LFGSS Camper Van owners?

Spent a memorable 5 weeks on the West Coast of Portugal in the van with the fam a few years back. Excellent van territory. Endless top top free camp spots. Enjoy.

Beds and bedding - considering what to do here, and soliciting input from those who have already done this.

I have a double bed (when fully unfolded), and am currently thinking that I need a couple of pillows and then not sure what would be better - a couple of sleeping bags that could zip together to make a double (if that makes sense) or a sheet/duvet/duvet cover.

If I am on my own I use a sleeping bag, if my wife is with me we use sheet and duvet.

We tend to use a duvet when we're not carting much other kit about, but sleeping bags are a bit easier to stash when the van's "full"

If you already have sleeping bags use thar if solo.

If not, as space is a premium, consider buying a down duvet, not one from the supermarket but camping bikepacking one.

If sleeping in summer in warm weather, nothing.

Sleeping bags every time because they pack down and save space when not in sleep mode.

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Duvet and one of those blue Ikea bags with a zip work to stash it in perfect for us.

Think depends if want it to be a metal tent/bivvy or a proper bed. I am solo with the dog and love a full size duvet and pyjamas. Check the fold flat seats (if what you have) are actually comfortable to sleep on. My California bench seat is nice and firm to sit on but too hard for a good nights sleep. I currently use a memory foam mattress topper as well and everything rolls up into a kit bag, but am going to have the seats re-upholstered to be more comfy to sleep on.

As always experiment a bit before you deploy the money gun. Its the single most important thing to get right in a smaller sized van.

It's a full sized, double bed. I'd prefer a duvet/pillows - and of course have some in the house that I could use. I'm just a bit worried about storage, and getting them mucky, in a way that I don't think I'd be concerned about a sleeping bag.

My intended use case is using the van as a base when racing the Southern Enduro series (and others which I can get to), so the bike will be in the van with me as I don't want to wake up on race day to find I have to run the course as someone has made off with my wheels.

Pulling a double sleeping bag out of a stuff sack and throwing it onto the mattress strikes me as easier than getting a fitted sheet and a duvet out, but maybe I'm overthinking this.

We only used it in a campervan for a week, but we bought a Decathlon double sleeping bag.. Dead easy to get out and pack away, warm, cheap.

That looks like a great idea - thanks. I'll get myself to Decathlon.

Can't see them on the website but they had a few quilt type options in Surrey Quays store last year.

No camper van experience, but have both driven and camped, and trekked and camped.

If you go sleeping bag I'd look for cheaper thick sleeping bags, rather than techy light weight ones. They should still get down to ~25l compressed but are sooooo much more comfy.

I would also get real pillows - ikea synthetic washable ones or Dunelm.

4 weeks left of wife being off for maternity, working every hour of the day when I can to get as much done as possible, plus got to finish her commuter …

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Nice work

For me the beauty of having a van is that u can sleep under a duvet with ur own pillows instead of a sleeping bag, then just chuck in a bag like an IKEA blue bag to stop it getting dirty

When living in a van space is always at a premium. If it can be packed away. Pack it away !! Van has three modes. Driving. Living. Sleeping. The better you can use all your space between these modes. (I spent 5 weeks 3 summers in a row living in a T5 with the Mrs and our 2 kids)

Camping quilts might be the best of both worlds: https://outdoorsmagic.com/article/best-lightweight-backpacking-quilts-top-6/

When living in a van space is always at a premium. If it can be packed away. Pack it away !! Van has three modes. Driving. Living. Sleeping. The better you can use all your space between these modes. (I spent 5 weeks 3 summers in a row living in a T5 with the Mrs and our 2 kids)

You don't have to tell me!

Here's the van in "weekends racing"configuration, albeit without the bedding.

This extends out into a double bed:

@Tijmen /Witslingers bag fits perfectly behind the front seats, the rest I'm not convinced is in the optimal place:

I would like to make a slide out bike tray in my van so I can hopefully add one more bike... but I'm having a hard time finding these drawer slides. I want them to be 48 or 52" long, 120 or 140cm (more or less).
They seem to be sold out everywhere online. I'm in Portugal at the moment which makes things a bit more complicated, but i could get them shipping somewhere here.
The longest ones I found in the hardware stores were just 55cm...
Someone any ideas??

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I wish I’d known about these, would be ideal for sleeping in back country huts here in NZ, I always get too hot in a sleeping bag and sleep like crap

I popped over to Decathlon yesterday - they did not have that sleeping bag. I think I'll give it a whirl with the current spare bedding from the guest bedroom for my first outing.

What would be useful, therefore, would be high quality stuff-sacks to tidy that away, is there a go-to brand for these, or are they all much of a muchness?

high quality stuff-sacks

It's obtaining the necessary size you want to worry about. They don't need to be specialist high quality ones.

On a smaller scale I've got two years worth of backpacking and trekking out of standard nylon ones. That's hard use, being pulled, hung, stuffed, overfilled, etc. Yours are going to be stored in a van and moved from their home to the bed and back again. Maybe get ripstop fabric just in case.

As others said, for a douvet an ikea bag works brilliantly.