughter says hers is more comfortable as well. I know it's a completely different trailer and cost me a small fortune, but glad we did it.

Dennis

[PrairieBoy]

We had the same thing on our 99 Trail-lite Bantam lite hybrid. That was the most uncomfortable thing to sleep on. A 3in memory foam matress topper helped somewhat but did not fix the problem. Most of the time we slept in separate beds and let the kids ride the hump but this wasn't fair to the kids either. Will be glad to have our new Surveyor 305 next year and the kids are excited about the new bunkhouse in the back.

[JimChow]

We bought a 233T late in 2007 and love it except for the bed. We traded up from a 2000 Coleman Utah which had king size beds, much more comfortable and flat.
What I did is what was suggested here by others. I used 3/8 " plywood and a 2 X 2 and built out the area, to be on the same plain as possible, as the original area. That and some velcro to keep in place plus a foam topper and it is much more tolerable. It is a little higher to get into bed but a step stool helps. Still, I would rather sleep north to south and not east to west as in the 233T. But we enjoy everything else about the 233T.

[ethomps1]

Finally able to report back - many months later. What I did was to take two boards about 3/4 inch thick and about 4 inches wide. I laid them on the low portion of the bed. I used my sleeping bag pad and inflated that and laid that over the boards. Then I dropped the mattress on that, with the memory foam topper over the mattress. Whew!

But it worked. I noticed it a little while I was awake, but it seemed to do the trick for the three nights that we camped last weekend.

Major PITA to roll up the memory foam and secure with straps, then to take out the sleeping bag pad and roll up, find a place to store, and then remove the boards, which slide under the table. But I was comfortable - which is the most important part.

[thebrakeman]

But the mattress has that extra thick portion to take up the difference in height. By adding 1½" of wood to level things out, doesn't that have that entire end of the mattress rolling you toward the center of the bed?

[sself1219]

I slept on the hump this past weekend, I'll defiantly be fixing that in the near future. I'm thinking a 5-6" memory foam mattress and leveling that spot out.

[thebrakeman]

The hinge is the problem, not the difference in height. You could build a wood platform to make the entire surface the same height. But you'd still have that hinge sticking up another inch into your back, thru the mattress and whatever other covering you put on it. Build up the bed enough, and your nose will be brushing the canvas!

While the camper is at home, I think I might try building up that step to make it level. Then replace the entire mattress with an queen air mattress. I suspect that only an air mattress will be able to completely mask that hinge. As a side benefit, when we want to use the dinette for lunch on the road, we won't have the folded mattress in the way.

[Cowracer]

They must cut out the hole before they mount the front wall. My front bed has the same issue, but the bed is LOWER than the shelf. My friend has the same identical camper as me and his front is level with the shelf, but his rear bunk is lower.

Tim