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Hi,

 We have an Avondale Dart 510.There is just the 2 of us so we decided to make the rear lounge area which you would normally use as the kids bed into a permenant bed for us. Hubby did a bit of DIY with some wood for a bit more support underneath the slats, and removed the end lockers for more length. Now its ok but the cushions aren't very supportive for us-they are starting to sag a bit, so I thought about getting a mattress for it. It obviously isn't a standered size, so does anyone know of anywhere that makes made to measure mattresses at a not too outlandish price please? 

We have a bed shop in Glossop that make thier own mattresses. A friend of mine had a mattress made by them for their caravan a few years ago www.slumbershop.co.uk

I know you're not exactly local but their website does say they can deliver outside their area - special delivery available.

Be aware of the extra weight of some of the modern domestic mattresses though, especially when fitted to the rear of your van, they can greatly effect your noseweight and add unwanted pedalum type swing caused by too much weight too far to the rear of the van. Like packing any heavy item, centre over the axel and low down to the floor is best to aid stability.

Julia

Hi Ali,

We have just done the same with our van, I bought a memory foam topper and cut to size, it is so comfortable and easy, instead of making bed up each night, we where lucky with the weight factor, as we have removed the bunk bed fitting from the rear of the van, so if anything the weight is less than before.

We are going away tomorrow - leaving our 16 1/2 year old daughter home alone for the second time, so far so good.

Shirley

Lassie, you are brave, 2 weeks away, maybe I should take a leaf out of your book, we have only done 2nights and it was only 30 mins away, same idea this weekend.  We hope to leave her for longer later in the year, I trust her, but its if she lets others in the house, maybe I am paranoid, but I know what I was like at her age lol..

Enjoy yourselfs.

Shirley

Quote: Originally posted by Shirley + Steve on 13/5/2010

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Lassie, you are brave, 2 weeks away, maybe I should take a leaf out of your book, we have only done 2nights and it was only 30 mins away, same idea this weekend.  We hope to leave her for longer later in the year, I trust her, but its if she lets others in the house, maybe I am paranoid, but I know what I was like at her age lol..

Enjoy yourselfs.

Shirley

 

Indeed, we have been there and worn the tea shirt lol on this one, thankfully all ours are now over 21, but we did have afew incidents of breakages and a few things going missing during some of the parties they held whilst we were away, but Hubby being a Joiner fitted locks to all the bedroom doors where she didnt need access to, and this prevented people rummaging through my things whilst my back was turned, or anyone diving into our bed for the night!

They always tried to clean up and denigh that there had ever been any party, but we always found the tell tale signs afterwards of empty beer cans lurking in the bushes outside and paper plates stuffed down the sides of the armchairs, and on one occasion my nice freshly washed sleeping bags that i had left in the airing cupboard were stinking of smoke and had the evidence of someone had been sick nearby and not quite made it to the loo, so she had a bit of explaining to do there, and i made her wash and peg out the bags herself after a ticking off for being deceteful and lying to us about who she had let into the house whilst we were away!

Julia

 

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Hi Ali

We have same size caravan as you, I ordered a foam mattress from Ace Foam, they have a web site.  It is ordinary foam not memory foam, quite light, lot lighter than memory foam. They were cheapest of all the sights I trawled. Must admit quite comfy, as I had to try it out with grandson on floor of bedroom lol.

Measure width and length and they cut to size.  Mine is 6 inches deep.  5 inches quite firm foam 1" medium. They were absolutely excellent.  Any queries they will deal with on phone, ordered mine Wednesday afternoon was delivered Friday.  You need to buy mattress cover for it.  I actually made one but have also bought another one for ease of getting off.

Cant understand the bit about hubby removing end lockers as our one only has lockers at head hight.

Do you have an awning for your van need to know what size of awning for ours, we have dorema awning but dont use it, came with van and want to sell it, so need to know size.

Hope this helps.

My mate's family have flown the nest & only the two of them go in the caravan nowaday. He's been out with his tool kit & made the rear bed in his Bailey Ranger into a fixed bed, why he felt the need to fix the woodwork so it can't be put back to standard, I don't know, he reckons he bought a standard mattress to put in there.

BB

Hi Murphsmum,

our van has two cupboards on the door side of the van at mattress level, hubby took doors off so we can stretch out a bit. As for the awning, we have a Bradcott size 11. Hope this helps.