Hi,
Why doesn’t the Troll 530 have slatted pull out base like the 540?
I appreciate it’s a smaller dinette and you sleep across, but aren’t pull out slats better that the hard base and poles?

There are two versions of the 540 lounge. One has a single legged table that clips to the rear wall, under the window and the other has a removable central cupboard. The former is the 'standard' version and the latter is a cost option and is referred to as the 'multi-function bed'.

I'm unsure of the arrangement now but on our '01 540 the bench seat cushions were very heavy because they had a thick ply base which allowed them to be suspended over the central aisle whilst the bench back cushions filled either edge.

Part of the appeal of the multi-function system was that it had slide-out slats which meant you could tailor the width of each single bed to an individual requirement. In our '05 van Mrs SDA preferred sleeping with the bed set at 2ft 6ins wide and me, being lazy, kept mine at 2ft wide. Even if both were set at 2ft 6ins there was still a 1ft aisle between the single beds. Handy for access. Of course, not using all the bench back cushions meant you had to find somewhere to store them overnight. To allow the 2ft 6ins bed setting one of the bench back cushions is split in half, with velcro fastening to hold it together. The multi-function lounge also has a big stand-alone table with two pairs of folding legs. It stores flat on top of the offside bench, held in place by straps. Because it's stand-alone it can be used anywhere, whereas the standard one leg table can only be used where one end can be clipped to a relevant fitting. However the freestanding table can be unpopular with some owners as it's large, heavy and unwieldy.

The standard 530 lounge is basically the same as the standard 540 lounge, just around 1ft 10ins shorter.

But all of that doesn't really answer your question.

Personally I think the answer is probably lost in the sands of time. Though I suspect both 540 and 530 standard lounges (and their shorter brethren) were designed to be as simple and cheap as possible. Pull-out slats came along later and in Eriba Tourings you're offered a very basic van with many cost options. The bed cost option on the 540 is the multi-function alternative and the alternative on the 530 is the fixed bed. So nobody went any further to offer third options, although one could say that a 542 is a third option on a 540 lounge, if you see what I mean.

Presumably slide-out slats and even a central chest, could be configured for a 530 and the freestanding table would be a smaller and lighter version of the one that's detested by some.

Hi N
SDA has given you a good description of the multi-function bed on the 540 which is an option that reduces the wardrobe space available but gives you the longer beds and the small store cupboard at the end which doesn't need moving to set the bed out as a large double, if you choose to sleep across the width of the van. It is the same size as the 530 but with a different internal layout - so I guess Hymer would argue that if you want the multi-function bed you have to buy the 540.

We were going to get the 530 but when we were shown the multi-bed at AL we thought it was a better all round solution for us. I think we had to pay £380 extra for this over the cost of the 530 and we have not regretted it, especially after we read some accounts on the Forum about the bed pole bending on some other models. MikeT

I can see the wider benefit for the 540. But slatted bases that quickly slide out could be good for the 530 too even with the current simple table. Wonder why it isn’t a extra that they can flog in the long list of extras?

Whilst coming to this party a bit late I would mention that anyone who thinks an Eriba slatted base can 'quickly slide out' clearly hasn't had the delight of actually operating one of these things. I rather thought they were based on the roller ball slide out you see in most motorcaravans - hahahahahaha! The aren't :)

Various folk have reported that the slatted bed bases for the multi-function bed in the 540 are cumbersome to operate. But others including Soulbluesman above seem more than happy. I would very much welcome some more information from both sides - also any advice as to how to make the task easier (other than setting them up and leaving them!)

We ran an '05 multi-function bed 540 for two years (Mr Frantone's ex) and I don't recall any problems with the beds sliding out. Maybe the mechanism has altered in recent vans?

Don't go there Mr Randa

There is no ‘Mr Frantone’s ex’!!!!


However the current Mrs Frantone manages pulling the beds out with ease.

As was mentioned earlier if the bed frame is lifted slightly it moves out easily.
The wooden bed frame sliding on the wooden base obviously has a higher coefficient of friction so lifting reduces this.
I have added strips of aluminium to the upper edge of the bed bases to protect them from the sliding and also lifting in and out of items stored under the bed and this makes the sliding easier as well.

For us, it’s less about the sliding out mechanism and more about the position you have to be in to pull the second one out to make the double up or slide the first one back in (if that makes sense). The slats sticking makes it worse but it’s the fact that you can’t stand in the space in the middle in front of the one you are pushing or pulling as the case may be. I end up leaning over from the end which does one’s back in. You can kneel on the opposite bed but that still seems to make my back twinge, as you have to push/pull at the same time as lifting because they don’t slide smoothly. When we use the singles he has his out and I don’t, so it’s not a problem. The multifunctional bed wasn’t a deal breaker for us when selecting a new van though. We would have had the 540, but with the extra 6 inches in width of the Troll meant that I would fit laying across the van. We also preferred a bigger front dinette and the kitchen arrangement of the 535 suited us better.

Is there a reason why there couldn’t be like a roll of slhort aluminium slats under the end cupboard that pulled out to fill the space? I think that’s what Robin means above. They would be short so no problem with bending.

The space at the rear end has always been where the Truma Therme boiler is fitted (when fitted) and with the wires, cold and hot water pipes and the through and through warm air ducts in the same space it might've been considered unwise the dump a whole string of slats in there as well.

And judging by the complaints on CT, slats as you describe, are not without issues themselves. They too can get stuck, they can come adrift from their side tapes, they can fall out completely and the plastic tracks they run in can break, as can individual wooden slats themselves.

We chose the 410 in part because it allowed us the opportunity to sleep lengthways rather than across the van. Both slatted base thingies are then pulled out enough to allow 2'8 width beds and legroom for night time visits to the Kampa Kazi. We make up the beds before we leave and they stay that way till we get home, just using the small front lounge (sorry leeeoowwndj) for the day time.
The bed bases in our MH were the same concept, a frame with legs, but metal rather than wood. Instead of the sticky catchy wood slides they had metal roller ball sliders - like large drawer roller/sliders - and were dead easy to slide in and out. However they did add weight.

Ahh, we don’t have heat or hot water so ours is empty. Like all these things, you get round it - I get Simon to do ours!! I wasn’t complaining.

I’ve wrestled with slats when we had WWB the 2 poles and 4 cushions are easy to use, that’s once you’ve got some poles that don’t bend, it’s easy to slide them in.