Big Guy mod to the master bed base

[Aronious]

After about two nights in the Voltage on our first trip we both agreed that the mattress had to go. I was already tired of sleeping with my legs hanging off the end half way to my knees. By morning you might as well be just sleeping on the OSB base.

So a real mattress was in order. Problem was it was wider, longer, and thicker. The three inches per side and six inches on the end that overhung the OSB base just wouldn't work so I built and installed a new base to support the mattress. Also the gas struts in their original location would hardly hold up the puny original matress let alone this new monster.

Hopefully these pic's come out in order.

Pic #1 - shows the original support boards, notice how the smaller head piece has square cuts and leaves gaps where it meets the bed head frame.

Pic #2 - shows how the piece I installed is radiused to fit tight to the head frame.

Pic #3 - is the gas struts in their original location

Pic #4 - is how far I moved the struts to get them to hold up the larger/heavier mattress.

Pic #5 - I had a couple of pieces of oak square laying around the shop so holding the other end of the struts looked like a good spot for them.

Pic #6 - The completed base. notice that I also radiused the corners of the base under the corners of the mattress. (Just a another example of Dutchmen's cutting corners, (ohhhh, bad pun,) to save a dime.

I gave the whole top a good sanding to smooth out the slivers that would snag the bottom of the mattress. I was going to apply a coat of poly to the top but I ran out of time and just placed the mattress on top. The relocated struts now hold up the end of the heaver mattress just fine although the opening is and inch or so narrower.

Yaaaaaaaaaa'wn, look'en at these pictures of that new bed makes me feel like a nap------- Ya, I think I'll go find a comfy spot------

[Nana & Poppy]

Nice looking mod!

[Wanderer]

The loss of space on the sides will be well worth it for you I'm sure!

[Aronious]

Laura keeps two sets of pillows for the bed and at night the space underneath the edge is just the right size to stuff the night pillows and in the daytime just the opposite. The bedroom slide-out just touch's the mattress without touching the base when it's in. Really wasn't planned that way, just everybody gets lucky once in a while.

[Cooper]

Very nice work ...we replaced our original TT mattress with a new one...what a difference .....people said a memory form topper would work on the original mattress but the wife said NO.....

Would like to install " Magic Fingers" just like Motel 6

Coops

[Aronious]

Coop - Back in the day when I was sleeping on a water bed it had a massager bolted to the bottom of the base. Basically it was two U springs, two weights, a couple of electro magnets, and a control unit at the head of the bed. Kind of like getting hit in the middle of your back with a three pound hammer. Maybe you could find one of those old units and screw it to the underside of your bed base.

[kodiak 2013]

I have an original mattress factory one pillow top with a ikea comforter and a pillow topper like sleeping on a cloud

[72mach]

Nice work!

[Cooper]

Aronious...thanks for the suggestion..but will pass....no doubt you had "hard water" in the water bed.... I never had a water bed as I wasn't into to "water sports"

Take care...nice job on the bed mod.

Coops

[gonervn]

Looks great nice job

[Infinityrver]

Really, nice job on the bed upgrade Aaron.

Next time don't post any pictures (just kiddin').

The wife saw them. She says, 'Well....you can do the same'.
I suggested she call you.

Thanks.............for adding to my To-do-list.

[Volvosweetie]

Nice work, I know what you mean about being to short. My husband is 6'3:" and our last two campers he complained about his feet hanging off. Our first camper the mattress was longer than some, so when we traded we swapped mattresses because the new camper mattress was a lot shorter. We we bought our Grand Junction it had a king size memory foam mattress that he fits on. Our other campers didn't have enough room to add additional length. Glad you had enough space for that.

[72mach]

I just worked on our bedroom mod. We went from the factory king memory foam to a serta queen memory foam. We were having issues with the king bed folding in the middle into a V. I thought it might have been the mattress which probably was part of it but after pulling the old bed and seeing what was supporting it I think part of the problem was a weak structure. There should have been some cross braces to make the frame stay square and not sag. Also they used 1/2 inch cheap plywood vs 3/4 or 1 inch. We trimmed the existing plywood to match the bed frame and will see if I need to get new plywood and braces. The extra room is nice though and we now have another project for nightstands.

[kevinmiles]

We also converted from the factory king-size to a queen Serta mattress. This gave space on each side to install modest sized night tables which I canabalized from my previous 5th wheel before trading it in.

Also had to strengthen the bed frame this past winter because it was sagging in the middle. I added a 2x3 cross member in the centre area and it seems OK now.