Sofa bed

[Tenzin]

Anyone recommend a sofa bed that will fit through the small aperture of a cruiser? 
I’m thinking Lego.  Or building something using glued matchsticks. 
It can be bean baggy, as long as it’s a decent height from the floor and not thousands of pounds. 
It has to be comfortable to sleep on when unfurled. 
Anyone? 

[cuthound]

4 minutes ago, Tenzin said:

Anyone recommend a sofa bed that will fit through the small aperture of a cruiser? 
I’m thinking Lego.  Or building something using glued matchsticks. 
It can be bean baggy, as long as it’s a decent height from the floor and not thousands of pounds. 
It has to be comfortable to sleep on when unfurled. 
Anyone? 

 

I have one made by Sofa Bed Barn, which fitted through the 48 inch wide front doors of my narrowboat. I'm not aware of any that are narrower. 

 

https://www.sofabedbarn.co.uk/

[IanD]

7 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

I have one made by Sofa Bed Barn, which fitted through the 48 inch wide front doors of my narrowboat. I'm not aware of any that are narrower. 

 

https://www.sofabedbarn.co.uk/

IIRC the sofabed barn ones arrive as a kit, they'll go through much narrower doors than that including normal width internal narrowboat doors.

[PCSB]

Another vote for sofabed barn. Very comfy to sleep on and does come as a kit which is really easy to put together.

[MtB]

40 minutes ago, Tenzin said:

It has to be comfortable to sleep on when unfurled. 

 

You or the bed? 

[cuthound]

28 minutes ago, IanD said:

IIRC the sofabed barn ones arrive as a kit, they'll go through much narrower doors than that including normal width internal narrowboat doors.

 

Indeed, but even then the smallest gap they will fit through is about 48 inches.

Edited May 8 by cuthound
Missing letter

[IanD]

2 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Indeed, but even then the smallest gap they will fit through is about 48 inches.

I'm confused -- mine came in through the stern doors and internal doors which are much narrower than that?

 

(assuming you bring it in as a kit and assemble it in the room it's going to be used in)

[cuthound]

11 minutes ago, IanD said:

I'm confused -- mine came in through the stern doors and internal doors which are much narrower than that?

 

(assuming you bring it in as a kit and assemble it in the room it's going to be used in)

 

And how high are your narrow internal doors, presumably more than 48 inches?

[IanD]

Just now, cuthound said:

 

And how high are your narrow internal doors, presumably more than 48 inches?

 

Yes, but the stern doors aren't... 😉 

 

You said 48 inches wide was needed, and it's not. And neither is 48 inches high. I don't know what the absolute minimum height and width are, just that you can get a sofabed barn sofa *as delivered (kit of parts)* in through normal stern doors and normal internal bulkhead doors without problems.

 

I expect if the OP was worried he could ask sofabed barn for exact dimensions... 😉 

[cuthound]

3 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Yes, but the stern doors aren't... 😉 

 

You said 48 inches wide was needed, and it's not. And neither is 48 inches high. I don't know what the absolute minimum height and width are, just that you can get a sofabed barn sofa *as delivered (kit of parts)* in through normal stern doors and normal internal bulkhead doors without problems.

 

I expect if the OP was worried he could ask sofabed barn for exact dimensions... 😉 

 

Pedant 

 

[missingtheboat]

I spoke with Sofa Bed Barn a couple of weeks ago and the guy was very clear. They have a section on the website (here) which is specifically for narrowboat seating. He said that all products in that category will be easy to get onto a narrowboat. Our builder agreed - saying that almost everyone's sofa or sofa bed comes from there! 

[IanD]

35 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Pedant 

 

No, just right... 😉 

 

I've looked at my sofabed which is one of the larger ones (Richmond), and the cross-section of the largest component is probably about 36" x 18" -- don't take this as exact, but certainly not 48" in either dimension, which is what you said.

 

If it needed a 48" hole (either dimension) it wouldn't have gone into my boat, and it did... 🙂

 

P.S. Don't forget that for a longer sofabed you also need to worry about whether you can get it round any corners between the outside world and where you want it to end up -- in which case a bigger hole might not help... 😉 

Edited May 8 by IanD

[Tenzin]

48 inches is huge. The entry point is a wide as I am. And the stern is reversed, the bed is there, then bathroom straight into a galley which blocks anything over a yard high. 
I’m thinking maybe the bean bag thing is the way forward. We have the worlds most comfortable couch. I will miss it. 
There are currently two twirly chairs in situ. I don’t know if he is keeping them or not. God knows how he got them in. Probably took a can opener tp the roof. 

[IanD]

23 minutes ago, Tenzin said:

48 inches is huge. The entry point is a wide as I am. And the stern is reversed, the bed is there, then bathroom straight into a galley which blocks anything over a yard high. 
I’m thinking maybe the bean bag thing is the way forward. We have the worlds most comfortable couch. I will miss it. 
There are currently two twirly chairs in situ. I don’t know if he is keeping them or not. God knows how he got them in. Probably took a can opener tp the roof. 

 

Ignore the 48 inches number, the sofabed barn ones simply don't need a hole that big in either dimension to get them through. Mine came in through the rear doors of a narrowboat (less than 24" wide?), through the galley and dinette, and through a standard internal door (maybe 20" wide?) into the saloon, where it was put together. IIRC it breaks down into base, back, arms, and cushions, and the legs (if fitted) are removable.

 

If you're concerned I suggest you take some photos and send them to sofabed barn and see what they say, they were very helpful when I dealt with them (I wanted something non-standard).

Edited May 8 by IanD

[Sue68]

How about Ikea?

[junior]

We got one recently from Sofa Bed Barn. Came in kit form, very easy to put together and very comfy as either sofa or bed.

[Chris John]

Jeez some people will argue about anything 🤷🏻‍♂️

[MtB]

11 minutes ago, Chris John said:

Jeez some people will argue about anything 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

No they won't...

 

[Wafi]

I have an Ikea SKÖNABÄCK. Came in pieces that were small enough to fit in a marina trolley, and I assembled it in situ in the saloon. No issues fitting the pieces through small apertures; if I'd needed to, I could have carried them through the back cabin, engine room, bathroom and galley.

[Machpoint005]

13 hours ago, Sue68 said:

How about Ikea?

 

We had one. It would meet all the OP's criteria except comfort.

 

 

A better model might be available now, as I can't remember which Swedish village was involved.

 

 

[Sue68]

10 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

We had one. It would meet all the OP's criteria except comfort.

 

 

A better model might be available now, as I can't remember which Swedish village was involved.

 

 

I had the bed chairs, in fact I still have three.

 

 

[cuthound]

12 minutes ago, Sue68 said:

I had the bed chairs, in fact I still have three.

 

 

 

When we had our first shareboat we swapped the original "Z" beds fortwo  chair beds.

 

They worked well until some idiot dropped one in the cut whilst transporting it along the gunwale to move it to the rear of the boat, rather than disassemble it and take it through the boat...  

 

[5239]

2 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

When we had our first shareboat we swapped the original "Z" beds fortwo  chair beds.

 

They worked well until some idiot dropped one in the cut whilst transporting it along the gunwale to move it to the rear of the boat, rather than disassemble it and take it through the boat...  

 

did it end up at Minworth with all the other settees/beds/chairs 😃

Minworth is some sort of furniture graveyard

[cuthound]

Just now, 5239 said:

did it end up at Minworth with all the other settees/beds/chairs 😃

 

No. As far as I know it is still lurking in Stockton Top Marina (formally Blue Lias Marina).

[tree monkey]

14 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

No. As far as I know it is still lurking in Stockton Top Marina (formally Blue Lias Marina).

That's where it made it's escape, it will have made it's way to Minworth because that's their breeding ground.

 

Just like the tame valley is a mattress breeding ground