Can 3 small children sleep in the bed?

[MSF21]

Hello
First time poster so please be gentle
I used to be a huge hiker in my youth - many a summer I would take a rucksack and wild camp all through the Pyrennes. Wonderful times
I now have 3 young boys (6,4 and 2)
If my wife and I had a bed could the 3 boys share the other?
Or is it more realistic that we would have the California and then another tent as well?

 

[T6 CFO]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Someone with kiddies will no doubt pop up shortly with advice. Sounds fine to me. Hiking in the Pyrenees is wonderful. Dolomites again for me this year. Stunning for the family in placed. Awaiting my Cali and Dolomites will be a destination.


Mike

 

[MSF21]

Thanks - can't wait to introduce my kids to the joys of the wild !

 

[daveyboydanger]

Hello
First time poster so please be gentle
I used to be a huge hiker in my youth - many a summer I would take a rucksack and wild camp all through the Pyrennes. Wonderful times
I now have 3 young boys (6,4 and 2)
If my wife and I had a bed could the 3 boys share the other?
Or is it more realistic that we would have the California and then another tent as well?

I would definitely say so.
They will be snug but there is enough space upstairs and definitely enough downstairs if you have a beach.

 

[snowy55]

They might fit now, but children have the habit of growing and before you know it they are over 6ft!!!

 

[calimera]

Welcome, there is a very helpful thread from some one was has travelled with 3 young children. Lots of helpful tips about sleeping arrangements.
Not sure how to copy the link . Look under Beginners ( general) below your heading,

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/camping-and-travelling-with-young-children-some-tips.7890/

Click on link. Hope it works.

 

[California Dreamin]

We have a cali beach (ie no kitchen but with a pop top roof) with a 3 seat bench and we can fit a 10,12 and 15 y.o. with no trouble. Helps if they get on....

 

[DM]

Hello
First time poster so please be gentle
I used to be a huge hiker in my youth - many a summer I would take a rucksack and wild camp all through the Pyrennes. Wonderful times
I now have 3 young boys (6,4 and 2)
If my wife and I had a bed could the 3 boys share the other?
Or is it more realistic that we would have the California and then another tent as well?

3 upstairs is definitely ok - subject to how big (or small they are). My 20 and 18 years old daughters shared with my 12 year old niece for a couple of nights. All three are fairly small but I'd say any 3kids up to the age of abou 12 would be fine.

 

[DM]

PS. In the Ocean the upstairs bed is wider than the downstairs one.

 

[Blue Beach]

Hi, I have a Cali beach and three kids aged 7, 5 and 4. The theory is that the three kids sleep in the upstairs bed and me and the husband in the downstairs bed. We all fit in and that is how we start the night, but quite often the 4 year old comes in with us after being squished by the 7 year old, or just waking up confused and upset as she doesn't know where she is. I am considering some kind of cab bunk for her for our next trip. We are still very new to Cali camping and are finding out what works best for us. We also have a drive away awning and I foresee that in years to come (some of ) the kids will sleep in that.

 

[Hotel California]

Hi and welcome , you could put the two oldest on the folded rear seat and the youngest in the front cabin , there are some on here who got solutions to transform the front seats in a child bed or using a hammock

 

[MSF21]

Thanks everyone. What a lovely and friendly forum. Finding someway to maximise the front seats would be very clever. Quick question; if we choose a rear 3 bench and 2 single seats can you still get the table? The brochure only shows a table with 1 single middle seat.
Last question before I spend £40k on a new car my wife will want me to show its not another mad impulse! I assume there are some good companies you can hire for the weekend to try properly?

 

[Hotel California]

Thanks everyone. What a lovely and friendly forum. Finding someway to maximise the front seats would be very clever. Quick question; if we choose a rear 3 bench and 2 single seats can you still get the table? The brochure only shows a table with 1 single middle seat.
Last question before I spend £40k on a new car my wife will want me to show its not another mad impulse! I assume there are some good companies you can hire for the weekend to try properly?

Some on this forum do hire out , don't know if any beaches are....

 

[Zebedee]

My daughter and her two friends all aged 13 and the dog have all successfully slept upstairs at the same time on many trips. The dog is the only one who causes trouble by deciding to run around up there in the middle of the night! I have an SE.
Zebedee

 

[Blue Beach]

Thanks everyone. What a lovely and friendly forum. Finding someway to maximise the front seats would be very clever. Quick question; if we choose a rear 3 bench and 2 single seats can you still get the table? The brochure only shows a table with 1 single middle seat.
Last question before I spend £40k on a new car my wife will want me to show its not another mad impulse! I assume there are some good companies you can hire for the weekend to try properly?

When you ask ..... "if we choose a rear 3 bench and 2 single seats can you still get the table?" Do you mean the van being 7 seater in total? If so, then I have had the 2 middle row seats facing backwards, the 3 seater right at the back and the table in place, but it was a bit of a squish, but it was ok for a picnic. We take the 2 seats out to camp as you can't get the bed down when they are in the van. I wouldn't be without them though as they are really useful for transporting grandparents, friends etc. as my beach is also my daily car. They are a bit heavy to shift though when taking them in and out the van.
If this is not what you meant by the question then I'm sorry I've gone off on a tangent

I've not found anywhere near us in the southwest that hire out beaches as we did look before getting ours.

 

[daveyboydanger]

Some on this forum do hire out , don't know if any beaches are....

I have a T6 beach (3 seat bench) that can be hired out if that helps...

 

[hirsty]

Last question before I spend £40k on a new car my wife will want me to show its not another mad impulse! I assume there are some good companies you can hire for the weekend to try properly?

Very sensible idea. I'd definitely agree it's best to hire a van at least once first, as it's fair to say that not every trip goes as well as it looks in the adverts ...

In my experience there are a lot of outside variables in each weekend / holiday like traffic, weather, site / pitch / neighbours etc that all have a bearing. It does also take a little to find out what works best for you & especially to work out what you need to take and leave behind - generally taking too much stuff is more of a problem than not enough! - so do be prepared to need to experiment.

If the bug bite does bite for you all then it's a lot of fun, enjoy.

 

[California Dreamin]

We have 7 seats but leave the 7th (ie the middle row drivers side) at home 99pc of the time. This means you can have a spare seat (5 of you total?) and still have room to put the 3 seat bench into the full bed and have enough floor space to stand/ change (one at a time!). When not in bed mode, it also means that you can flatten and rotate the remaining middle row seat, position it under the table (transverse), rotate the front seats and have a really noce living space for 5 people for the evening.

 

[Skylark2.0]

They might fit now, but children have the habit of growing and before you know it they are over 6ft!!!

Tell me about it!

 

[cleve]

Welcome, there is a very helpful thread from some one was has travelled with 3 young children. Lots of helpful tips about sleeping arrangements.
Not sure how to copy the link . Look under Beginners ( general) below your heading,

https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/camping-and-travelling-with-young-children-some-tips.7890/

Click on link. Hope it works.

Glad you found it useful

I wouldn't recommend 3 sharing!! The way I see it is that once children are old enough not to have a fight when sharing they are also too big to fit 3 in a bed! Our children are now ages 8, 6 and 3 and we have a 3 seater beach. We send the 3 year old up to the roof bed first, close the hatch and put the middle one across the front seats then my eldest reads or watches a film on the multiflex leaving us enough space to chill out on the rear seat. Once the youngest is asleep my son joins her in the roof bed. This way everyone is separated so they can fall asleep easily without poking each others eyes out or arguing over the duvet. Once asleep they sleep really well and my middle one sleeps in the cab area as she is usually the first to wake up and leaves the other 2 to sleep in longer.

We bought our beach as an ex rental from a company that I cannot share details on here for some reason. They do have a good selection of vehicles to hire including the beach and are very knowledgeable with children themselves. It's based at Unit 5, 118 Stanstead Road, Forest Hill, London, SE23 1BX if you want to google it!!

 

[olivesontour]

Hello
We have 3 children now aged 11,9 and 8 and have until this year all slept well upstairs. I am now looking at one of these
http://transporterbett.de/index.php?cPath=1 - has anybody used one??

 

[tuono001]

That looks interesting if not expensive.
I've started looking for this sort of thing as my trio are 9,6 and almost 2. Have a trip coming up shortly so will be a bit trial and error.
Youngest would previously sleep with us, but now there's too much wriggling.

 

[Elly Swanson]

Ha

Hi, I have a Cali beach and three kids aged 7, 5 and 4. The theory is that the three kids sleep in the upstairs bed and me and the husband in the downstairs bed. We all fit in and that is how we start the night, but quite often the 4 year old comes in with us after being squished by the 7 year old, or just waking up confused and upset as she doesn't know where she is. I am considering some kind of cab bunk for her for our next trip. We are still very new to Cali camping and are finding out what works best for us. We also have a drive away awning and I foresee that in years to come (some of ) the kids will sleep in that.

Have you seen this? http://www.cabbunk.co.uk/. No personal experience of it.

 

[KP01]

No problem. My son and two nephews had a great time sleeping up there. We got our Cali when he was 10 and his cousins both 11. They’re too big now so I can’t have all three up there but that’s not a problem as one (now 16) loves his own bed so much he won’t sleep any where else. Typical teenager.