increasing clearance for bunkbeds

[turfclubroad]

Alright here we go... I became a member of this forum as I am smitten by the early winnebagos because of style but also sleeping capacity. Especially being able to leave the dinette as it is, not having to convert it, is a big attraction.

Well got to tal;k to someone about the bunks and found out that in the indian d22 I was interested in (not anymore as it was in not so good condition) the clearance in front was 17 inches and in the back 14 inches. My kids are young, but that sounds claustrofobic to me for any age and was wondering if anybody has ever tried increasing the clearance to where it would be acceptable to even an adult.

Is it doable, how, and what kind of clearance could be gotten?

I hope someone can help me with this as it would be a bummer having to decide against winnebago ownership....

thx

Wiebe

[salplmb]

as far as i know the bunk up front is a set distance. it has a long piano hinge on the earlier models and a scissor mechanism on newer models.
i have had some pretty big friends stay up there(240lbs+).
its a little tight but not claustrophobic.
my daughter loves that bunk. she has been in it since she was 5 and is almost 16 now. she used to take her friends with her and they would both sleep up there very comfortably. the back bunk is a little small and we only used a few times when the kids were really little. it is really handy for extra stuff.
I'm sure almost any kid would love it up there.
hope this helps.
sal

[tiinytina]

Not sure if it would work but older 80's models like our Tiffin have a scissor hinge bunk that lowers down to right above captains chairs.. clearance is then more like 20"...  don't know if you can find one but is an option as I think the measurements are all about the same on these older coaches.... for width etc....

Tina

[Oz]

I'm assuming that you must have the fold down type of front bunk rather than the sciccors type.  The latter, scissors type has a lot more room - over 2 feet.

The scissors front bunk in my '74 Indian lowers to where I have to tilt the captains chairs back a bit in order for it to go fully down.  Never measured it but, when I laid up there just shootz and giggles, it had plenty of room.

The fold down type can be replaced with a scissors type. 

It's covered here, with photos too!
http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php/topic,5364.msg23523.html#msg23523