Bedding for Great West Legend trifold bed

[Riverlady]

We just ordered a 2013 GWV Legend SE. We're new to RV'ing. Anyone have recommendations for appropriately-sized bedding (mattress pads, sheets, or anything else)? Would appreciate any help you can give.

 

[Davydd]

We use Coleman Issaquah sleeping bags with zip out flannel liners that can be washed separately from the bag. This is how it was set up in our Pleasure-Way Plateau but our Legend is the same. The sleeping bag size is 36" x 80". We sleep with them individually but they can also be zipped together. We store our pillows in the back upper cabinet. We roll up our sleeping bags and store them on top of the wheel wells and often use them as foot stools when sitting on the sofa.

A lot of people use the old Travasack (out of business) or the similar Superbag. Bedding like this can be rolled up and stored away easily. It takes more than 5 minutes to set up or put away.

Somef people resort to foam mattress pads and sheets. They are difficult to store away so they tend to then leave the bed made up. I think that defeats the multi-functional purpose of having an electric convertible sofa. If it ever came to that for me I would go to a fixed bed.

 

[Riverlady]

Thanks for the info. I guess I was imagining more traditional bedding, but I can see how your system would work. I'll start checking into the Coleman bags.

 

[markopolo-ClassB]

We don't have a Great West Legend trifold bed but, like Davydd, we use individual sleeping bags. We always have in a Class B. We have fleece bags and regular bags. DW, if she is cold, will put the fleece bag in the regular sleeping bag. I've never needed the two bags. At first we tried one large queen sized sleeping bag but it was hard to store in the van

In a larger RV we used traditional bedding but sleeping bags are easy to setup and store so, in a Class B, they work well for us.

This poll http://www.classbforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=303 indicates we are slightly in the minority. Approximately 60% use traditional bedding and 40% use Travasaks or sleeping bags.

 

[Davydd]

This is the sleeping bag we bought at a Costco store for $30 each. It appears to be out of stock or no longer made. This size, though, should fit in your B and this web page kind of gives you an idea what to look for.

http://www.sportchalet.com/product/outd ... 8341606.do

 

[Quanyin]

We use a sleeping bag which has two separate thicknesses, a summer and a winter side. With a washable liner that is held in place with Velcro. it is very comfortable. We also use a foam pad to help even out and soften the tri-fold sofa. It is a bit cumbersome, for we travel with two duffel sized bags. That being said, I think I sleep better in Peggy than at home!
Paul

 

[Riverlady]

Thanks so much. It seems the Coleman Issaquah is no longer available, which is too bad. The removable liners sound awesome! But I think our Slumberjack sleeping bags might work well, along with the neat idea of the bed sheet insert. That link to the poll was very helpful. Our RV won't be available until late June, but with my sewing skills, I'd better get started now!
I am actually wondering if those Travasak replacement sheets might work in a regular sleeping bag, if I'm not successful in making the bed sheet inserts.

 

[Davydd]

Google "sleeping bag liner" or "travel sheet" and you'll find some ideas. There are cotton sleeping bag or slip inside liner sheets people use. I've heard people travel with the cotton liner sheets to sleep in hotel rooms when they don't trust the linen.

I'm not sure why Coleman dropped the Issaquah bag and did not come up with another removable liner sleeping bag. We have used our probably for more than 300 nights now and they may be getting old in the tooth with some rips in the bags and flannel liner pils. We also learned right away the liners were not interchangeable between the bags so we had to mark which was which.

 

[Rok]

Hi Riverlady,

We have the GW Legend SE as well, and we were new to RVing until our first trip a couple of weeks ago. What we found is that you don't need a whole lot of sleeping bags/bedding. We just throw a matress pad over the tri-fold couch and lay on top of it with an open sleeping bag over us as a comforter. It seemed to work well, but we were out in mostly colder weather. A Class B motorhome doesn't have a lot of air-flow around you, so you won't feel the cold as much. If there are two of you, your body heat will provide a lot of your heat. Your LE will have a couple of heat options as well, if it does get cold.

Good luck with it.

...........Rocky

 

[Riverlady]

Thanks Davydd. I will check into the cotton liners.
And thanks for your input too, Rocky. Sounds like we're in a similar situation in similar vans. We're really excited to actually get our hands on ours. Good luck to you too.

 

[Riverlady]

Hi Paul,
Could you tell me what brand of sleeping bag liner you found with Velcro, or did you have to customize it? Thanks, Riverlady

 

[Rick-ClassB]

We have PW and we followed Davydd's lead and use sleeping bags with a liner, but we sleep on thin self filling air pads. They roll up small but sometimes we will just fold the pad and bedding together and place them on the ottoman under the TV or on the front seat driverside if we are sitting on the couch. We found we need some sort of pad otherwise we felt the cracks between the cusions on the couch.

 

[Quanyin]

Hi Riverlady,
I believe that it is the RV Superbag. It's pricey, to be sure, but we are happy we made that selection. We went with a high thread count liner, and together with the foam pad, we have found it quite comfortable in a variety of conditions.
Paul

 

[pattonsr]

Paul,

Did you get two Superbags or one large one to fill the space? I was wondering if the one large one would be hard to roll up for daytime storage.

Barry

 

[gordonhks]

We took a different tack. We did not use the couch very much while it was up. One of us tended to lay on it and read while the other sat upright and looked on with scorn/envy. I was fairly comfortable with the sofa for sleeping while down, but my wife had pressure points hitting her in the wrong areas causing a little discomfort. We now leave the sofa down full time and have covered it with a gel foam topper. We tried three different ones in a Target parking lot. The customer service folks got to know us, as we returned the ones that did not work. One was TOO thick, one was too thin, and one was like Goldie Locks...just right. An added benefit of leaving the bed down is that we have a tremendous amount of storage room under the bed. We now cary with us at all times an inflatable two man kayak, in addition to our other basic camping/living needs.

In addition to that, we now carry under the bed a full size Barcalounger.... Just kidding Davydd..

 

[Quanyin]

Barry, we bought a king-sized bag. It does roll up in a nylon bag. Our solution isn't for everyone, though. We have another bag for the king-sized foam pad that we carry. It takes a few minutes to roll and stow them into the bags. We put the bed up while traveling. We mostly use the couch for seating during dinner. In the evenings I find it comfortable to read on the sofa while stretching out my legs on the sliding seat over the storage area in front of the sofa in our EX. I don't know if the SE or standard size Legend has those. The space under the trifold sofa is a perfect spot to store our folding bikes!
Paul

 

[teachergal]

I have a hodge-podge of sleeping arrangements depending on the situation!

I have a PW Plateau - similar bedding arrangement as the Great West.

I usually put 2 king size fitted sheets over the bed - a t-shirt knit one (kinda like a mattress pad) and a regular one. Both my sheets are reject sheets that my mom no longer needs - mostly the elastic is no good anymore on both and I don't really need the elastic in the RV. I Put the sheet over the back of the couch before I lower it which holds it on and I pull up the cushions on the ottomans and put the sheets under and put them back so the sheet isn't going anywhere! When it's cold I have a fleece sheet I use in place of the top sheet.

I have a 0* rated backpacking sleeping bag (mummy style) that I use when it's cold - although I still find that I have to pile on the the layers of long underwear and socks and put blankets over it...that van gets cold, cold, cold. This is an easy option because as soon as the sheets are on I throw the sleeping bag down and I'm ready for bed.

On a weekend trip that is fine, however when I travel for a few weeks in the summer I get to where I can't stand sleeping in the sleeping bag so I make up the bed "normal". I have a top sheet, it's only "double" size, but it's enough. I tuck it in on one side and leave it open on the other. I then throw an afghan I crocheted over that and I have a "twin" size comforter that I throw over that if I need it.

I find that I'm much more comfortable to leave the bed down all the time. This presents a few problems.
1) No table, no place to eat... - Solution: Use the picnic table in the campground, or if there's no picnic table I have a "TV" tray that I stash behind the driver seat that I use - I swivel the passenger seat and sit there.

2) no place to sit and watch TV or relax other than in bed. Solution - sit in the campsite in a camp chair or at the picnic table & read or blog. When I'm at Wal-Mart or a rest stop this is a bigger problem...so I've made a large floor pillow that I use as a backrest and makes part of my bed like a chair.

I'm in a slightly different situation b/c I'm a solo RVer...I just have me to worry about!

Good luck! I hope my experiences can be helpful!

 

[Davydd]

In addition to that, we now carry under the bed a full size Barcalounger.... Just kidding Davydd..

I was going to carry our Ekornes Stressless Recliner but only the footstool would fit in our B.

 

[gordonhks]

Ta Da. I have been looking for a good footstool to use when the front seats are swiveled. May have to give this a try.

 

[Davydd]

For a foot stool up front we had been using a small cooler but will not take it on our next trip. We keep one of those fold-up plastic step stools which can double duty as a foot stool.

In the back our wheel wells are squared off but I notice later Legends the wheel wells follow the original contour which I think makes them less useful. Ours make for natural foot stools with the sofa and for extra padding and elevation the rolled up sleeping bags work fine.

Squared off like this. We can set storage cartons on top and they stay. When we put the bed down we can just move them to the floor. Our two sleeping bags wedge in there nicely as well.