Much to my surprise, the mid-late 80s LS models have sleeping areas that are too small for me. I'm 5'6" and when I lay down so that my arm is close to the centerline of the bed, my feet are over the end of the bed cushion. If I lay right in the middle of the boat, my feet are right on the end of the cushion, but the wife wouldn't be too happy with that arrangement. This has happened on two boats I looked at -- 242LS & 272LS. Comparatively, the mid-80s 23 Nova has substantially more bed space, both length and width. By comparison, the beds in the earlier Formulas (233/255) appear to be quite a bit larger than 242/272. I'm guessing that Formula's marketing people asked customers what items they want changed, and there was a resounding cry for more cockpit space, so they probably moved the cockpit area forward which increased legroom for people on the back bench and also for the front seat occupants. The compromise was to reduce the size of the bed (most customers likely wanted more amenities in the cabin and used the sleeping bunk for storage). The result of my discovery is that I will not consider a mid-late 80s LS model, specifically because of the small sleeping quarters. I'm not sure if the late 80s and beyond models increased the bed size -- those are out of my budget. I wonder what 242/272 (and probably others) owners do when two adults want a good night's rest?

Drink more.

FYI...my 255' berth is 76" head to foot in the center and 78" along the sides. I recall in my 272 I had a special foam block that I inserted at the end of the berth to make it longer...I don't recall the dimensions. I have seen various configurations to add comfort to these boats for sleeping including cabin A/C powered by a bank of gel batteries and an inverter.

I have had a 20" Flat Screen TV in mine with a DVD player.

I defense of the boats...none of them were meant to be serious overnighters.