Bunk LedgerSharing a bunk (2026)
A team sleeper is a small room with two clocks. This page is the room: light, noise, and where the gear sits. The schedule note is the hours. The power note is the battery. None of them splits a logbook.
The photo is a pair of yellow foam earplugs. It is not a claim that one brand is the best plug, and it is not a test.
Light and noise
The person sleeping needs dark. The person awake needs to see a log, a meal, or a page. Those are different lamps.
- Aim a bunk light down. The reading-light guide is the hardware. A dome light over both bunks is the wrong tool at 02:00.
- Blackout curtains cover glass. They do not cover the other person's screen. Dim the screen or turn it.
- Foam plugs cut some noise. They also cut a knock. Agree on how you will wake the sleeper if something is wrong: a word, a light, a hand on the bunk rail. Do not depend on a shout the plugs will muffle.
- The upper bunk ladder stays usable. Do not hang wet clothes or a bag on the only way down. The ladder note is the exit.
Conversation can wait until both people are meant to be awake. A phone call on speaker is a choice you make for two people. Take it up front with the volume low, or step out if the stop is one where stepping out is reasonable.
The shared floor
Two people's bags, two pairs of boots, and a fridge do not all get the aisle. Decide what is strapped and what is in a bin before you roll. A loose bottle is a trip on the way down from the upper bunk at night. Sleeper storage is the general version. On a team truck the rule is stricter because someone is walking that aisle while the other person is asleep and the truck may be parked tight.
Food smell is the other share. A hot meal up front with the sleeper curtain closed is kinder than a pot on the bunk. Cooking rules stay in the cab cooking note: no unvented fuel stove in the sleeper, for either of you.
On a phone, this table moves sideways. The first column stays put.
| Job | The agreement | Fails when |
|---|---|---|
| Light | Down on a page, not across a pillow | The dome light is the reading light |
| Noise | Plugs plus a way to wake someone that is not a shout | The only alarm is a sound the plugs remove |
| Floor | Aisle clear to the ladder and the door | Bags live where feet land in the dark |
Light, noise, and a floor you can cross
One person is down while the other may still be awake. That is the whole problem. Light stays on the page or the instrument the driver needs, noise stays low, and the bunk exit stays clear. Earplugs are a tool. They are not a wall, and they come out before the person who was sleeping takes the wheel.
Agree the handoff before you are both tired. Who is in the bunk, who is driving, and how you wake the sleeper: a word, a knock they can hear through plugs, not a shove and not a bright cabin light in the face. The team schedule page is that agreement. Do not split one hours clock. The regulation is on the hours page.
The awake person reads with a light aimed at the page. The reading light note is that aim. A video with sound is a speaker in a bedroom. Use headphones if you must watch something, and assume the other person can still hear bass. Cooking smell and a bright screen at the counter are the same courtesy. The cooking page is the appliance, not a reason to light the whole cab.
The floor is shared. Bags, boots, and a ladder that will not latch do not live in the aisle. The upper bunk page is the climb and the exit. Nothing goes in front of the way out, including the awake person's gear "for a minute." Wet gear goes on the mat. The rain-day habit is the same in a team truck, with less floor.
Power is both people's loads added together. Two phones, a fridge, a CPAP, and a laptop are one night, not two separate guesses. The shared power page and the power planner are that sum. A gift of one inverter or one lamp is how this goes wrong. The team gift note says buy two of the small things.
Skip a rule that one person "owns" the cab because they are senior, a speaker as a compromise, and earplugs as permission to be careless with light. If someone is sick or in pain, that is a clinician and a conversation, not a thinner mattress. The mattress still has to fit the pan. Measure it. The mattress calculator does not care that two people take turns.
| Shared item | Agreement | Failure |
|---|---|---|
| Light | Aimed at the page or the driver's own screen | A cabin light in the sleeper's face |
| Noise | Low voice, headphones, plugs if wanted | A speaker |
| Floor | Aisle and exit clear | Gear parked in the way out |
| Wake-up | A signal you chose while parked | A surprise |
| Power | Both loads on one plan | Two people assuming the other left the bank alone |
Conclusion
Share the dark and the aisle on purpose. The clock you each keep is the next page, and it is not something this bunk layout can split for you.
FAQ
Do earplugs mean I will not hear an emergency?
They make that harder. Agree on a wake-up that does not depend on a shout, and take the plugs out before you drive.
Can we hang a curtain between the bunks?
Only if it does not block the exit or the ladder. A darker bunk is useless if you cannot get out.
Who sleeps on the upper bunk?
Whoever can use the ladder half asleep. This page does not assign it by age, size, or seniority. The exit has to work for the person up there.