Ladder position for bunk beds

belfert · February 13, 2013, 08:17:51 PM

My bus has bunk beds like an entertainer. Most everyone who stays in the bus sleeps with their feet facing towards the front of the bus.

Any opinions on what end of the bunk to put a ladder? I'm planning on using a design very much like the bunks in Mark Renner's Silversides. I notice he always the ladder on the left end when facing the bunks.

Scott & Heather · February 14, 2013, 09:14:34 AM

Brian,

We have a full-sized bunk above our drivers' area in our coach. We put the ladder at the foot of the bunk bed. Reason is, when getting in and out, it's natural to enter and exit the bunk at the foot of the bed. When you're laying down, it's just perfectly natural to move feet first towards the ladder and then climb down. Curling yourself up or crunching yourself to get your feet into position to exit the bunk via the head side just seems unnatural. Try it...you'll see what I mean.

Boomer · February 14, 2013, 10:21:49 AM

Scott is right. The reason my steps are the opposite way is that my swing doors would be in the way, and the doors had to be in that position. And little kids will be the only ones using the top anyway.

belfert · February 14, 2013, 11:30:56 AM

Putting the ladder at the foot of the bed seems to work good on the curb side of the bus. I'm not sure sure about putting the ladder on the foot of the bed on the driver side of the bus. Logically it does make sense to have it at the foot of the bunk.

I am going to do some testing this weekend and see how it works on the driver's side.

Ednj · February 14, 2013, 01:34:59 PM

Why not both

Here is a crappy picture of mine

They can also be used to climb out the escape hatch.

Scott & Heather · February 14, 2013, 01:40:22 PM

Quote from: Ednj on February 14, 2013, 01:34:59 PM
Why not both Here is a picture of mine

Hey, I like that! We're planning on having kiddos in the next year (God willing) and are wanting to build bunks. Please send me some more photos of that bunk setup. My wife will love this! Some higher res photos would be nice too

But now that I look at it harder...it looks like it would be awkward to get into the top bunk via the ladder...

belfert · February 14, 2013, 02:57:30 PM

Quote from: Ednj on February 14, 2013, 01:34:59 PM
Why not both
Here is a crappy picture of mine

The reason not to do both would be room to get in and out of the bunks. I have some huge sheets of cardboard and I think I'll mock up a design to see if steps on both sides would work. These bunks are for adults. The oldest guy in our group is 65 and has pretty bad arthritis. (We give him use a lower bunk.)

Did you make the bunk sides out of solid pieces of wood? If so, how do you keep it all together?

Finally, do you have an issue with the sides being so low in the center? Do you have anyone sleeping in the bunks while driving? My objective in this project is to keep folks from rolling out of their bunks while the bus is moving.

gus · February 14, 2013, 03:39:28 PM

My 4104 bunk ladder is easily movable/removable and slides underneath or behind the bottom bunk when not in use.

It just hooks over the top bunk.

Boomer · February 14, 2013, 03:42:09 PM

My bunks are 6'4" long. I am 6-1 and I just fit lengthwise. Each bunk has it's own TV (only available audio is through headsets, lol), 120V & 12V plugs, a Vornado flip down fan, led light, and curtins. I have slept quite a few days in my lower bunks. It definately takes a little practice to get in and out. I have 2 large drawers under the bottom bunks on each side. One for each bunk is what they get. With the Silverside I did not want any bedding showing through the windows to make it look somewhat original from the outside. Kinda nice in the lower bunks with a sliding window and a fixed window. The uppers are for real little persons though, or clothes storage as the wife puts it.

Seangie · February 14, 2013, 05:39:58 PM

Brian,

I am struggling with this myself. I'd like to put the ladders toward the front where the feet are but I'd also like to use that front space of the bunks to build some shallow magazine like storage shelves for the kids books and craft and toy stuff.

Doing this made me think about moving the ladder to the middle. But I think the middle of the bunk or the back of the bunk would get in the way of the person in the bottom bunk.
Maybe I can figure a way to put the ladder on spring loaded sliders so the kids can slide the ladder up when not in use. It could double as a rail so the little ones dont roll out of bed while sleeping.

-Sean
www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

Boomer · February 16, 2013, 06:28:24 AM

Thats the way to build bunk framing, solid and crashworthy. Hope you don't ever have to remove them. I made my entire bunk room so that it can be removed when the grandkids grow up, and replaced with a king or queen bed.

belfert · February 18, 2013, 10:12:18 AM

Quote from: Seangie on February 14, 2013, 05:39:58 PM
Brian,

I am struggling with this myself. I'd like to put the ladders toward the front where the feet are but I'd also like to use that front space of the bunks to build some shallow magazine like storage shelves for the kids books and craft and toy stuff.

Doing this made me think about moving the ladder to the middle. But I think the middle of the bunk or the back of the bunk would get in the way of the person in the bottom bunk.
Maybe I can figure a way to put the ladder on spring loaded sliders so the kids can slide the ladder up when not in use. It could double as a rail so the little ones dont roll out of bed while sleeping.

Did you weld those bunks inside the bus? I need to re-work my bunks and was thinking about doing metal bunks, but a 34" wide bunk won't fit through a 28" door. It isn't practical to remove a windshield because they break easily during installation. I suppose I might get them in through a side window.

Seangie · February 18, 2013, 10:58:02 AM

Brian,

We welded all but one side (the side up against the wall) outside the bus. For that one side against the wall we welded 3/8 steel corner brackets at each corner of the frame (4 per frame) to slide right into the other side of the frame. Where the two frames come together in the center the pieces are bolted together through the corner brackets and frame. The outside corners we welded in the bus but we just welded the corner brackets to the outside frame. That made it really easy to get to once the frames were in place. We used fire blankets opened all the windows and had a fire extinguisher ready to go as we welded the frames in the bus.

For the feet we welded 3/8 steel plates with corner braces for strength and then we drilled holes in the feet and put a matching steel plate underneath the bus so that the plates had holes on either side of a piece of bus frame and then bolted them together sandwiching the frame between 2 plates.

The bunks are 30" x 72". Not really big but great size for the kids and my wife and I both fit in them as well.

Glad to answer any other questions you have. I'll post more pics when we get the face frames done.

-Sean

www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

Sam 4106 · February 18, 2013, 11:07:48 AM

Sean,

What is the wall thickness of the tubbing?

Thanks, Sam

belfert · February 18, 2013, 12:44:08 PM

Sean, why did you have to weld anything in the bus? The first picture you posted seems to show the bunk frame completely welded up outside of the bus.

My bunks are quite a bit larger than yours at 34" wide by 80" long. In hindsight I would rather have four bunks 75" long and 4 bunks 80" long, but I already have the custom mattresses made so I am not changing. Even just 5" of space can help.