Has anyone modified their matresses or bunkends to make them a little more comfortable? I was thinking of replacing the foam mattress that s in our Jayco with a custom sized real mattress, but suffered sticker shock when I looked at the prices!!
Anyone using egg crate foam or some other idea to make the bed more comfortable?
garym053I added egg crate mattresses last year. The do help. Some people put the egg crates under the mattress, others on top. Some have added an air mattress to their bed. others have put bubble wrap or insulation under their mattress. Try it and see what works for you.[:)]
garym053I don t think I would put the mattresses in our Bayside in a doghouse..... they are the most uncomfortable thing I have ever slept on! I have a Coleman velour covered air mattress that I use in the tent that is like sleeping on air (funny).... I love it. Next summer I plan to get a bigger one for the PU for the times we sleep in it, since most of the time the significant other and I sleep in the tent and let the kids have the PU bunks. They don t seem to mind the mattresses in it. At $30 you can t beat the blow up ones in my opinion.
garym053Well, Tracy has given you the info on what a lot of people do. We have added a couple of things to the bunk to make it more comfortable.
Check out [link=http://www.title-3.com/Bunk.htm]Our Bunk[/link]
Prior to the Pop Up we used a Coleman Air Matress in the tent. But, one trip with Natasha and I found I was sleeping on the ground. Her nails don t mix with the matress.[:D]
garym053Our pop-up didn t come with mattresses (used unit) and we used air mattresses last year but on the last trip, I think we found a leak. I have a futon mattress that I was going to throw away (it s only a few years old) and we re going to try it out on one of the bunks and see how it works. I think you can find them pretty reasonable.
garym053Thanks for the ideas! I never thought about a futon mattress! I was pricing out all these special size mattresses, but I bet a futon matress is pretty close! I m going to try them all!
garym053After 7 years, the mattress on our Starcraft had lost its bounce under my bony hips. Since it was in a zippered cover, we went to the local foam upholstory/futon shop and had them make one that fit. It is better than when new.
We had choices of density. Cost: about $200.
While we were at it, we had the new one cut in half, so that we store the two pieces under a twin bed. No worry about mice, etc., during winter storage. Takes 15 minutes in the spring to force the foam into the cover.
TheWallRocks
QuoteNext summer I plan to get a bigger one for the PU for the times we sleep in it, since most of the time the significant other and I sleep in the tent and let the kids have the PU bunks.
Then why have a PU? I m confused.........
garym053I bought the blue 1/2 inch thick foam camping mats from WalMart and put them under the camper mattresses. They made quite a difference in comfort, could be better, but I am satisfied with them as they are now.
garym053Got some Reflectix insulation (silvery stuff with air bubbles) and cut it to fit the bunk ends. Slide the Reflectix under the mattresses at each end. This helps a lot with keeping bunk ends warmer.
The Jayco has 4" foam mattresses. I started out putting a air mattress on top of the foam. Great in the warmer months, but found that if the weather was cool I felt cold on the air mattress unless I did something like sleep on top of a sleeping bag. So now I have egg crate foam on top of the mattresses at each end plus the Reflective underneath. that combination seems to make a tremendous amount of differnce without adding much weight at all.
bikolee
QuoteNext summer I plan to get a bigger one for the PU for the times we sleep in it, since most of the time the significant other and I sleep in the tent and let the kids have the PU bunks.
Then why have a PU? I m confused.........
< Message edited by bikolee -- 1/17/2003 10:32:07 AM >
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Bill & Donna
Biko, 3 cats
98 Dodge Dakota
00 Coleman Tacoma
Might have left something out..... the 4 kids sleep in the PU. When the weather gets colder we all sleep in it as well for the furnace.
garym053look for a mattress pillow at a l inen store or the a sheet of the space age foam stuff with memory...Brylane on the net sells queen size (60 by 74???) for about 50 bucks....i am getting one of the above...cuz i can feel the springs in my rockwood mattress on my boney areas....its not really uncomfortable...but i prefer not to feel them at all.
garym053As our name indicates DH and I are Camp Hosts and spend AT LEAST 36 weekends in the PU, every year. That does not count long weekends and week long vacations. The mattress in our Niagara was great when we were in our 20 s and slim, but neither of these things are true anymore. We tried egg crates, blue foam stuff, etc. etc. Finally we purchased a king size 2" thick memory foam pad, it came with a mattress pad. We put the memory foam on top of the PU mattress, the mattress pad over both mattresses and secured it with those sheet grippers and put a fitted cotton knit sheet over the whole thing. IT IS GREAT!The PU bed is SO comfortable we bought another one for our bed at home. AND the top on the PU will close over the whole thing. In cool/cold weather we use our sleeping bags on top of the bed and in the summer use a top sheet a sometimes a light blanket. It was worth every penny. The PU dealers should sell them as an option. Our daughter and her DH are going to be camping with us this summer and we are going to be buying one for them, Even if they are young and thin.
garym053Gary,
Another option might be a hide-a-bed mattress.
Some of the options mentioned may make it difficult to lower your roof completely or may put excessive stress on the roof clamps.
Prior to this weekend, we used the air mattress. It was very comfortable but even the Coleman tended to leak air and whenever one of us moved around, the whole thing kinda bounced. Also, it tended to be very cold since there was nothing to keep our heat insulated. We could have used reflectix blankets between us and the mattress but never got around to it.
This past weekend I decided to go to Walmart and buy an egg crate mattress cover, just like Wssfetch. But just to be sure, I bought TWO of them. I set them up on top of the mattress this weekend for our Nick-Neff-Cough trip and we were very pleased. We were much warmer and the comfort, while not quite as good as the air mattress, was more than adequate. It also didn t raise us so close to the canvas! Our roof still lowered just fine, with the two egg crates but we did take off all our bedding, just to be sure. I don t think it would have closed with the egg crates and the sleeping bag.
So you might want to give two egg crate mattress pads a try. It really was quite comfortable and warmer, which is nice when winter camping. Total cost: $30.
If not, then some of the other ideas are good, too.
garym053We use feather beds on top of our hybrid mattresses! Works Great! And store very well!
garym053Hi Gary and Mary,
After a couple of camping trips in our Santa Fe, and with our hips hitting the wood underneath the matress, my wife and I decided we had to do something. As John and Sherri said, I too wouldn t put the matress out of our popup in our dog house. It leaves a lot to be desired.
We solved the problem put putting an air bed right on top of the matresses. Now we sleep very comfortably and soundly.
garym053Memory Foam... I use them on my bed @ home... Didn t think they would fit in the camper. I ll try it!
They do rule! Bought mine on ebay... EVERY time I lay down on it ... Your entire body shouts " YEAH Heavinly" ... This went on top of a DELUXE bed to start... which most people said was great... Then they tried this...
Hey, good rest does a body good... Finding the right solution is worth alot!
Current plan, by two 5" high King Quick beds Inflate semi firm.. (one as backup).. Pull the matress pad.. add 1 inch memory foam pad.. This will give plenty of spae for sleeping bags and pillows and easy closing of the roof...
I d put the 2 inch pad on top of my current pad... but it barly closed with an egg crate and no sleeping bags...
garym053Cheryl and I went all around trying this, that, and the other thing, trying to come up with some sort of comfortable solution.
We have been using two twin air mattresses on the king bed. Originally, we had them on top of the regular foam mattress, but it s a big climb into bed. I ended up taking out the foam mattress and storing it, put down carpet padding, and some soft carpet, and use the air mattresses by themselves.
This has given us the best results in all the years we ve been camping.
Hope this helps.
garym053I sleep on my side, and by morning my sleeping side hip would be killing me, plus I get cold easily. I went to an upholstery shop that does a lot of RV work and told them what I needed. They recommended a dense foam. It added padding and insulation. It didn t raise the mattesses enough to make a difference in the fold-down process. Now we have the new-to-us Sun Ridge (got it today!), and first thing DH said is, " We need to get new foam for the beds in this one too!" . It think last time for the full-size beds it was about $45 total, but now we have kings. I m going to look into the memory foam, though. That sounds like it might work better.
I ve had a feather bed mattress before, but they re kind of bulky to store. But it sounds like a good idea, if not for my asthma and allergies!
garym053I highly recommend the memory foam as well!! I recently bought one for my bed at home, and after using it a few nites I decided it would be superb in the camper!
They have the 2.5" thickness ones at www.boscovs.com
garym053To add a little in the comfort area, we decided a little more padding was in order. We had a ThermARest self inflating mattress from our tent camping days and it seemed that it would add some comfort. So, we bought a second one so that it would cover a little more of the bunk. The photo to the right shows the 2 mattresses side by side on the front bunk. It covers the entire bunk, side to side and leaves about 6 inches at the top (where the pillows normally are) and about 5 inches at the bottom (where our feet don t really care).
On top of the 2 ThermARest self inflating mattresses, we place the stock Coleman mattress. While this adds to the comfort, I did not think we were quite there yet.
On top of the stock Coleman mattress we add a piece of egg crate foam. This now provides a very comfortable surface for sleeping! Over the top we use a quilted mattress pad and Coleman sheets and a blanket if needed. In extreme cold weather, we keep our sleeping bags from the tent days in the pop up for emergency use.
Click on the image link below to see the final product.