Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Info & Discussion Forum

my wife has asked me to remove the entertainment unit in our 26rsb and install the overhead bunk. Has anyone attemped this before? is there a kit avalible from born free or is it aftermarket?
thanks
john randolph

I think it would be best to take your Born Free coach to the factory in Humboldt, IA to have this coversion work done

If you are handy with tools & wood working, I don't see why you couldn't do this yourself. You will need to cut some pieces of 3/4" plywood to make the floor of the bed between the driver & passenger seats.

You can go to a "foam products" place and they can custom cut a foam mattress to fit. You will need to be able to use a sewing machine to make a cover for the mattress.

I goggled "foam products Miami" and found a place in Pompano Beach for the mattress. There may be others closer.

http://www.nationalfoamproducts.com/

Another source for a mattress would be the Zeno Mattress Mfg. Co. Inc. in Fort Lauderdale (www.zenomattress.com). However I would first suggest that you contact Kim at the Born Free factory to see what he suggests. Perhaps they can make you up the mattress which has a plywood base and ship it to you. The advantage to that is perhaps they still have matching fabric for your unit or they have a suitable alternate. If you need to see how the factory configured the overhead bed feel free to contact me as my Motorhome has one and I'm not far from you.

jrando,

Back in the first months of this year I provided photos of my 26RSB overhead bunk to a BF owner in Ft. Walton Beach. He eventually decided to have the factory make the conversion. If you like I can e-mail my photos to you and/or I can contact the Ft. Walton Beach owner and determine if he will contact you.

thanks for all the replies, I am thinking at this point to put it off untill I am ready to make the trip to the factory and have them do it

We converted our cabover entertainment to a sleeper. Seems a better use of the space. I removed the partition and tv accessories and the railings so the area was basically stripped. A simple job. The factory proprietary mattress is $1600 so that was a real cost. The ladder is $400. We did not install a curtain. The factory mounted a flat TV at the side entry over the closet. Worked out very well but does cost a few $$$. However, the mattress does take some getting used to, it is rather hard and the plywood feels like a bump. Still happy with the decision.

Bump

The front nose of a Born Free is a big single piece of fiberglass and has no fasteners protruding from the inside to outside. It would be a bad idea to put any kind of hole through the shell as it would cause leaks. My BF has a bed so I cannot say for certain how the cabinets are mounted. From what I've seen in other BF's over the years, it appears they are held in completely from the interior. In fact when looking into the open doors of the cabinets the interior space is the same carpeted finish as mine with the overhead bed. I think once the cabinet faces are removed your biggest remaining challenge would be to build the bed structure. Mine has about 4 inches of foam covering the entire overhead cap. You'll need to use 3/4" plywood to cut a curved piece to fill in the open area in the center. I've pretty much rebuilt my overhead bed to improve things so if you need more ideas I can share them with you. Good Luck.

This article in Coach Modifications about converting to twin beds may give you some insight:
https://www.bornfreervclub.org/bulletin ... =14&t=1550

Just to be clear the article is adding a larger bed to an RV that already has a bed?

Does the BF entertainment center have a single bed like a Bogfoot rv does that pulls out? I guess I did not notice that if it does have a single bed............

The article shows how to convert the existing overhead queen sized bed into two overhead twin sized beds. It will require a bit more work to convert the entertainment center into a bed.
Here's a couple pictures of the entertainment center in a 2004:

Tom,

Thanks for the clarity, I now understand.

BTW, I recently moved from the TC area to Fayetteville. Good to see there are some Minnesotans on the board!