Yacht Berth v Island Bed

I am happy with the yacht bed, as if one of us gets up in the night, the other does anyway, although it isn't hard to climb across. As we needed the length of the QS, we have adequate space in the 18' van this way. My husband thinks that an island bed would be easier to make, as this is the one domestic chore that falls his way when we are on holidays - while i am making breakfast or washing up.

As you have the children as well, i think you would appreciate the extra floor space. My only suggestion is push your home bed against the wall (or imagine that you have) and try accessing it only from one side for a while, including changing the sheets. Then decide what you want.

I can't say about re-sale. When we bought our pre-loved BT a few years ago, there was very little around on the 2nd hand market. The only one that met our criteria (being QS bed and 18' or less as we towed with a 3 ltr td auto Patrol) was the one we bought. While we raced across Australia, the owners had several other offers for it. We even met one guy who asked about the BT while parked at the nearby servo when we fuelled up to head home - he got real huffy when i said we'd just bought it "So YOU were the people who bought the van from xxxxx street!".

Make the compromise one way or the other between space and convenience, then choose what you really want - rather than speculate on resale value.

We have an 18' van with a yatch style and it presents no problems to us and in fact we appreciate the extra space gained. Jude tends to be the one that gets up more often thru the night so she has the open side while I get the window.
We also replaced the foam mattress with a good quality inner spring, a little heavier and a little higher than the normal original foam but is still not a worry despite us nearing our 60's. , If there is any problem it's only in "flipping" it every once in a while for even ware and can be a bit of a work out but it's well worth it.
As for resale ????????????.
Cheers Judy & Tony

Have an 18ft with bunks and yacht bed. Living in the van with 3 kids currently (all under 6) and the yacht bed gives you alot more room in the van. We keep the table down as an extra bed most of the time and prefer to eat out side. The setup works well for us. The only thing we would change is getting a heater (reverse cycle) on the AC unit.

Hi
We had a 21' with yacht bed and bunks for 3 (then under 5) and travelled to Cape York and Cameron Corner on different holidays. A yacht bed saves on floor space. You might have an arguement over who sleeps on the LHS tho as your the one the kids come to at all hours!!!!!! Heaps of room in the bed tho. Our then 3yr old twin boys would often snuggle in with us in the morning with room left for their big brother! A yacht style is a bit of a pain to put the fitted sheet on (QS) but you get used to it.
Hope this helps.
Mrs Tassie5
PS the external shower option was great too as you could "hose off" the kids before getting in the van!!!!

I just remembered one of the few BTs for sale when we were looking was built for a family with two young children to travel around Australia. They had bunk beds for the children at one end, which i think closed off with a curtain, and a larger than normal table for the children to do school work, which converted to a double bed for the parents. It was probably 18' as this was the maximum size we were considering. I don't know if your children are pre school or school age, but this family said their youngsters (i think around 6 & 8 year olds) gained so much more from the trip than they missed from a year out of school.

Tips - As TassieTrackers mentioned - I would have an external shower in addition to the en suite if building from new. Also i would choose a 2 door fridge as ours has the one door 130 litre fridge. I think everyone has at least the 190 litre two door fridge these days. If building from new, i would also have a Webasto heater with venting to the bathroom as well, although we have never needed heating in ours, even in a stiff frost in Tassie.

Have you done a search? Tips and ideas before finalising plans has come up on a few occasions.