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St. Patrick's day good time for a Murphy question

KillerIsMe
Explorer
Explorer
Looking at all these trailers like we have been doing (not the past few days though - 37 inches of snow kept us inside in the same sort of way it kept the Donners inside) was pretty exciting at first, but now it's getting closer to go time and we're narrowing things down. There's just four of us Killers counting the family dog - and who doesn't count the dog? - and we know we want a small trailer, but a small trailer with a few specifics. My daughter wants bunks, wife wants a slide, for me it's keeping the loaded weight under 6400 lbs. We all agree on two things however: nobody wants a dinette and everyone wants a sofa. So my wife has convinced me to take a look at Murphy bed models, and I have, and I have to say I'm not totally averse to one. I worked the Murphy on a Jay Feather 23BHM last week and it was pretty much effortless. I see I'll lose the pass-through storage but it really opens up the small trailer's floor and makes it look much roomier. Is that a trade-off that's livable (I'm a rookie)? Do any of you friends out there in rv.net-land have experiences good or bad? And not to hijack my own thread, but does anyone have any ideas about taking the dinette out of the slide and putting in a sofa, or recliners, or a table and chairs, or something? I could easily live with two sofas (just like home!) but I hate that Seinfeld dinette thing.
4 REPLIES 4

rfloyd99
Explorer
Explorer
After 10 years of going to RV shows and studying the issue of what kind of RV to get, we bought a 2016 Jay Feather 23MB in January of '16. Absolutely no regrets.

I think the size and weight (about 4800 lbs dry) are right for a standard full-size gas truck. I have a 2012 Ram 1500 5.7 liter V-8. Last year we pulled it 7,000 miles, including one trip of 5,000 miles towed over six weeks.

IMO, the Murphy bed is the best idea for live-ability since the slide out was invented. We have the sofa and dinette, and nice open floor space. (Get a "folding ottoman" to use as a place to put your feet when sitting on the sofa).

The MB option makes our 23'(box length) trailer as roomy as 28-30 footers with fixed beds. In talking with salespeople and also my observation at RV shows, people either love or hate the MB idea. after approx 8 weeks of using ours, we love it. It is very quick and easy to put it up and down. BTW, we are 65/68 years old, so athleticism is not required! We usually put it up as soon as we get up, but if we plan to be gone all day, leaving it down only takes away the sofa, there's still plenty of floor space left and the bed doesn't restrict access to the kitchen, storage, TV, etc.

Not sure why you are averse to the dinette, but the one in our model is nice - it seems the right size, and the table is not fixed. We slide it around to fit the situation of the moment - more leg room at one end than the other, accommodating more people, etc.

This is off the subject, but another big issue to consider is kitchen configuration/countertop space. Many designs just don't have any counter space, which is probably okay if you don't plan to cook inside very much. If you plan to spend a week or two (or more) vs. weekend use I recommend giving this a lot of thought.

Last thing, our model has lots of storage, more than we need actually. Again, for weekend use, this is a different concern.

Murphsmom
Explorer
Explorer
The dinette in our Cougar was installed over the top of the carpet in the slide. We just unscrewed the fasteners and out she went! We also replaced the uncomfortable sofa bed that had the inflatable mattress with a much lighter weight one that we found on Wayfair. Easy peasy!

lawrosa
Explorer
Explorer
What you want may or may not be out of your weight class. There are very few IMO with two sofa options.

Here is one at 7500 lbs loaded. 6100 empty with a 585 TW..

http://starcraftrv.com/products/travel-trailers/launch-ultra-lite/floorplans-specifications/27bhu



Here is a 5800 empty 7200 full and 575 TW.

http://starcraftrv.com/products/travel-trailers/launch-ultra-lite/floorplans-specifications/28bhs

Mike L ... N.J.

2006 Silverado ext cab long bed. 3:42 rear. LM7 5.3 motor. 300 hp 350 ft lbs torgue @ 4000 rpms
2018 coachmen Catalina sbx 261bh

BadgerMcAdams
Explorer
Explorer
I was going to say you might be able to swap out the dinette for a couch as an option (if you are buying new)...but after looking at the options available for that model...Jayco's available options Suck...Alot.

I would say that if you are handy with some tools and such, you might be able to dismantle the dinette and remove it. But you will have to do some re-beautifying to cover up where you pulled it out. But if so, you could do that and put a couch in its place...maybe even a sleeper sofa that will give you 2 more bed slots. Just remember, weight going out vs. weight coming in.

Just a suggestion...