Front beds???

roadtrekingmike

New member
I have the front and rear captain's chair in my RS-Adventurous. How do you make them into beds? Someone said there's an optional bed part or something that I need. We'd like to take the grandkids but I can' see how to make those seats useable.
 

mowog

Member
Mike:

Roadtrek makes a folding mattress that fits over the front 2 seats. It takes some effort to swivel the seats around and get everything lined up- easier with practice. My son uses ours when he borrows our RT, and adds a camping pad to it. The width is about the same as the back made as twins- maybe 24"? You must specify what 2nd row seating you have. The original front bed fit only the "lounge" seats, but Roadtrek has 2 types now. The captain chair model fits either R or L side. If you're ever near Maryland give me a shout for a demo.

Forgot to add: the beds folds in 2 and store on the rear seats over the wheel wells, so they have to be moved when making the rear bed.

The price is in the $500 range each. If the "guest" are old enough I suggest a small tent. Its gets crowded in a B.

i attached a PDF from Roadtrek on using the seats, as it wasn't very intuitive.

Good Luck, Bob
 

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gte

2008 RS
We have the lounge second row seats and have used our front beds once with 3 and 8 year old grandchildren. Our beds are slightly different than those for your unit with rear captains chairs but they work okay when I finally figured out how to set up the two seats. turning the drivers side front seat is a bit difficult the first time but with practice becomes easier.
Gary
2008 RS
 

roadtrekingmike

New member
Gary... any pictures? More info. My wife is talking about taking the RT back... she's that disappointed that we cant take the grandkids.
 

gte

2008 RS
Mike,
I will take some pictures tomorrow and post them. The two front beds we have are RT issue with our unit. As someone mentioned they are about the width of the two side beds in the rear and work okay for children. I think you cold make your own but may not be able to match the fabric if that is important. As I mentioned we had a 3 year old who fell out once but seemed to enjoy it and the 8 year old was just fine. If you have an a child who does 180s at night it might be interesting but a sleeping bag might help that too. Our front beds are heavy and well made and I believe the ones for the units with captains chairs might be a little larger or have one end slightly different. If you made your own you could make them a bit wider if that is important.

We love our RS but it does work best with two grand kids.

I will send pictures tomorrow.
Gary
 

220629

Well-known member
Gary... any pictures? More info. My wife is talking about taking the RT back... she's that disappointed that we cant take the grandkids.
I know that anytime anything is mentioned by my wife and it includes my Grandaughter I listen carefully. So thanks mostly to my spouse's behavior conditioning I did a search for you.

I didn't read through the threads so you're on your own. Good luck. vic


Kid's Bed Above Driver's Seats
https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16738&highlight=front+bed

Misc.


https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8812&highlight=front+bed

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15781&highlight=front+bed

https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7162&highlight=front+bed
 

gte

2008 RS
Gary... any pictures? More info. My wife is talking about taking the RT back... she's that disappointed that we cant take the grandkids.
Mike,
Here are a couple of pictures of the bed on the drivers side. I did not show the passenger side since we have our storage cabinet installed right now
Hope this helps.
Gary
 

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empty-c

Member
Here is what we do. My kids are 8 and 10. We have the beds but I find them a PITA honestly. We instead have 3 in back - my wife, me, and my daughter. We then put a full size air mattress up front. It fits just right if your careful re: the dash (of course we rotate the chairs the way RT wants you to). My son (8 yo) usually sleeps there. There is enough room to get out of the side door. In a dire emergency, it deflates in seconds.

We just use a WalMart $15.00 item, and $10 dollar inflator.

I am travelling this weekend, but can post pics if requested.
 

gte

2008 RS
I have two, still in the plastic wrap from Roadtrek, for sale if anyone is interested.
Mike,
The OEM seats work fine for our under 12 year old grand kids. I do not know the model year of these for sale and if they will fit your ETrek. I would think the ones like mine pictured above might work even with the captains chairs. Worth a try as grand kids are fun to have along.
Gary
 

alan_f

2006 Roadtrek RS
I have two, still in the plastic wrap from Roadtrek, for sale if anyone is interested.
Are these the ones like those in gte's picture? Just trying to figure out if they'd work with an RS with lounge chairs or not. How much are you asking?

Thanks,
Alan
 

gte

2008 RS
Are these the ones like those in gte's picture? Just trying to figure out if they'd work with an RS with lounge chairs or not. How much are you asking?

Thanks,
Alan
Alan
If you click on classb4me in one of his posts above you can send him an email. It looks like he has a 2006 RS so the beds may be the same as mine.
Gary
 

kutzpark

New member
Given that the original post is over a year old, I'm assuming the issue is moot. However, for those who have yet to try the maneuver in the Roadtrek pdf, just a few words of experience. Note that in the photo which shows the driver's seat swiveled to the outside (so the back of the seat is toward the door), the parking brake is DOWN (scratched the top of my housing because mine was UP when I parked). Also, because I'm fairly tall, I slide my seat back to drive -- you need to slide the seat forward to allow the swivel (I also learned this applies to the passenger side as well (another scratch to the plastic door jam). My 5ft8in daughter sleeps on the bed up front (she and my wife prefer that she sleeps on the driver side, to allow for emergency egress if necessary during the night) -- we put a self-inflating sleeping bag pad on top of the RT "front bed," then she puts a sleeping bag on top. Not as cushy as the TempurPedic at home, but it's worked for us on several short trips. Ours only folds in half -- we store it behind the rear captain seat on the passenger side while driving. Since there's only three in our family, that allows the passenger to sit in the other captain's chair, since the bed prevents any reclining of the other chair. (BTW, since the instructions indicate that the bed set-up on the passenger side requires swiveling the front chair with the back to the center aisle, the beds are interchangeable, and you don't need to worry about whether you have the "right" bed or "left" bed). DLK
 

gte

2008 RS
I believe the roadtrek pdf applies to those roadtreks with the captains chairs and not the earlier models with fixed rear seats. I have tried to rotate the drivers seat so the back is close to the door and when I do the front and rear seats do not line up enough for the beds to work. I tried rotating the front seat so the back was in the middle of the front facing the door but the under part of the seat hits the wall so I cannot rotate it fully. The position of the beds in the photo I posted above is the only position I can find for my 2008 with fixed rear seats. If I am wrong I would like to know with pictures showing how to do it. Thanks in advance.
 

alan_f

2006 Roadtrek RS
My beds are in storage, but I experimented with seat positioning a bit:

http://alan.fasick.net/sprinter-source/2006rs_front_seat1.jpg
http://alan.fasick.net/sprinter-source/2006rs_front_seat2.jpg

In order to get it to turn sideways, I had to mess around with the adjustments for the seat a bit, especially the seat depth adjustment, seat angle and front-to-back adjustment. With the back towards the door, I think the bed would not fit unless you have one of the beds that has a cutout specifically to fit there (I think that's the one for the captain's chairs not the lounge chairs like I have.)

Things may be a bit different for your 2008 model.

Hope this helps,
Alan
 

gte

2008 RS
Alan,
Thanks for the photos.

I will revisit the rotation of the seats in my 2008. I have a feeling the seat mount in mine might be different than in your 2006. When I try to rotate the back into the middle the mount for the seat hits the wall.

Gary
 

Lstager

New member
Empty-c, can you post a picture of how your full size air mattress fits in the front...I'd appreciate it. Thanks...
 

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