It's home! Now, about those bunks...

[dthurston]

OK, so we finally picked up our NTU Thor/Aerolite Cub 160 this past week.

One question we have is what is the best way to fold up the tenting and mattresses to allow for an attractive/usable interior?

The front bunk folds in such that the cushions for the dinette won't fit fully up to the front frame, so the side cushions don't fit in.  I'm betting there's a way to position things so that the mattresses can be on the bunk door, but still out of the way of the interior space.

That said, we have a new bunk door too.  Seems we missed checking it and the bottom (near the hinges) was pretty thoroughy rotten. Kudo's to the Tom Raper guys for proactively fixing that and not billing us for it. We had signed papers and all and then they noticed that they had either promised the repair to someone else, or decided to fix it anyway... at any rate, not a cheap fix but they've pretty much bought me as a customer going forward!

I've got the "book" from Dutchmen on this rig, but the instructions for setup of the bunks are, well, useless.  Allow me to quote:

"From the inside, remove the cushions from the bunk wall.
From the outside, release the latch assemblies; open the bunk from the top by pulling it down to a horizontal level.  
Install the support tubes, slide the tent canvas out, secure the canvas to the platform on all three sides, and put the tension rafters and bow rafters in place.
Reverse the procedure to close the bunks, making sure they are
secure. "

Real helpful, eh?

Anyway, TIA and we're going to break it in this next wknd in STL area.
Happy campin!
Doug

[diane]

I have the same trailer. I fold over the mattresses and snap them (there should be straps with snaps on the mattresses) to the drop down wall. Then after folding over the bunk roof support, fold the canvas in so as not to pinch it when folding the wall up. With the smaller rear bed I have to pull the canvas all the way in the trailer from the inside or else I can't secure the wall to the body. Then I just try to smooth and flatten the canvas as much as possible from inside. At firts I was completely removing the mattress to get the wall folded up. Hope this helps.

[dthurston]

I have the same trailer. I fold over the mattresses and snap them (there should be straps with snaps on the mattresses) to the drop down wall. Then after folding over the bunk roof support, fold the canvas in so as not to pinch it when folding the wall up. With the smaller rear bed I have to pull the canvas all the way in the trailer from the inside or else I can't secure the wall to the body. Then I just try to smooth and flatten the canvas as much as possible from inside. At firts I was completely removing the mattress to get the wall folded up. Hope this helps.

Are those the snaps at the end that the mattress would more or less hang from? We have the mattress snapped onto the bunk door at the top/outer end.

Is there something similar I should be seeing on ours that would support the smaller sections of the mattress (ie, at the inside or bottom edge?)

Thanks!