Blue Bird R&R Bed (design flaw & are they still for sale?)

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Cruz
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Blue Bird R&R Bed (design flaw & are they still for sale?)

Post by Cruz »

Are they still selling these beds? After 10 years of sales they don't appear on the website anymore.

I looked because I wanted to see if they had uprated the design flaw that is apparent on the beds.

Mine has lasted about 5 years ok but recently a few of the welds failed that held the thin metal bed boards to the frame, They incorporated these metal boards instead of wooden boards I assume to save weight.

Old design PIC

New design (PIC

Now the problem is that the seat and backrest plates are only welded to the frame with a couple of pooled spot welds. The seat base has a strengthener strut that runs the full width as you'd expect but for some reason on the 3/4 bed they didn't add one to the backrest. It isn't really needed when used as a seat but when used as a bed it takes a lot of weight when van occupants initially get in bed and pass over this area.

Hence after 5 years some of the welds have given way on the backrest due to to the weight they bear when I am sat on the bed sorting out the covers or putting the window screens up etc (no dirty comments please ;) ). So I have had to fit strong pop rivets from work that mushroom on the tail. I also had to pack up the gap between the base plate and the frame as the base plate wasn't an exact fit

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m58 ... 749e42.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m58 ... 3e63ae.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m58 ... 98fd6f.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m58 ... 8af809.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So if you have a Bluebird bed keep an eye on the welds otherwise one day your bed base may collapse in on itsellf

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