High Top sleeping arrangements

[tally9040]

I have a 1983 Transporter conversion High Top. I intend to use the High Top area for my 4 year old twins to sleep in whilst we are down on the R&R. All I have in my High Top space is a loose wooden based panel that is foam topped and covered in soft material. This slides into place above the central standing area leaving a gap for standing headroom and climbing up. It seems to sit nice and safely in the edging.
I do not have any friends with a High Top and I was wondering how other people have theirs laid out.
I will need some sort of foam or mattress as the rear of the High Top cavity is not padded. I will also need to make something to stop the girls from rolling out.
Does anyone have any advice ??
Thanks.

[1664]

This is the Autohomes layout but other conversions are pretty similar. Firstly the Autohomes one has sliding bolts to ensure the movable section of the bed base does not slide out of position during driving or when it's actually being slept in. My previous camper (Leisuredrive) did not have these locks and even though I never had a problem with the base sliding, I still reckon it's a good 'belt and braces' idea for very little effort. First few pictures are with the mattresses removed for clarity.

Picture showing where lock will engage once the forward section of the bed base has been deployed (just above the light and below the window). Another opposite side above the sliding door obviously..


Picture showing the lock securing the sliding base into it's stowed for travelling position, again one on the opposite side


Picture showing sliding base sitting on top of rear fixed base


Picture showing sliding base deployed into sleeping position. The rear section is one piece; it looks like it's two pieces but that's an optical illusion caused by the mark in the middle left by the sliding base sitting on top of it. The rear section is twice the length of the sliding section.


and from below


There are three equally sized mattresses; with the sliding section in the stowed position over the first half of the rear section, one mattress sits on the rear section at the back and the two remaining sections sit on the sliding section one on top of the other. A strip of wood locks into the sides of the high-top above the mattresses holding them in position.


and closer


Bed deployed and locked with the three mattresses laid out in the sleeping position


As for a barrier to prevent your kids falling out, you could attach extra brackets further forward and refit the strip of wood across as a barrier but I think the Autosleeper 'Trident' conversions solution is better for small children as it is a sort of a sideways 'ladder' that fixes across the sides of the high-top. You would still need to fix extra brackets further forward though as like mine, the existing brackets are positioned for when the bed is stowed. You need someone with a AS Trident to post a picture of that as I can't obviously...

[tally9040]

Thank you for this, it's a real help to see your pictures.

[olitheoctopus]

Great pics, a really useful explanation.

[JackNuala]

Hi, we have also have a hightop (1983 westfalia) and have the same bed type as yours. We also have a two year old and a four year old. They sleep happily together up in the roof. We put their pillows up at the far end and so there's no chance of them rolling out. So far it has worked really well. I wouldn't worry too much about straps to be honest. If you put their pillows at the far end they won't roll and if our kids move about above us we always hear them. I can't tell you how much they love it up there.

Hope you enjoy your camper as much as we all enjoy ours.

[claire85cat]

You say you have an area which is not foam covered. We have an autosleeper high top which had some old foam which had seen better days so we removed this and just re-covered with fabric. This meant that it was just hard board and not very comfy to sleep on. Therefore I bought a memory foam mattress topper (only about an inch thick) which I covered with a duvet cover. We can roll it up fairly small each night and store all the bedding in front of it - it goes right in the back of the high top. I decided not to re-upholster as I wanted to be able to wash if necessary and thought this was more practical.