Duvalay Bedding - Suitable for Symbol Plus?

Hi everyone... 

We've reached the stage where we're now musing about the snoozing options in terms of bedding (comfort, practicality etc..).

We intend using our Symbol Plus (when we get it) all year round - road conditions permitting.

We began with 'use what we've got' (i.e. misc. camping gear) and ended with 'just bite the bullet and get some Duvalay sets'.

In between we questioned where/ if we could store bedding/ sheets/ pillows (not having our van yet to measure all the lockers/ cupboards).

We suspect we're treading well worn footsteps and there's plenty of experience out there - so any comments/ lessons learned are welcome!!

BIG thanks in advance for any replies... 



Karen and Phil

First off, I can recommend Duvalay products, I’ve only got the thinnest topper and it’s great.

I would though hold off actually buying anything (however exciting and tempting it is!) till you’ve actually got the van and can sit inside with a cuppa/glass of wine and investigate the storage.
I’m sure a few Symbol plus owners wil be along to give you a few tips in the meantime, I’ve got the basic Symbol and we store a lot bedding in the space above the cab.

We store our bedding on the beds. The Warwick Duo has two long instantly available beds and so we do not 'put anything away', as the sleeping bags act as covers / toppers / throws. I am not familiar with the Symbol Plus, but could you do something similar? Having the bags out all the time frees up a considerable amount of storage (been doing it for years without noticing any downsides).

We roll our sleeping bags up and use them as bolster cushions. 

We nearly bought a Symbol which has the same seating/sleeping arrangement as the Plus and anticipated placing one rolled up bag at each end of the long bunk seeing as storage is at a premium. We always remove the wedge shaped cushions and some of the scatter cushions from the van.

From what information I've gleaned on here, the Duvalay bedding is good but can be rather bulky to store. Is it two singles or a double you're be having? Be aware of just how much your bedding might eat up your limited available storage space. In our earlier Duetto there was more storage above the over-cab locker, it's much less in our Boxer based van, we now have to use a separate locker for the bedding. If you have many different components to making up a bed then a mattress topper helps to fill in the cracks. We have a thinnish double topper we bought from a poundstretcher shop that in its bag compacts down to a manageable roll. We use a Vango double sleeping bag with Cocoon liners that zip together, choosing two out of three of these, fleece/Egyptian cotton/silk, choosing too which is uppermost when we sleep. This means we can cover a wide temperature range.

When we had Duettos, we stored the sleeping bags on the long seat opposite the sliding door. We did not have mattress toppers at that time and did not suffer from excess height and / or dangly legs when using the bed as a seat. Keeping the bedding on the seats (unrolled) does greatly ease the storage situation in a small 'van.

Dbvwt wrote:First off, I can recommend Duvalay products, I’ve only got the thinnest topper and it’s great.

I would though hold off actually buying anything (however exciting and tempting it is!) till you’ve actually got the van and can sit inside with a cuppa/glass of wine and investigate the storage.
I’m sure a few Symbol plus owners wil be along to give you a few tips in the meantime, I’ve got the basic Symbol and we store a lot bedding in the space above the cab.

Excellent advice, they are bulky. We’ve got a Duvulay (combination of mattress topper and duvet in one) which is particularly bulky when rolled, and even bulkier in winter when we put a higher tog duvet in. Then I have a thick Duvulay mattress topper only,  which I use with a regular duvet. Although we have a fair amount of storage, they do take up a big chunk of it. For us it’s a compromise worth making as they are really good, but I agree that this decision is one best made when you have the van.

If you know somebody who is handy with a sewing machine make your own using duvets, duvet covers, sheets, a long zip and foam. Much cheaper and you can use better quality materials.

Hi we have a 2012 symbol with deeper seat boxes,but still find that only 1 duvalay can be stored underneath.we keep the other in the duvalay storage bag in the gangway when travelling and on the drivers seat upright when on site until needed at night works well for us.the best sleeping system we have ever tried

We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to share advice and experiences - all duly noted and very helpful!!  


 
Some great points made (particularly around sipping wine!) and we’ll now be taking a little time to consider our options before doing anything drastic.  In the meantime, our trusty (if ageing) camping gear (combined with some home based bedding improvisation) should suffice.

(Hopefully!).

Cheers…

Karen and Phil

Just an additional note about the Cocoon inner sleeping bag linings that I referred to earlier and which we bought a few years ago. Those currently on sale now are called TravelSheetCouplers and like our can be singles or 2 zipped together to make a double liner. Other combination options seem to be available.

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Hi, new to the forum but not motor homes. We have a Symbol Plus 2019, 
We have Duvalay Bedding, rolled up it stores under the main bench seat.
We love our Duvalay for the van much better than sleeping bags and a lot easier than carrying separate bedding for us, each to their own.
If you want a picture, please let me know

Hi Mark, That’s very encouraging news.  If you don’t mind us asking, which variant do you have (compact, comfort or freshtec)?  We were considering the 4cm mattress/ freshtec bundle...

Karen and Phil

Hi, we have two singles, and my wife informs they are the comfort. We have summer and winter duvets but only use the summer, we used the winter oly once and it was too hot for us. We do use van year round.
We’ve been using the Duverleys  for last three years.
I can send you a picture of them rolled up under the bench seat if you need. Tomorrow though.
Mark

Hi Mark, If you could please, that would be fantastic...



Karen and Phil

Hi Karen, Hope the photo shows everything you need, the Symbol Plus has plenty of storage space.We don’t have pillows we use cushions. The cushions and soft furnishings that come with the van we keep in the house.

Mark

Hi Mark, Excellent - really appreciated!!! 

Karen and Phil

Hi Karen, hope you have the photo? I sent it to you in a pm as well.
Mark

Something to consider with Duvalay and that is the possibility of the hanging down bit of the 'bag' covering a heater outlet. We considered Duvalays for our Warwick Duo, but did not use them because the hanging bit would cover the two heater outlets in the offside bed.

There has been much discussion in the past on various forums regarding the Truma Combi heaters and how the reliability of the whole unit seems affected, especially when the whole unit overheats (caused for example when the outlets are covered).

If your layout does not lead to the outlets being covered, then ignore this point (but remember it for the future!)

Mark wrote:Hi Karen, hope you have the photo? I sent it to you in a pm as well.
Mark

Hi Mark, Got it - Whoo-hoo!!!



Karen and Phil

Spospe wrote:Something to consider with Duvalay and that is the possibility of the hanging down bit of the 'bag' covering a heater outlet. We considered Duvalays for our Warwick Duo, but did not use them because the hanging bit would cover the two heater outlets in the offside bed.

There has been much discussion in the past on various forums regarding the Truma Combi heaters and how the reliability of the whole unit seems affected, especially when the whole unit overheats (caused for example when the outlets are covered).

If your layout does not lead to the outlets being covered, then ignore this point (but remember it for the future!)

Hi Spospe,  A very good point - safety is absolutely paramount (we've noted some threads which have touched on this issue).

We believe the heating system in the Symbol Plus is at the rear - within the kitchen area - and therefore away from the bedding area.

Karen and Phil

We have had 2020 Symbol Plus and had Duvalay singles for our old large motorhome. Yes you can put them under the bench seat if you take nothing else! Storage is plentiful but not for bulky items only as you say under the main bench seat hence we do not use our Duvalay. Sleeping bags with Velcro straps tightly rolled fit well. One behind the 3rd passenger seat and the second one under that in the flapped cupboard. This is gives us the whole offside bench seat for everything else. Pillows fit in the overcab section. I hope you have better luck than us with your sliding Peugeot windows which have constantly leaked despite seals, both window sets being replaced both sides!! So bad they gave me a new van but the new 2020 one is in at the moment again for leaking windows. Good luck!

Hi sorry to hear about your trouble with the windows, must have been bad for them to replace the whole van.
Do you know if this is a common problem, we’ve not seen anything so far, but will paying more attention in the next few days.

We had eight leaks. Marquis had the van longer than we did. We were caught in the last lock-down for 8 weeks. To there credit they did not argue when I requested a new van after 12 months of ongoing problems. Marquis and AutoSleeper were both excellent and as helpful as they could be. AutoSleeper actually sent a director down 135 miles to apologise. It seems it is a Peugeot problem. Hope you have better luck. The bottom line was I really like the Symbol Plus layout ie large lounge for campervan and the end kitchen amazing. Fingers crossed it will be sorted.