So what can you do about it? What we did was reinforce the bad frame by taking off the cheap plywood (thin stuff) and replacing it with 1 inch plywood. We also reinforced the under frame of the plywood with a few 2×4 pieces.

Our original bed, in our 23 foot Sunseeker RV made by Forest River, used to sag in the middle because of the lack of support and the thin 1/2 plywood that lay directly below the mattress. It’s doesn’t sag anymore but the mattress is still cheap in construction. We would like to just replace the mattress with a new one (that would be easy right) but alas; the mattress is custom designed to fit the RV lower bed area. It has one corner rounded off more than a standard mattress to fit the bed area of the RV so we had to think of another plan for superior comfort.

So what we did was buy a big chunk of think memory foam and laid it down. The memory foam is 8 inches thick so it’s really a mattress in itself. We laid the stock RV mattress down on the memory foam and used it as a template. We traced the shape of the RV mattress on to the the memory foam and then cut the memory foam.

Then we simply put the newly shaped piece of memory foam over the mattress, sheet it all down, and you’re done. Now the bed does not sag in the middle and it’s so comfortable you almost feel like you are going to melt when you lay down for a nap or bed time.

I can understand why RV manufacturers cheap out on some of the interior construction. Their overhead and liability costs, labor, materials, etc. are very costly and to turn a profit they have to keep down costs as much as possible.

Honestly, I don’t think owning is a good idea if you don’t have someone in the family who is “handyman” in some degree. Upgrading and customizing some of the interior amenities isn’t bad (actually allot of fun) but you need to have a work area of some sort, tools, and experience working with your hands. Otherwize customizing your RV is way to expensive.

Of course there is the learning curve, but on modern motor-homes the new systems make living on the road a breeze. Generators you can turn on and off inside the cabin, easy electrical and plumbing, and better fuel economy. I still think you should have someone in the family who is “handy”, because there are some issues that come up that require some basic troubleshooting skills.

For example, I had to repair a toilet seal that was not installed properly, and I had to troubleshoot some issues I had caused myself. I learned that you can’t just plug your motor-home into any old power plug. The normal home power of 110-115 volts (15 amps) will not run your motor-homes AC (air conditioning). This I know now. I also found out how much money I have to spend on a trip in the RV.

We recently took a trip to Golden, British Columbia in our RV. We spent 3 full days on the trip and we had to travel over 900 kilometers to get there, back, and around the patch a few times. We spent 275 dollars Canadian on the fuel. Seems expensive but we won’t be travelling with Airlines nearly as much.

Advantages of having a motor-home are as follows in my opinion:

• you can always take your dog(s)
• you can eat your own food
• you have a bathroom with you always that you know is clean
• you have all of your “own things” with you on the road
• no matter how far you travel you feel like you are at home
• you always know what kind of bed you have and set it up to suit your back
• you can get ready a leave for a spontaneous trip at anytime
• you don’t have to pay for rent-a-cars
• you don’t have to pay for airfare
• you don’t have to pay for hotel rooms