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Topic: Escape Hatch (Read 9 times) previous topic - next topic
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Escape Hatch
Yahoo Message Number: 39705
Just thought I'd mention how handy that escape hatch is for cleaning the dirt off my solar panel.  I use a telescoping handle squeegee and a spray bottle of distilled water with just a drop of detergent in it. Only need to put my head and shoulders outside, and presto, the maximum amount of free solar power flows.

Judy
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39707
Now that's what I call a "Jewel" of a tip.

hmm, guess that's another good reason to keep the overcab bunk.

Thanks again, Shirl
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39708
Shirl,

Keeping your options open is never a bad thing.  We bought our 2001 RB Tortuga with the plan of using the overhead for our bird's cages.  We did that for awhile and then started just storing bedding up there when we stopped bringing the birds along.  I got up there once when Tortuga was new and quickly got down declaring the overhead bed too claustrophobic for me to sleep in.  In fact, for the first 2 years of Tortuga's life, the mattress wasn't even inside - we stored it at our house in Calif.

Last year we put the mattress back in so a friend could fly into Mexico and we could take her touring the Yucatan.  It stayed, probably just because it wasn't in the way and we were too lazy to pull it out again.

Since I joined this group a few months after it started, many old timers here have heard me declare that it was just too low a ceiling up there for me.  Barry and Larry and others have extolled the virtues of sleeping in the overhead and I have ignored them (or perhaps been less than upbeat in my responses ).  Mea Culpa folks, here's the big confession.

A couple weeks ago, I got tired of cleaning the dog toys off the couch to make the bed and - while Mimi was in Colorado visiting her mom - I made the bed in the overhead (that is a major hassle) and spent the night.  I discovered that when it is dark and/or your eyes are closed, you can forget how close to the ceiling you are.  I also discovered the joy of having a bed always made up after 3 years of pulling the couches out and making the bed every night.
 Mimi's back and we have been successfully sleeping up there for about 2 weeks now.  I never thought I'd do it.  I like it OK, it is still a little close and Mimi will always get the inside but I can do it and I'm liking it. I'm loving not having to clear the dog stuff and remove the dog blankets to make the bed.  I think really, getting the dogs this last winter is what got me to try it.  I am also loving not getting wakened every morning by a cold dog nose.

So Shirl, you never know.  I was pretty darn adamant about never wanting to sleep up there and now, I'm enjoying it.  Opening the small windows and the overhead hatch is nice when the breeze comes through.
 I'm still not sure if this will work when we get back to the tropics and it is hot, but I'm willing to give it a chance now.
 So, Barry and Larry and Andy and all the others who tried to convince me... it took awhile but I finally gave it a try.  I still think it is a monster task to make the bed and I have a hard time sitting up far enough to read but... those are not unsurmountable.  Can you believe it?? I'm sleeping in the overhead!

Jonna
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39712
Jonna,

You might try the sleep sack solution.  No bed making required.  We don't even attach the straps that come with it to the matress except at one bottom back corner.  As mentioned before, we normally just throw the ladder up and fold the center part of the bed every day with the front half of the sleep sack falling on top of the ladder.
It takes about 10-15 seconds.  When evening comes, we fold the center down, stand on the couch and get the ladder, and spread the sleep sack.  Perhaps 30-45 seconds.

Barry
Re: Sleeping in the "upstairs bedroom"
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39715
"I still think it is a monster task to make the bed and I have a hard time sitting up far enough to read but... "
 Barry's suggestion is a good one. As many here know (and as described on my website at http://www.andybaird.com/travels/gertie/sheets.htm>), I use a homemade sleep sack: two sleeping bags zipped together, with a couple of bedsheets sewn together as a liner. I do have a comforter for really cold nights, but I normally keep it rolled up in the extra space at the foot (street side) of the bed.
 With this setup, making the bed is a matter of fifteen or twenty seconds; then I throw the ladder on top, and off I go.
 With regard to reading in bed...I don't know what Lazy Daze is putting in the overcab bunk these days, but in Gertie there's a fluorescent fixture right over the head of the bed. This  useless for reading while lying down (which is how I do it), because it shines right in your face. So I added a cheap 10W halogen lamp (originally designed for under-cabinet mounting) on the wall behind my head. You can see a photo of the setup at

http://www.andybaird.com/travels/escapade/photos/reading-lamp.jpg>
 This light shines right where I want it for reading. It's powered by tapping into the existing fluorescent fixture (just a matter of adding a couple of wires to the bundle) and controlled with a small toggle switch mounted in a 1/4" hole on one end of the fixture. In the photo, in addition to the reading light, you can see part of the fluorescent fixture, as well as the smoke detector and a ceiling-mounted foam fire extinguisher.

Andy Baird
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Sleeping in the "upstairs bedroom"
Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39716
A few more words about the reading lamp: in the photo, the lamp looks as if it is hanging by two white wires. Actually, those are its mounting bracket, and they are two pieces of coat hanger wire! In addition to providing the lamp's support, they conduct the 12VDC to make it work.
 Someday I'll add a page to my "Improving Gertie" website, describing the many uses of coat hanger wire, which I think of as "Nature's miracle substance." ;-)

Andy Baird
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39726
Jonna, you wrote:

"I also discovered the joy of having a bed always made up after 3 years of pulling the couches out and making the bed every night."

----

That was the main reason why we went to a 26.5'MB rather than a 23'TK. Our son asked us, "Do you really want to have to make up a bed every night and again in the morning if you just want to sit down to have breakfast?"

I'm rather claustrophobic also, but we're both big people, and we figured the evening climb into the overhead would not only be comical, but once there, would be downright uncomfortable. Besides, if we wanted to turn over in the middle of the night it would have to be very carefully choreographed . . .

I have heard, though, that the sound of the rain on the roof when you're in the overhead can be very romantic.

Ilene
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39729
HMM interesting idea although not having solar we came up another use for it.  A fireworks viewing station for our three year old.  Being in the middle of Vancouver WA at this time of year it keeps him busy trying to look for new bursts of light in the sky.

Chris

Quote
Just thought I'd mention how handy that escape hatch is for cleaning
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39731
Quote
HMM interesting idea although not having solar we came up another use for it.
And another use: If you closed cab door, noticed keys on dash, extra set in LD and for once remembered to close and lock all windows the escape hatch can be jimmied open with only minimal parts needing replacement when you get home! We really do learn the hard way! Sort of makes you realize anything can be broken into tho! Mary
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39740
Lots of good points on making the bed easier.  I did get a travesack when we bought Tortuga but gave it to a friend.  Since it was a queen and we were using the couches which becomes a king, it really was not a great solution.  My friend is about to sell her 30' LD with the queen bed and I might see if I can get the travesack back.

I have to say for the sake of Ilene and others considering where to sleep.  It really isn't a big hassle to make up the couches into beds at night.  Clearly, I did it happily for 2 years almost full time.  We kept the bedding in a large duffel bag tossed in the overhead and pulling it out, pulling out the couches and making the bed took about 5 minutes.  It is a very comfortable bed, softer than the mattress in the overhead, and it is obviously much larger.  Generally we left the back up on one side creating a great backrest for watching tv or reading in bed.  I like that alot.

When we got the dogs, I finally joined most other RVers and put blankets or spreads over the couches to protect them.  That's when it got to be more of a hassle.  Our dogs ride there and hang out there in the daytime with their toys and treats.  I didn't want to sleep on the dog cover so now making the bed meant un-making the dog stuff first.
Plus, the dogs seemed to think I was just making them a bigger bed and it got crowded.  Without that additional hassle, I might never have started sleeping upstairs.

BTW, I'm large too and I sure wouldn't want someone standing in the kitchen taking pictures while I climb into the overhead   I hit my elbow on the ceiling a lot while turning over and Mimi keeps scraping her knuckles on the nose somehow.  I'm thinking about getting some foam fingers for the mattress up there as it is harder than I like.
Of course, that will complicate putting it all up in the daytime.  So far we haven't dealt with that as we are parked in the driveway of the house we are selling and haven't driven much.
 Who knows, I may go back to the couches for sleeping if I find it gets too hot up there or if it just gets to be too big a hassle.  My point though is that it is nice to have options and one should think of that before giving one of them up.

Jonna

PS.  Andy, the lights in our 2001 aren't florescent like those pictured in Gertie.  My problem is I can't sit up far enough to read and don't like reading while flat on my back.
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39756
"Our dogs ride there and hang out there in
 
Quote
the daytime with their toys and treats.  I didn't want to sleep on the dog cover so now making the bed meant un-making the dog stuff
first.  "
 Isn't it amazing how 20 or 30 lbs worth of dogs can comletely rule an RV.. or our lives....

Our entire basis for purchasing both our old 26RB and our current 23TK was based on having bed big enough for both of us and our three dogs.

Go figure...

Jim Joni Quita Blaze Kobie
Re: Escape Hatch
Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 39760
Yup! Our lives have changed alot since rescuing these 2 dogs last winter.  Most of it for the better.  I'm hoping we can bring Hombre and Chica by to meet all 5 of you this fall.  Give Quita, Blaze and Kobie a biscuit for us, we have great memories of camping with them (and you and Joni of course )