How to measure an RV bed space
Five minutes with a tape measure, a pencil and the mattress off the base. These are the numbers that decide everything else.
What you need
- A steel tape measure, long enough to run the full length of the bed.
- A pencil and something to write on.
- A sheet of paper if any corner is rounded.
Step by step
1. Take the mattress off
Measure the platform, not the mattress on it. Mattresses compress, shift and are often the wrong size to begin with. The platform is the true boundary of the space.
2. Width, side to side
Measure across the platform at its widest point, and round to the nearest quarter inch or half centimeter. Then measure again a foot further down. RV walls are rarely perfectly square, and if the two numbers differ, the smaller one is the one that matters.
3. Length, head to foot
Measure from the wall at the head of the bed to the end of the platform, again at the longest point.
4. The corners
For an angled cut, measure how far the cut runs along each edge from where the square corner would have been. For a rounded corner, lay paper over it, trace the curve, and keep the tracing. A photograph of the tracing next to a tape measure tells us more than a description will.
5. Overhead clearance
Measure from the top of the platform to the underside of the lowest cabinet above it. Mattress height eats into that gap, and it decides whether you can sit up comfortably in bed.
6. The way in
Measure the narrowest doorway and the tightest turn between the entry and the bedroom. A mattress that fits the platform still has to get to it.
Write down these six numbers
- Width at the widest point
- Length at the longest point
- Any corner cut, measured along both edges
- Overhead clearance
- Narrowest doorway
- Whether the base lifts for storage or sits in a slide-out