Dreamsleep set up?

[Harby]

We've got a Bailey Pegasus Palermo, which we absolutely love - it's as perfect as a caravan will ever be for us, two daughters (5 and 6) and great big Labrador who has plenty of space to sleep on the floor at night.

But. My main caravan job (other than general cooking/washing up/cleaning etc) is making up the bed. I prefer that to emptying to loo. The double Dreamsleep bed is so amazingly huge and comfortable that we always get a good night's sleep. However, I find it a REAL faff to make up / take down the bed.

We had a Swift before and I had a simply process in place and each cushion had a place to be put during the process. With the Dreamsleep I find we've got cushions (the back/lumbar cushions and the secondary bits that fir under the mattresses during the day) all over the place, with no-where to put them as when I want to store them in the bed locker, all the bedding's in there. But to get the bedding out I need space to put it, and - guess what - the cushions are in that space.

I watched the Dreamsleep video which shows two of the cushions used as a pillow (ouch - stiff necks all round) and the other two stuffed under the bed. I hate leaving them on the floor under the bed at night as I'm worried that they might overheat if the blown-air heating is on, but I don't want to turn it off and get cold! Also, the dog wanders around the caravan in the day and I don't want to start vacuuming up Labrador hair at 11pm as I'm making up the bed.

Has anyone else mastered this process without getting flustered and annoyed every morning and night???

 

[otherclive]

Bits we don’t need for a five berth set up are left at home if there’s only two or three of us. But you’ve hit in a problem not just related to your bedding arrangements but caravans in general. I have a view that the designers aren’t really involved in using them for real. It’s only when the owners start to use them that problems such as yours become apparent. Unless your heating outlets a very hot I don’t think that putting bits under the bed would be a problem. Just don’t block the outlets. You could turn heating off after all Labradors are built for ruffty tuffty outdoors work.

 

[Craigyoung]

A bit like clive on this one , we can make up for a 6 berth but only need it for the 4 off us so what we don't need was straight away taken out of the van we have a mattress topper which is quite thick but even trying to fold that away and keep that somewhere is a bit of a tricky situation for storage as its quite chunky but nice and soft when lying on it , but when we are settled for bed like you say I've got about four or five bits off end seat cushions stacked up or put under the latts

Craig

 

[Martin24]

Just put the backs under the slats and leave it at that. Alas Bailey didn't fully think through the night time set up when they were trying to make things easier and more comfortable. There have also been a lot of complaints about the seats slipping and needing some sort of adaption to stop this happening during the day. They haven't put the dream sleep system in the new Unicorn so I assume it hasn't been well received. The other alternative you have of course is just to make up the front seats as singles.

 

[Craigyoung]

Done that a few times and i cant sleep on one side as i caught my head on the bit off bench that folds down , hit my head off the unit if i lie head at hitch end !! Lay on the other side and fell off !! :lol: give me a full size bed any day !!

 

[Anseo]

caught my head on the bit off bench that folds down , hit my head off the unit if i lie head at hitch end !! Lay on the other side and fell off !! :lol:

Poitín had the same effect on me hmy:

 

[Harby]

Thanks folks. We're just back after 8 nights in France. I decided to go along with the 'put up and shut up' approach - and just accept the fact that it's a faff to set up and we have cushions everywhere while I'm making up the bed. I have now found a process that works better than before and will stick to it (if I can remember it) when we start the 2018 season. Caravanning wasn't meant to be easy or glamorous was it?

 

[Craigyoung]

And that process is . . . hmy:

 

[Harby]

Really Craigyoung????

1. Take rear cushions (back supports) off the side opposite where bedding is stored under and plonk on the floor in kitchen (avoiding Labrador, dog food and water bowls and various shoes)

2. Turn seat cushion over

3. Remove dream sleep mattress cover and place in kitchen area (avoiding all above mentioned items and Mr H)

4. Do the same on the opposite side, but putting back support cushions even further away down the caravan. Open up bunker once seat cover is upside down

5. Pull out under sheet and put over first mattress cushion

6. Pull out pillows and duvet and arrange on top half of bed

7. Carefully place all scatter cushions and two back support cushions on the floor under the bed (moving shoes and general clutter first). Mr H helps at this point by passing bits to me.

8. Put two remaining back support cushions under the bed where the bedding was kept during the day, giving them a real shove as they're about 2 inches longer than the allocated space

9. Pull out bed slats

10. Find the dream sleep mattresses from in the kitchen and put them on the slats

11. Make up the bed

12. (Quite often) realise that there's something I need under the cupboard at the front of the bed ARRRGGHHHHH!!!!

It just seems a lot more difficult than the old Swift we had which used the back support cushions as part of the bed. Not one you want to be doing if you've had a couple of aperitifs to many!!!!!

(Next caravan will have a fixed bed and the children can sleep in a tent!!!)

 

[Craigyoung]

Ha ha ! Ours is done in about 1o minutes !

 

[Martin24]

So you won't be recommending the dream sleep system. Funny how they haven't fitted it to the Unicorn in it's latest reincarnation. Even more surprised they've kept it for the GT70. Feedback must have been generally positive. Our van has a fixed bed for us and the children all use a single bed each. All sorted in 5 minutes if that.

 

[Harby]

It's amazingly comfy once set up, so Bailey are correct that it gives a Dream Sleep. But there are just too many chunky bits and pieces to move around in a small space and not enough place to put them. Thinking back we used to stuff things under the bed slats at night (shoes etc) but that's just not possible. Otherwise we love the caravan so it's a small price to pay I suppose.