Taking bed out of back of bus?

[Tully]

Ok, I know there are a lot of folks gonna think I am crazy. I want to take the bed out of the back of the bus. I want to be very careful when I take it out as I will plan on putting it back in if and when I ever sell bus.

My wife and I like the idea of havinga sofa' in the back as well as a recliner- facing each other. The sofa we found folds into a bed and has theater style sofa with leg exten.'s. Have measure for both and seems like they will work provided I keep the length at 72 inches or less on the coach.

It looks to be a pretty easy job. However, I know that it is probably not. I see the matress and head board can be taken out in matter of minutes. There is a swing style board that lifts up and looks like it can be unscrewed.
Now I have not taken anything apart yet- but it looks like it is the unknown from here on out. I do see some type of vent for air or heat that is coming out of the base of the bed. So, not certain about this issue. Would simply have new carpet put back down in this area.

Many love the bed in the back. We kind of like the idea of hanging out in the back though on long trips and the kids have a nice area to play video games and such.

Is this job possible withouth breaking the bank? I have a carpenter friend who is very good at what he does- maybe have him take a look.

Anyone have any ideas (other than trying to talk me out of it)...?

Thanks,

Tully
1990 Country Coach Prevost

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Is your bed north/south or east/west? The reason for the question is converters tended to take advantage of the bed to accomplish some things.

An east/west bed may have a safe, heaters, or even some other systems beneath it. If the bed is removed they also need to be removed or they need to be covered somehow.

A north/south bed may have all of the above, and it may also have been used to cover the engine access panel on your vintage coach. It is no big deal covering the engine access panel with carpet, but it should be removeable. It should also be able to seal properly because a poorly installed engine access panel is going to introduce a lot of soot, rubber particles and fine dust and dirt particles into the coach.

There is no problem with what you propose as long as you can work around the minor stumbling blocks.

[Tully]

Yes, I have the East/West bed. You walk into the back bedroom and head board is to right.

There is a safe as mentioned.

I guess the best thing to do is take off a couple of the panels and use a flash light to get a better idea. I had a slight feeling the heating and cooling may be somewhat of an issue. But, as mentioned- they may be able to be moved.

Tully

[Denny]

Tully

While going to POG V in Sevierville, I stopped at Creative Mobile Interiors in Columbus, OH to have a couple of things checked on my bus and they were doing exactly what you are thinking about. They had a late 90's Royale that had the entire bedroom removed to put in a large screen TV and U shaped sofa. There was a mass of wires, pipes and heating ducts left behind where once was a bed and cabinets.

CMI are experts at this type of conversion so it is something that can be done. Good luck on your project; let us know how it is progressing.

Denny

[Tully]

Sounds like I may just leave this job to the pro's. There is a place in my home town of all places called Midwest Finest RV that does all types of repairs and updates. May check with them as well.

My suspect of lots of wires and such being tucked under the bed itself is
correct then.

Tully

[rff105]

Here is the stateroom in our single slide coach. Not having a bed was the main selling point for us, so we don't think your crazy. It is a great place to ride on long trips and other than a little more engine noise, is much smoother and more comfortable ride. The two rear sofas go down into one king size bed, for which we got one of those king size memory foam bed toppers. Good luck on your conversion.

P.S. Make sure you can get your new furniture in the coach and and through any doorways. We have removed the lounge chairs you se here before and it took some work to get the maneuvered around to get them out.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Getting the furniture in is easy through the windshield. The glass and trim comes out in less than 5 minutes and it only takes 30 or 40 to put it back in.

We can advise Tully on that. Most of us that were in Kerrville have the tool to make it easy.

[Tully]

Richard, only in my dreams could the back of my bus look that nice. Now I kind of feel like a stump jumper tyring to rig the back of my coach. I have very limited room- Maybe 7 feet in depth by 8 feet wide.

Wow, I really like the back of that coach.

Tully

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Now youv'e done it. Not only do you suffer from MPD you have also contacted 2footidus.

[Tully]

Joe:

Hey, so what do ya think? Possible? Can we do this withouth having to weld 5 extra feet of bus onto the back?

Tully

[bonhall41]

Richard,
Did Featherlite do that floorplan for you? It looks really nice. I don't remember seeing that one on any of their coaches but it would be great for traveling.

[rff105]

We bought the coach used and the original owner had it speced out this way. Featherlite classifies it as an "Executive Coach" however most or Featherlite's executives are pretty plain. The original owner of this coach had it finished like a luxury motorcoach using the floorplan of an executive coach. Its great for entertaining and traveling especially with its 7 interior and 1 exterior TVs.

Tully, I didn't go measure it but it looks like from this floorplan our area is about 11x8.