Approx floor area with the bed out T6.1

[RockinNRollin]

Morning all,

We're off on our first 6.1 adventure soon; we're going as a family of 3, my wife and I and our 2 year old toddler. The intention is for him to sleep in the pop roof so we can stay up in the evening (safety net etc and he's not "a climber" so should be fine). However, I am conscious that if it's very windy the pop roof shouldn't be up. My question is; how much space is there on the floor with the bed folded out, preferably approx dimensions? I'm wondering if in a pinch, we could throw down a thermarest folded in half and he could sleep there? He's not tall for his age either. The alternative (which I've currently got as a backup) is a bivvy bag (a good one with a pole, ex-mountain marathon use!) which I can crawl into next to the van and then my son can share the bed with my wife.

Cheers

 

[Sad]

I guess then that you're hiring this 6.1?

You'll hear different things on wind speeds, when the roof should be up or down. For me, overall, so long as it's not a hurricane, you'll be fine (but can be noisy!)
There's not a great deal of floor space with the bed down, and would think it could feel quite coffin like! Without going out to put the bed down and measure, the length he'd have is the width of the bed, and the width is a bit more than the width of a Thetford 335. Not much! I'll try and pop out to measure properly for you before I go to work though.

Another thing to consider is something across the two front seats maybe?

 

[Sad]

Decided to not be so lazy!!

The actual space is 43inch length to the step, and 19inch width.

So actually may well work for you short term. We sleep with heads at the back window, so bedding flops into this space also.

Hope that helps.

 

[RockinNRollin]

Cheers. Yes a hire (to both satisfy a holiday need and as a stress-test ahead of a purchase!). My thought was have the seats pushed towards the dash as much as possible to create a bit of extra space. Measurements aren't essential; we will know when we hire it if it's possible, just trying to plan everything as the weather looks a bit un-spring like next week!

 

[RockinNRollin]

Cheers - sorry posts overlapped! Much appreciated. Yeah it looks like it would work in a pinch.

 

[yossarian]

Decided to not be so lazy!!

The actual space is 43inch length to the step, and 19inch width.

So actually may well work for you short term. We sleep with heads at the back window, so bedding flops into this space also.

Hope that helps.

View attachment 105937

Bear in mind that the heater outlet blows here.

 

[California Dreamer]

We’ve used our pop top in pretty strong winds (2 kids so no choice!) and it’s been absolutely fine. The pucer screen we have really helps cut down noise and movement of canvas in wind, kids said it felt more cosy up there!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RockinNRollin]

Bear in mind that the heater outlet blows here.

Yeah, we weren't intending to have the heating on overnight anyway!

 

[Ch1pbutty]

German Quality Cab Child Bunk Bed for VW T5 /T6 camper van bus DARK GREY C9129 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for German Quality Cab Child Bunk Bed for VW T5 /T6 camper van bus DARK GREY C9129 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[RockinNRollin]

Interesting! I can see most of the dashboard controls being removed by the morning given my son's destruction-testing ability!

 

[andyinluton]

Cheers. Yes a hire (to both satisfy a holiday need and as a stress-test ahead of a purchase!). My thought was have the seats pushed towards the dash as much as possible to create a bit of extra space. Measurements aren't essential; we will know when we hire it if it's possible, just trying to plan everything as the weather looks a bit un-spring like next week!

How tall is the little one?
If he's only going to be sleeping downstairs if its an emergency & you are unable to use the pop top, would he fit across the bed (1.2m) at the tailgate end?
If so you can then move the seat part of the bed towards the front of the van, & put the head restrains back up, move the turned round front seats towards the back of the van & they will almost meet the rear bed base.
You will need a few towels to put on the front seats to level it up, but it's fine for supporting your feet. You end up with a fairly lumpy, but smooth in the middle bit ( where all your body weight will be) , bed approx 2.8m long x 1.2 wide.
We have managed to sleep 4 kids + a puppy downstairs in this fashion before, with a further 2 adults up top in an Ocean. I wouldn't want to plan a holiday around doing it, but for one night in an emergency its comfortable enough.

 

[RockinNRollin]

How tall is the little one?
If he's only going to be sleeping downstairs if its an emergency & you are unable to use the pop top, would he fit across the bed (1.2m) at the tailgate end?
If so you can then move the seat part of the bed towards the front of the van, & put the head restrains back up, move the turned round front seats towards the back of the van & they will almost meet the rear bed base.
You will need a few towels to put on the front seats to level it up, but it's fine for supporting your feet. You end up with a fairly lumpy, but smooth in the middle bit ( where all your body weight will be) , bed approx 2.8m long x 1.2 wide.
We have managed to sleep 4 kids + a puppy downstairs in this fashion before, with a further 2 adults up top in an Ocean. I wouldn't want to plan a holiday around doing it, but for one night in an emergency its comfortable enough.

He's under a metre tall so that would also work, but the idea of him thrashing behind our head is an interesting one; he's not a still sleeper . . . hopefully this is all academic though and we don't have any weather encounters forcing a roof descent.

 

[dspuk]

Cheers. Yes a hire (to both satisfy a holiday need and as a stress-test ahead of a purchase!). My thought was have the seats pushed towards the dash as much as possible to create a bit of extra space. Measurements aren't essential; we will know when we hire it if it's possible, just trying to plan everything as the weather looks a bit un-spring like next week!

Just keep in mind the base itself does not move so even with seats pushed all the way forwards the distance from the sliding draw to seat base is always the same. TBH all should be fine up top - just make sure the hire company does give you the safety net.

Always options though as Andy says and you could always go in pop top and leave him and other half down.

 

[RockinNRollin]

So we did encounter some 50mph winds at an exposed campsite last night and decided to keep the roof down; he slept just fine at the foot of the bed! It was an early night but to be honest given how much the van was rocking about without the roof up I think we made the right call. For context; keeping hold of the doors when opening was tricky enough!