180 Single Bed Mod
Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=15167
Printed Date: 19 Jun 2025 at 2:47pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.64 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: 180 Single Bed Mod
Posted By: DavMar
Subject: 180 Single Bed Mod
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2022 at 4:12pm
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Fellow R-Poder’s after years of having to climb over my wife to get out of the bed in our 180 I decided enough was enough of playing Spider Monkey in the middle of the night. So I decided to remove the short queen size bed and put in two single beds with storage drawers underneath. I’d like to thank fellow forum members John & Sue aka voisj for leading the way with inspiring me to take on this project. I believe voisj said the wood working involved was about a 7 in the skill scale of 1 to 10 and I would have to say it’s about a 7+. I obtained all the materials from our local big box home improvement center though if I had to do it again, I might strongly consider paying more for the lumber by going to a local building supply because of the inferior quality of wood available at the big box store. Other then that I’d also strongly suggest you have a table saw, cut off miter saw, jig saw, drills, and air brad & staple gun at your service just to make life much easier. As you will see from the pictures, I disassembled one of the dinette seats and made this removable. By removing it and laying it down and then stacking the dinette cushions it comes to the perfect height to allow me to stretch out. As for the other single bed, my wife bed, since she is only a little over five feet tall, she has enough room. As for the foam mattress we are lucky that we live in the center of what is left of the furniture industry in the USA and I was able to find a local distributor to select the density of foam and have it custom cut for a reasonable price. So here are the photos and if you have any questions feel free to give me a shout! Removing the dinette back .... hint make it easy on yourself by going ahead and removing the slide out dinette draw and the paneling covering the front at this time which I foolishly didn't do at the get go!
All done with extra bracing added.
Beds installed with 20" deep slide out drawers.
Center drawer installed which is also 20" deep to allow lots of storage.
Was able to reuse the plywood sheet from the old short queen and cut and install for new single beds. The two large bed drawers do not have pulls since the drawer extends to the bottom of bed frame which overhangs the trailer framing. So you can simply reach to the bottom of drawer front and pull open.
Finished!!!
------------- Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the wonder dog. 2017 Rpod 180 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 Lexington, NC |
Replies:
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 04 Mar 2022 at 10:03pm
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Looks nice and you did a great job! With this new layout are the beds now longer than a short queen? If so by how many inches? Also do you think you will miss the extra room you once had or not since there is a lot of floor room (compared to my 177) in the 180 already. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: David and Danette
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2022 at 7:36am
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Great job! Have thought of a similar layout for our Gulf Stream vista cruiser but still undecided if would want to give up our dinette table. Gulf Stream does have new model vista cruiser 19TWD with twin beds. ------------- 2018 Vista Cruiser 19BFD (2018- 2012 Vibe 6503 (2014-2019) 2009 r-pod 171 (2009-2014) Middle Tn 2014 Ram 1500 Quad cab |
Posted By: DavMar
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2022 at 10:36am
Thanks Jato! As for the bed length well on my wife side it maybe a bit shorter being that is something like 62 inches long. She is only a little over 5 foot something and sleeps curled up anyways so she tells me that she will have plenty of room. On my side, which is a little shorter, by modifying the dinette seat where I can remove the back and stack cushions it gives me plenty of room to stretch out. As for missing extra room we gained lots of extra floor space with this modification and added extra storage with the drawers under and in-between the beds. Another neat thing about this mod is when the day comes we sell the 180 who ever buys it can easily convert it back to the single short queen bed since I saved the mattress, topper, and such. ------------- Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the wonder dog. 2017 Rpod 180 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 Lexington, NC |
Posted By: DavMar
Date Posted: 05 Mar 2022 at 10:41am
I've been in a Vista Cruiser but sorry remember much about it and its layout. The key point to the mod I did on my R-Pod is we didn't have to give up on the dinette table which is something I wouldn't do. All I have to do now is release some Velcro and pull the back of the dinette seat of then lay it down and stack the cushions and I have a bed longer then I did when I use to play Spider Monkey in the short queen size bed.  ------------- Dave & Marlene J with Zoey the wonder dog. 2017 Rpod 180 2016 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 Lexington, NC |