Hello-
Signed up a couple of years ago but never posted. I am wondering/looking for a FT that can sleep 5. Are there any out of the box that do this? Or would this be a custom fit? I do see that there is a sofa in front. Is there a dinette that can fold down, a dropdown bed or another sofa/love seat?
TIA.
Just to fill in some details - do any of these family members need car seats? If so, only the front passenger seat might be appropriate (and then only one that has a shoulder belt).
Be aware that side-facing seats with seatbelts aren't terribly safe, so you'll want to look for booth dinette where kiddos can be belted in facing front/rear (although they will only be lap belts).
Here is a rule/suggestion I was told sometime ago:
No matter what size or configuration the coach, it drinks 6, eats 4 and sleeps 2.
The standard "living room" area on most Foretravel floor plans from the early '90s to the late '90s had a 3-seat jack knife sofa/bed on one side facing a recliner chair and a table on the other side. Sleeping capacity was normally limited to 4 "friendly" adults (2 in the bedroom and 2 on the sofa...or any variation thereof). There was one standard 36' floor plan called a 'CSGI" that featured a 2 or 3 person "love seat" in place of the recliner/table opposite the sofa. I don't know if the love seat would be usable as a bed. I also don't know if the "booth dinette" mentioned by Michelle (above) was convertible to a "kid size" bed. Of course, it was always possible for buyers to specify almost any custom interior arrangement, and Foretravel was happy to oblige. There are many "One of a Kind" unicorn coaches in existence.
I am not familiar with the newer coach models (from 2000 on up) so don't know about sleeping capacity in those years.
We have at least two Forum member families who travel full time with 2 adults and 5 kids. Where there is a will...
This might help. When I travel with adult kids they sleep on pull out sofa and a futon on the floor
I built a dinette which will sleep one comfortably and I put in 2 sets of seat belts and could put in 2 more sets. The sofa bed sleeps
one comfortably and my wife likes to ride on the couch semi laying so I had a special cushion made for her. She uses the seat belt.
The sofa bed and the dinette could sleep 2 but it would be tight. A while back there was a 36 ft. in the classifies that some one put bunk beds in the closet but I don't know what they used for a closet.
We saw a 2005 U320 with bunks at Motor Homes of Texas, if you are talking 3 children and 2 adults. 2005 Foretravel U320 4020 Bunks | Motorhomes of Texas (https://www.motorhomesoftexas.com/Pre-owned-Inventory-2005-Foretravel-Motorhome-U320-4020-Bunks-U320-9322352?ref=list)
Wow, lot of replies and I did not get a notification, will need to change that!
No little tikes here, just 3 skinny adult size girls. Two are fine sharing a double sofa bed or similar, and the other could but prefers to have her own. The main thing for us is that beds have to be easy convert. We have a travel trailer we customized and making a bed is a pain. I am OK with swapping out 1-2 recliners and putting in a sleeper sofa or just a sofa since it will be for the one.
Chuck, yes it sounds like we're on the same page, that is what I was seeing too. I will look into the loveseat further. I would put in seatbelts. Sideways is better than nothing, and I would not be going fast.
If I did a dinette, that table linked Tommy could work. I guess it depends on how far the dinette would stick out. oldguy, do you have a photo of this somewhere?
I am looking at them currently, more importantly, the wife has signed off, she likes them, but she has the same concern regarding sleeping areas. I am big on quality and have come back and forth between these and Wanderlodges. I just don't want any junk, I am sure you all understand, that is why you bought what you did!
Lots to read up on and I am sure I will have more questions, but I thank everyone for their replies.
My dinette is clearly labeled that it is not to be used in motion. It has no seat belts.
Rich
A thought is that most coaches will have a jack knife sofa which is not very comfortable for 1 let alone 2 to sleep on. You might consider replacing it with either a sofa bed with air mattress or a futon. Or you could build a sofa with a pullout bottom section to make a double and the back to swing up to make a bunk, similar to what some boats have.
Movingman,
Here is a link to a thread from several years ago that shows 2 examples of couches that convert to bunk beds. Seems like there was one coach that the family installed one of these units.
Neat idea for bunk beds.... (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=30443.0)
Pamela & Mike
We have a furnace under our couch, so a residential-style couch may not work. Might want to talk to the remod crew at FOT.
My U320 40' came with a J lounger sofa that pulls out to a bed. On the other side was a small table and a recliner.
I removed the small table and recliner and installed a pull out sofa.
When both sofas are pulled out they form a bed that touches in the center of the coach creating one bed that spans wall to wall.
Plenty of room for 2-3 to sleep on. With the queen bed in the bedroom we have sleeping for 5 and no intrusions into the bath/shower area or kitchen.
If you type in dinette in the search and the second response oldguy there is 3 pictures and in response #8 I have more pictures.
I used the Dream Dinette mechanism to raise and lower the table. It works great and changing it to a bed and back to a table
is easy.
Our last Foretravel, a 2000 40' U320 WTFE floor plan, was custom spec'd when new with two opposing sofas in the front. My folks 1993 Grand Villa side aisle was also spec'd with the same opposing sofas as well.
When folded into a bed, the Grand Villa had about 4" of space between the beds, but you could sleep two adults snugly on each one. The U320 sofas would touch each and could sleep four or five kiddos or possibly adults if someone didn't mind sleeping on the "crack."
Dual opposing couches will obstruct access to certain areas of the coach when folded down. With the Grand Villa, the double couches were not a huge hindrance when folded down since the coaches are mid-entry, but on the U320, you could not get outside the coach from the bedroom or anything beyond the couches (which is pretty much the entire coach) without crawling over the couches/beds if they were folded down.
Our current U320 is a bunk floor plan, and while the sofa folds down into a bed, no one has yet to sleep on it. We are a family of four and the bunks are the greatest thing ever. We knew it would be great for sleeping our kiddos, but we never considered the fact that they often use it as their "bedrooms." They will retreat to their bunks just to get some quiet time to read or play. They're nine and six years old now and I'm sure they'll outgrow them as "bedrooms" at some point, but right now, it sure is nice!