# Who sleeps in the Luton bed?



## 119071 (Dec 30, 2008)

Hello
We are trying to find our new motorhome and are contemplating a van with bunk beds for the kids and that means we are left to sleep up in the luton, we slept in our old vans one once and thought it was really noisy and claustraphobic - how does eveyone else find them? 

Our old van was a Eura 1996 and I think it was tight for space compared to the newer ones -would I be right in saying that?

Thanks
Viks


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## iandsm (May 18, 2007)

*luton bed*

Why don't you buy an A class. More room, better bed up top which is lower and has much more headroom and better use of space below with revolving seats, no contest really. Good luck


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## welshtust (Jun 9, 2008)

Our CI has a masive overcab bed, I'm 6ft 20 stone Rugby Prop and have no problem, I can just about sit up. 
We've got a memory foam topper, which is helps with the noise.
The bunk beds in the back are great, the top half being open stops you feeling claustraphobic.
We hired a couple of van's first to make sure of the right layout, also the number of seat belts.


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## Jezport (Jun 19, 2008)

We have a Chausson Flash 03 and sleep in the Luton, with no problems.


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## zappy61 (May 1, 2005)

Love the luton. I can go to bed and read she watches telly till the black spot appears! Not good for claustrophbics though. 

Graham


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## sirhandel (Mar 5, 2008)

We only slept up in the luton once and my wife hated it (claustro) but I had no problems. Now we use it for storage of light items and very useful it is too.


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi Viks,

we always sleep in the Luton. Could be that the 1996 Euras had less headroom, ours is a 2001 Eura "Sport" and has 60 cm headroom. We are in no way claustrophobic, my wife even prefers the "cave feeling" over an ordinary bed. 

It does help that we have windows on both sides. 

But what I don't understand: Why should the luton be more noisy than any other bed in the van?

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## brillopad (Mar 4, 2008)

i love it in the luton i sleep better than at home, i sleep on the outside , and in the night push the wife right up the front, i even get up their in the day,(just to check everythings ok you understand).dennis :scatter:


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## freestyla (May 28, 2008)

We have a Rimor Europeo 5 with a huge luton bed and we sleep in it all the time.

Best bed we own! :lol:


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## Rainbow-Chasers (Sep 2, 2008)

i don't mind the luton, the other half says it is like pot holing! lol!


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## GerryD (Sep 20, 2007)

All the time we can get up the ladder we shall continue to use the luton. I am against giving up half of the interior of the MH to a fixed bed.
Gerry


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## 119071 (Dec 30, 2008)

Thanks for the replies, I think the new ones are definately higher, I think I don't like it 'cos i got stuck in at the front! Kids love it up there but we have isses getting them to sleep (mucking around) so the bunks would be good for that, will try out some of the Lutons this weekend.

In terms of noise, the first night we stayed in the motorhome, was a bank holiday weekend and couldn't get booked except at 'Haggerston Castle' - so that probalby expains why it was so noisy! Never again - husband lay at night listening to the drunken banter outside the van and said ' oh my god what have we done.....' - never looked back!
Viks


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## LPDrifter (Aug 17, 2005)

We had a Luton on our last motorhome.
Generally it was fine when you got up there. Our model, a Detleff had reasonably good head space.

Major problem was the climb up the ladder to get in there and to
get out.

We changed to a Low Profile and the eliminating the Luton was one of the
considerations.

My advice would be check carefully if Luton suits you.
Anybody with a touch of claustrophobia or an aversion
to climbing ladders might find it difficult to get on with them.


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## Pollydoodle (Aug 18, 2005)

Another down side to sleeping in the luton is the number of times (if any!!) you have to get up in the night and one of you may have to climb over the other to get out. :roll: 

The metal steps are cold to bare feet 8O 

Generally cant sit up to have the morning cup of tea 

These are some of the reasons why we changed to a fix bed


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## dcmo (May 19, 2005)

Same answer from us. We loved the idea of using the luton bed and have no problem with ladders, but I found it too hot and claustrophobic (not usually a problem for me but I slept on the side away from the ladder and would wake in the night and feel too trapped as there wasn't room for me to exit over the other body  )


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## StAubyns (Jun 4, 2006)

GerryD said:


> All the time we can get up the ladder we shall continue to use the luton. I am against giving up half of the interior of the MH to a fixed bed.
> Gerry


Agree


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## Waves (Apr 17, 2008)

We have a Swift Sundance 590pr and find the luton very comfortable and we dont need to add memory foam to the bed. The point about going to the loo a lot is very valid.

John


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## ovalball (Sep 10, 2008)

We sleep in the overcab on our voyager.I love it,very comfortable.Our last van was a fixed bed but felt that it took up too much space.Now we have a living area at the back and the over cab fixed bed at the front..best of both worlds!I suppose any one who dislikes confined spaces wouldn't like it but as I say ..I love it! :lol:


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## colonel (Oct 11, 2008)

I have to say we don't sleep in ours and frankly I wouldn't want to. It is very small and in my opinion only suitable for kids. Who else would want to get up and down that ladder?   

Having said that the space is very useful for storing lighter things like clothes, cushions etc. We are going to take the mattress out of ours when we tour and put the restraining net across so that nothing falls out. Oh and put some yellow and black stripey tape on the edge so we don't keep banging our heads when we enter and exit the cab seats with the bed in the down position.


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

We have Kontiki 640 and my wife sometimes sleeps up there when she wants to get away from me (depending on how much Stella Ive had)

She loves it but I have never been up there. Loads of space though I sometimes store a 11ft inflatable boat up there no problem (deflated obviously)


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## ThursdaysChild (Aug 2, 2008)

welshtust said:


> We've got a memory foam topper, which is helps with the noise.


The mind boggles.


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

Don't often invite people into the bedroom but we are all friends here, right? :lol: 
We have been fulltiming in our 1989 Pilote with a Luton. The idea was to work out what we needed before buying a replacement van. We were fairly sure the bed would be an issue but we were wrong :roll: 
We made some mods before we set off...
A Raskel 14cm memory foam mattress leaving just 54cm headroom.
Lights where we wanted them and a radio each with pillow speakers.
Control of the satellite equipment from the bed.
A large heckie.
The openable windows near our noses.
and almost more important than anything else, a ladder that is wood for warmth. has wide comfortable treads and a platform to let us turn around at the top. Had to make our own as we couldn't find a decent ready-made in 2 years of looking  
Net result - we sleep better than we did at home :lol: :lol: 
I reckon it is not wether it is a Luton or Queen Island fixed but how close you can kit it out to suit your own preferences.
Patrick


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## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

We sleep in our luton and have no problems. We are getting a new van soon and again we will be sleeping in the luton.

Richard...


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## geordie01 (Apr 20, 2006)

i have used the luton bed b4 and found it ok but where it comes into its own is for our daughter she love it up there.its her space with all her kit 
andit means at night she can go up and draw curtains and we can watch tv without disturbing her.


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Funny, isn't it? The poll seems to be coming down to those that do and love it, and those that don't because they hate it.

We don't 'cos we can't (low profile :wink: ) but when we had a Luton, we didn't for the many reasons quoted - difficulty with night-time egress, step ladder woes, claustrophobia. We used the overhead as a storage facility on our Autosleepers Pollensa for chairs and the like.

We spend a third of our motorhoming lives (or so) in bed, and we felt it was important to not have too many compromises in this area.

Plus - being low profile, we achieve better fuel consumption and suffer less from side winds and buffeting.

Gerald


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## hymerowner (Sep 10, 2006)

I'm with iandsm - get an A class!


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## PIEDODGER (Aug 22, 2008)

Luton, love it like to wakeup and find the living area the way I left it from the night before, full of empties (only joking) no messing about nice tidy and setup for breakfast :^o


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## Patrick_Phillips (Aug 17, 2006)

hymerowner said:


> I'm with iandsm - get an A class!


Why would you want to clutter up your van all day with your bedding?


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## boggy (Sep 24, 2007)

We don’t have an overcab Luton bed so can’t comment on head room, but one thing intrigues me is which partner gets to be on top  or is it the last one up…..wink, :wink: wink :wink: you know what I mean :twisted:


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## marionandrob (May 14, 2005)

We sleep in the luton of our Swift gazelle with no problems and Rob is claustrophobic - he sleeps on the open side.
Our ladder is wooden which saves the bare feet on cold metal problem.
We did add a memory foam mattress topper before we did our long trip last year ( 6 months) - we found the bed is the same size as a continental (Ikea) double.
I generally have to get up once a night to go to the lav, have got it down to such a fine art that I can climb over Rob without waking him - there is just enough headroom.

No-one ends up on top boggy - there is usually room for a rollover


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## Rislar (Aug 16, 2008)

Ive never been up there to try it (yet) i like to watch my TV in bed when the other half is asleep so im happy in the back


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## 1946 (Jan 5, 2006)

My son sleeps in the luton and we sleep in the bunkbeds. Loads of room in the Frankia. Never feel claustrophobic. 

Maddie


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## mandyandandy (Oct 1, 2006)

I think the Italians must like lots of room in their beds, our Rollerteam has one of the biggest overheads we have seen, my 6' soon can sleep feet into the nose without a problem and sleeping that way him and his sister had masses of room and could do the loo bit without waking each other. 

Friends hired the CI 656 and that too had a huge bed, but came home and bought the Rollerteam 700 for space and size of overhead. 

Mandy


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## duxdeluxe (Sep 2, 2007)

Nope - not a chance!!


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## jhelm (Feb 9, 2008)

Is there enough head room in any of them to actually sit up and read. Ours is not high enough. 

We have the nice double in the back with a half height garage under it. It would be nice to have the lounge in back or bunk beds for the kids who now sleep in the over-cab bed. I don't know how much longer they can sleep together. For now the double in back is also a cozy place for all of us to sit and watch a movie on the laptop.


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## mandyandandy (Oct 1, 2006)

Hi again, 

I think someone once asked me to measure it but not sure the name of the thread to link it, it was around 34" at the front, my 6' son could not sit up right, but my tall for her age 8 year old spends many hours playing up there. 

You can fit no end of Bratz and Barbies in there with her  

Because it has the wardrobe on one side and the tv cupboard on the other to lean on they could both stay on their own sides to play on their DS and get to the loo without having to move anyone. 

I use the shallow lidded plastic boxes to slide down between them with clothes or toys in them and they act as a good seperator but will slide to the nose when I want to fold the bed up. 

Mandy


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## KARTMAN (Feb 3, 2008)

Patrick_Phillips said:


> hymerowner said:
> 
> 
> > I'm with iandsm - get an A class!
> ...


We don`t,it all floats up with the bed :lol:


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## Vita (May 16, 2005)

I love the luton - I am short enough to sit up with my back against the bullhead to read half the night. It is a bit noisy when it rains heavily, and also when you park under an oak tree when the squirrels are busy with the acorns at the crack of dawn.
Vita


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