SYDNEY, Australlia -- Australian inventor Rod Pallot has developed a new patented way to configure a bedroom to create more livable space in an RV -- an idea that came to him after he and his wife rented a motorhome in Australia.

"When I sold my cake shop franchise, I thought we could buy a motorhome and travel throughout our country. But, we decided to pay $1,000 just to test it for a week," he told RV Daily Report. "We took it back after just five days because the over-the-cab bed was too claustrophobic and the only other alternative was to use a jackknife sofa."

After that experience, Pallot discovered many other problems with motorhome beds. For example, some motorhomes had the bed in a corner, which meant that people had to kneel in the middle of it in order to make the bed. "For older people, climbing into and especially out of an over-the-cab bed can be quite difficult," he said. "I knew there needed to be an alternative."

He came up with a plan to convert the space occupied by an island bed, or two single beds, into a living room featuring chairs and a couch that would automatically lock securely for travel, but easily unlock and adjust into useable living room seating when the RVers arrived at their destination.

To view a video of the device, click here.

He toyed with the idea of suspending a bed from the ceiling or adopting a Murphy style bed that folded down from the wall. But, after hiring an engineering consultancy to look into the problem, together they developed a bed that was designed to flip over onto a combination of chairs and sofa furniture that folded and locked into position. Once he determined he had a winning design, he took it to an Australia government service which offers subsidized assessment of their product to inventors.

"The official I spoke with listened for a while and looked at the drawings. Then he leaned across the desk, looked me in the eye and began tearing the idea to shreds," said Pallot, who noted he doesn’t have any mechanical aptitude whatsoever. “I finally mustered the courage to challenge him if he thought he could do any better.

A few days later, the official called him back and offered to help him revise the idea. The man worked as the engineering department head at a rural university. After a half-dozen 200-mile round trips, they both came up with a product that seemed to fit Pallot's needs, was mechanically feasible and beautiful in its simplicity.

The invention is intended primarily for Class C motorhomes and smaller travel trailers, although Pallot said it would fit nicely in a Class B model. It could even be used in truck campers where manufacturers would like to take more advantage of limited space, he said.

The prototype bed folds up against the wall, which leaves considerable sitting space in the room when the bed is not in use. When needed, the bed actually rests on a combination of the couch and two chairs that are compacted when not in use. The bed is a residential style bed that offers access along three sides, which makes it easy to make and much easier to use than crawling over a partner in the middle of the night, said Pallot.

But, the market for motorhomes is too small in Australia for a local manufacturer to give the idea any serious consideration, Pallot explained. "Most OEM manufacturing capacity in Australia takes place in China," he added. "Those that are built here generally can’t be sold anywhere else due to the high shipping costs the company would incur to transport them to the United States.”

After the invention was finalized, he approached US furniture makers through an agent, but whilst they expressed interest, they wanted to use a seat base unit supplied ready to install. He has since decided to bring the idea to market to seek a manufacturer to implement the device directly, or of generating enough interest by consumers, that suppliers might realize its potential.

Furniture serves as bed platform

Here's how it works. The seat base unit provides a platform upon which furniture may be constructed for use in RVs. It provides a secure attachment to the floor of the vehicle, preventing the seat from moving during transit. Yet, it also allows the seat to be moved on castors when in use, thus facilitating a flexible cabin layout but that automatically re-secures the furniture when vacated, ready for travel.

A location pin forms a point in the vehicle floor around which the seat may be moved and rotated. The pin is screwed into a threaded insert in the floor and may be removed and repositioned to alternate insert areas. This adds flexibility whereby seating may be removed, relocated or additional seating added.

When someone sits on the furniture, this releases the locking mechanism. The user can then glide the chair on castors as the location pin moves along a channel, which creates ample sitting space when the furniture is moved to the furthest ends of the channels.

A custom made circular bearing race allows the chairs to rotate like office chairs. Users can depress a handle in front of the chair with their foot to position it in place without sitting on it.

The base unit, upon which the furniture is built, is only five inches high. When the furniture back is folded down, it forms together with the seat cushion, a base about the size of a box spring to support a mattress.

The chair's upholstery hides the base unit and track which leaves no obstructions for users to stub their toes or trip over when walking through the RV. Best of all, the furniture is comfortable to sit and relax in.

The configuration can accommodate any size bed, and if configured with a slide out, the invention would create an ideal living area that can be quickly transformed into a bedroom, office or living room.

"If this were installed in a 12-16-foot caravan, the designers could get rid of the dinette,” Pallot explained. “A fold up table being installed between the chairs to create a dining room. The added floor area made available by the furniture combination would allow for a bigger bathroom or more counter space in a kitchen."

Pallot noted that a recent survey of RV owners by RV Buddies showed the top three things people wanted in an RV were:

• A residential-style bed (25 percent)
• More kitchen space (19 percent)
• A bigger bathroom (19 percent)

"I have completed hundreds of surveys of RV owners myself and presented the idea to Australian caravan and motorhome clubs," Pallot explained. "A total of 72 percent of the people who viewed the prototype and saw how it worked indicated they would consider the system when buying a new RV."

This invention stands to revolutionize RV interiors during a time when manufacturers are trying to figure out how to make motorhomes and travel trailers smaller and more fuel efficient,” said Pallot. “It offers a maximum amount of design flexibility while creating functional living space that can be modified to suit the specific needs of the RV owner.”

To view a video of the device in action, visit www.pallot.com.au

For more information, e-mail Rod Pallot at info@pallot.com.au