Big Bed Hack

[TedHagler]

I’m a big diyer and just bought my first camper. It’s nothing much. A ‘22 Forest River Salem 169rsk. It has a rear slide out that a queen bed rests on. To give my wife a better nights rest, I upgraded the bed to a 10” mattress that ended up being a little larger than marketing advertised. Because of this, my slide-out wouldn’t close properly e cause mattress bunched up against the dresser. 
 

After some time I figured out that I could use a collapsible guide of sorts to allow the mattress to slide UP and out of the way when closed. Then slide back out when the slide-out extracted.

I ended up finding some cpvc 1” and 3/4” to slide in and out of the 1” pipe. This slides together beautifully! It also melts very well too so I can mold it into a shape I can mount each end onto the brackets.

One thing I didn’t take a photo of was the fact that the 3/4” pipe bent too much to work the way I wanted it to when the slide-out closed. So I added a 3’ piece of rebar inside it to  keep it from flexing too much. 
All in all, I’m very happy how it turned out.

Edited July 6, 2023 by TedHagler

[Chalkie]

I will have to give you an A+ for ingenuity. Our mattress does the same but it is a Sleep Number so I just let the air out and it scrunches up fine. I will have to mention your solution to friends that struggle though. 

[ashton23l]

so when you get to your destination, do you have to unbolt the end to take it down?  if so, do you use wingnuts to make it easy?

[TedHagler]

3 hours ago, ashton23l said:

so when you get to your destination, do you have to unbolt the end to take it down?  if so, do you use wingnuts to make it easy?

There's an eye hole on the extended end that loops over a bolt head I have fastened to each side of the wall. When you get to the destination, simply roll out the pop-out and disconnect the pipe from the end of the bolt. The weight of the bed will keep the pipes in place during travel. So no need for any securing of them.

[Ray,IN]

Neat! Looks like a variation of the OEM thing that raises the head of the mattress for slide retraction in the same situation.

[rpsinc]

Could also use RMT conduit instead of the PVC/rebar option.  That would also allow crimping the end for bolting, all 1 piece.  Nice idea though.

[RV_]

As well they make RV specific mattresses. They are a tad bit shorter and we used them for both of our rigs one with a BR slide like yours and the other did not. I am 6" tall and a stomach sleeper so for me I prefer my get hanging over for comfort.

If I needed the longer mattress your solution is exceptional engineering. Thanks for the videos and great pics.