American Cruiser couch/bed issue

[Dave R-ClassB]

Hey folks,

We just acquired a 2000 American Cruiser RE 2000X. The color glossy brochure that came with it shows a queen bed converted from the couch that folds down/slides out? and meets up with the fold down seats from the dinette across the aisle. Our issue is the "couch" is 30" wide and is solidly attached to plywood below and isn't going anywhere.

We're guessing it's been modified by someone (probably a single camper) who didn't want or need a queen bed and was happy to sleep on the quasi twin while leaving the dinette set up full time.

Unless this was originally intended as two separate beds that came from the manufacturer like this. Has anyone seen this?

We're brainstorming for ways to deconstruct it and make it convertible to fill the 14" gap across the aisle creating a larger bed.

Anyone with knowledge about these would be appreciated.

Dave
Northern Cal

 

[Dave R-ClassB]

Just thought I'd post an update to this issue with what we ended up doing. See attached photos. This doesn't show the bed with covers all set up for heading to bed, but it does show the bench I constructed, the cushion we had custom ordered, and what it looks like when folded up for travel.

The two of us fit pretty snug, and have learned how to not maim each other with elbows or knees while sleeping, but believe it or not, it works pretty well.

You may wonder why it doesn't go all the way across and take advantage of the other seats by the table (which fold down flat); the side hinges of the seats stick up too far to be able to fashion something that completely covers them sufficient for eliminating the bumps. The seat cushion/table side is also 3"or so higher than the bed side. Problematic...That would also result in a larger mattress to have to tuck away somewhere.

 

[JonMN]

Nice solution! We had a similar desire. Our Coachmen Beyond has two separate cushions. I cut a piece of thin plywood and carry it under one of the cushions. We slide it across to bridge the gap when we want to pull the cushions together.

The cushions are thick enough to distribute the weight, so we were able to get by with really thin (1/4") plywood with no problem.