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Old 12-06-2016, 12:32 PM   #1
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That Miserable Corner Berth

The fixed rear corner berth, which is part of the floor plans in many smaller Class ‘C’ motor homes, is an abomination. I could describe it in more simpler terms but I would be banned from the forum for the use of so many strung together expletive adjectives fitting such a wonder of floor planning and forethought.

First off, it’s neither a Queen nor a Double. It takes Double Long sheets, that is if you are fool enough to try to use fitted sheets on the monster, and even at that with the corner chopped off, it’s a real disaster. Waking up in the middle of the night with the bottom fitted sheet wrapped up around the back of your neck is not conducive to a pleasant morning. You’re probably still suffering from the many contortions, aching muscles, and ripped fingernails you had to endure to put the sheets on the night before. I’ve even thought of standing on a step ladder and going through the emergency exit from the outside as a plausible idea for reaching the top of the mattress, something you can’t do while kneeling on it and trying to secure the sheet.

Moving right along, you have to get in and out of the thing without adding to your injuries or expelling the person next to you on to the floor during that inevitable trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Drawing straws to see who gets the inside and outside wall is another fine but not elaborated feature of this monstrosity. The inside wall winner gets trampled during the nighttime run and the outside wall winner gets to be crammed up against the outside wall, not a problem until the cold weather sets in. Both winners get to scoot in and out on the back of their head, butt, and ankles using their arms like a set of oars, something that once mastered will make getting settled a little more palatable.

Next up, storage. Don’t even think about putting anything you ever want to see or use again in the rear overhead compartments. It takes a different kind of maneuver to retrieve the item. Unless you want to get the sheets and blankets full of whatever your shoes drug in from the surrounding campground, you’ll need to remove them. Then you either crawl in on your hands and knees or use a long broom handle with a hook on the end to fetch the item. If you choose to go in on your hands and knees, you still have to get back out, only with one less hand to help you. If you put an item requiring both hands to retrieve, then you’ll need to roll over on your back and toss it out. Now since you are on your back, refer to the entry exit method described earlier.

Finally, we get to the mattress itself. It’s the best mattress $39.95 can buy. A Sleep Number replacement is out of the question if you ever want to open the bathroom door. A custom is an option, but an expensive one, so you decide to make the mistake of all mistakes with this corner bunk. You buy a 3” or 4” foam mattress topper and cut off the corner to make it fit. If you think making up the bed was difficult enough, you have just made the leap into impossible. Now you sink in and are captured like being in thick mud, able to barely move or crawl forward. It’s even more fun to get in and out of as not only do you use the back of your head, butt, and ankles, but now you’ll need to thrash up and down like you were being electrocuted to move in any direction.

Well, there you have it. Everything you wanted to know and then some about the corner berth.
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Old 12-06-2016, 01:41 PM   #2
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A corner berth makes more floor space in a small rig. A bed with aisles on both sides just steals space that is only useful getting in and out of the bed. You could use sleeping bags, zipped together, on the bed.

I suffered many odd shaped berths growing up on cabin cruisers, it's not the bed but the option to enjoy the waking hours.
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Old 12-06-2016, 01:56 PM   #3
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Old 12-06-2016, 02:10 PM   #4
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Had Rv's going back to 1970. Downsized from a 4 slide 5th wheel. This one was for the purpose of a night or two over but mostly travel and ease of maneuvering. It does that well as expected. Like the unit, the berth excepted.
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Old 12-06-2016, 02:30 PM   #5
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Sounds like there is a future project to modify the corner unit for a more comfortable bed preparation and sleep experience.
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Old 12-06-2016, 02:51 PM   #6
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Looked at those in rigs around 24' and ruled out anything with the corner bed. Couldn't stand the climbing over each other and did not like having to sleep with walls in our face.

We added 3 feet to our search and it made a world of difference in storage, access to it, and having an actual bedroom with a door and a bed two could comfortably get in and out of.

Our 27' will still fit in a pull through parking space and we really don't notice any difference in maneuverability. The other plus was it was easier to find a E-450 instead of an E-350 in that length so we got more cargo and towing capacity along with a slightly wider wheelbase.

Other thing we avoided was anything that had a folded mattress that needed a slide extended to access the bed. Stupidest design I've ever seen.
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Old 12-06-2016, 02:58 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nosticks View Post
The fixed rear corner berth, which is part of the floor plans in many smaller Class ‘C’ motor homes, is an abomination. I could describe it in more simpler terms but I would be banned from the forum for the use of so many strung together expletive adjectives fitting such a wonder of floor planning and forethought.

<snip>
Well written! When picking our floor plan, we loved the floor plan with a corner bed but knew we'd hate the bed for all of the reasons you so eloquently listed. Everything being a compromise when it comes to MHs, we chose a rear slide out queen, knowing we'd not like having to wrestle with the mattress every time we moved. Almost as bad is looking at the folded up bed and seeing something that's just not usable as a rear couch, but it looks so close to being one! If only I could rig up a folding queen that fits in that space and converts to a couch without limiting the storage under the bed. So close, and yet so far.
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Old 12-06-2016, 03:11 PM   #8
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Funny post (and I'm not going to challenge the truthfulness), but if it's that much of an abomination to you, then perhaps you shouldn't have purchased that layout? After all, where else could you put a second bed (after the overhead) in a 22' motorhome?

My last C (27') didn't have a rear bed at all; rather, it was a rear bath with the kitchen and dinette next, and finally a jackknife couch and two swivel chairs just before the cab. DW & I slept in the overhead (while any kids or friends with us used the jackknife & dinette). Large and comfortable, it was nonetheless a pain to get in & out of, particularly for my middle of the night sojourn to the bathroom since I slept closest to the front window. With the combination of low headroom and climbing up/down, a rear corner bed sounds pretty nice to me! Everything is relevant, I guess.

I will say, however, that I'm loving my new Class A rear bedroom with walk around room and full ceiling height!!!
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Old 12-06-2016, 03:39 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by 4x4van View Post
My last C (27') didn't have a rear bed at all; rather, it was a rear bath with the kitchen and dinette next, and finally a jackknife couch and two swivel chairs just before the cab.
Which model was that? A friend had one with exactly that layout and I've been trying to find another one.
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Old 12-06-2016, 05:00 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by Old Radios View Post
Looked at those in rigs around 24' and ruled out anything with the corner bed. Couldn't stand the climbing over each other and did not like having to sleep with walls in our face.

We added 3 feet to our search and it made a world of difference in storage, access to it, and having an actual bedroom with a door and a bed two could comfortably get in and out of.

Our 27' will still fit in a pull through parking space and we really don't notice any difference in maneuverability. The other plus was it was easier to find a E-450 instead of an E-350 in that length so we got more cargo and towing capacity along with a slightly wider wheelbase.

Other thing we avoided was anything that had a folded mattress that needed a slide extended to access the bed. Stupidest design I've ever seen.
Our first class A was 24 foot with a corner bed. I was in my early 30s and my wife late 20s so that bed worked for us just fine. A tornado totaled the rig in 2001, so in our search for a new replacement motorhome, our must haves were small coach but with bigger bed. The corner would have been fine with us but it didn't take long to find that a queen just didn't fit in that space. I didn't want a bed dropping down from the ceiling so the only thing to do was go up in coach length. Ours now is 28 feet with the walk around queen.

It's safe to say, we wouldn't want to go back now.
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Old 12-07-2016, 09:30 AM   #11
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Which model was that? A friend had one with exactly that layout and I've been trying to find another one.
It was a Jamboree (1988) S-26. It was made for a number of years, under both the Jamboree and Tioga badges, and was a great layout. In fact, it was known "unofficially" as the "party plan" because of the wide open layout with lots of seating. We loved it, and used that RV for 14 years before finally just recently moving up to a Class A with slideouts.
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Old 12-07-2016, 02:15 PM   #12
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Our new one, with a corner bed works perfectly for us and we love it. We wanted a short Class C, with no slideouts, and 2 dedicated sleeping areas. The other half...snores, and takes the corner bed, with a soft and comfy summer/winter sleeping bag. I take the cab over bunk, fitted with nice sheets and a blanket. We sleep separately at home also, so it was a no brainer for us. Works like a charm. No disturbing each other for nighttime bathroom visits, and we both get a good and restful night's sleep.
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Old 12-07-2016, 03:38 PM   #13
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Our 2005 Winnebago Aspect has a corner berth. We fought this battle for a while and won, more or less.
To solve the sheet problem I installed a set of waterbed sheet fasteners. These are permanently attached to the platform underneath and have an "arm" that comes up the side of the corners of the mattress. There is a button which attaches to the arm; this holds the bottom sheet in place. For the "short corner" where the egress to the bed is I attached a set of suspenders; this holds that corner of the bottom sheet in place. We have not had a problem since, and you can use a flat sheet for the bottom sheet.
As far as the mattress goes, we junked the $39.95 mattress and bought a full size Sleep Number mattress, 55"X75". The pump resides under the bed. This has always worked well for us.
As far as getting in and out, well let's just say it keeps ya limber. Also making beeping noises when backing out of it adds to the humor of the situation.
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Old 12-12-2016, 07:20 AM   #14
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Our second RV had a corner bed. While I don't recall the manufacture we did find a sleep system that was basically a "residential" sleeping bag with sheets that had sheets that were attached inside the bag by Velcro. These sleeping bags eliminated having to make the bed. We also found that the thinner memory foam was actually more comfortable than the thicker options.
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