Hello Norsky,
This is exactly what happened to ours. I think this is a
common problem. Those long screws never hit a wall stud. When the mattress
pallet is lifted to gain access to the under the bed storage the mattress
pushes hard against the outside wall and there is great stress is on the hinge
board. I spent a long day fixing ours and now we make sure to pull the mattress
toward the foot before lifting the pallet.
It probably didn’t help that we got a standard size mattress
and it was longer and heavier than the one supplied with the rig. I will copy
and paste my modification from a previous post:
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1. </span></span></span>Remove
plywood platform by disconnecting the air cylinders and removing the hinge screws
now carefully remove the platform to view the damage.</span>
2. </span></span></span>The
board that holds the other side of the hinge was pulled away from the wall and
unfastened from the bed frame sides.</span>
3. </span></span></span>The
factory installed screws that were into the outside wall had not hit a stud.
They were only into the thin paneling and the staples used to hold the hinge
board to the frame sides had pulled free.</span>
4. </span></span></span>I
cut a piece of 5/8” plywood to fill the entire area; from the bed frame side
walls, down to the floor and up to the bottom of the hinge board. (It is always
good to support weight down to a good footing — and not hang it from screws.)</span>
5. </span></span></span>I
framed this piece of plywood with 1”x 2” boards and marked on to the plywood
where the RV wall studs would be. I then carefully screwed this framed plywood
to the bed frame sides and into the outside wall (into the metal studs) and
screwed the hinge board down into the plywood frame work.</span>
6. </span></span></span>Now
the weight of the mattress and occupants that was down onto the hinge board is
transferred to the floor by the plywood. The forces that would attempt to pull
the hinge board way from the wall will find it difficult to split my 1x2 frame
attached to the bed frame sides.</span>
7. </span></span></span>The
mattress platform is now ready to be reattached to the bed via the original
hinge board that is now resting exactly where it was factory installed. While we
had the mattress platform removed I took the opportunity to beef it up with a
few strips of 1” x 4” lengths of oak, screwed and glued to the underside. </span>
8. </span></span></span>Now every
time DW wants access to the under-bed storage area, we pull the mattress away
from the outside wall before lifting the platform. The new Verlo standard size
extra firm mattress is an inch longer than the original and thicker which
amplified the pressure on the wall problem. Now when the slide comes in the
mattress is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">tight[/b] to the front of
the dresser.</span>
Those 47 staples that didn’t hold are easier to cut off than remove.
Linear Mode
