Question about adding memory foam mattresses

[keeperdog]

We have a 2005 Viking 2485ST

We love our PUP but we would REALLY love it if the beds were a bit more comfortable.    

We need something more on the beds and we're considering a 2" memory foam mattress.  We think this will add just what we need for a good nights sleep, but I'm thinking it might interfere with putting the top down on the camper.

Any advice?

Should we go another route other than the memory foam?

What has worked for some of you guys?

I'm sorry if this has been covered before, I am new to this.  

[Cheryl]

Depending on the depth of your roof, you may be able to close the popup with the memory foam on the bed. The only way you will know is to try. We have tried numerous ways to soften a popup bed. The two most successful were air mattresses and the memory foam but neither were the perfect answer. Our popup would not close with anything extra on the bedends. The air mattresses were extremely comfortable and folded up compactly and stored in the walkway of the popup. The downside was there was less clearance from the bed to the overhead canvas. We solved this by taking out the stock mattress, covering the wood with carpeting and using the air mattresses alone. The memory foam was not quite as comfortable as the air mattresses, involved less set up but took up more storage space. These are really very personal opinions and each camper is going to have different problems and solutions. "Trial and error" is probably the only way for you to "fix" this to your satisfaction.
Hope this helps,
Cheryl

[NadMat]

Anyone ever try a thin memory foam mattress over an air mattress? I have used those for ground camping and am considering the use for replacing current camper pads. I think the thinner foam over deflated air mattress would be <= original mattress so would cause no clearance problems, and I can testify it is more comfortable. I am just trying to figure out how a cover would work, where the bottom part would contract when you let air out of mattress. Am also going to replace the dinette seats/backs with a much higher quality bedding foam and as thick as I can get away with.

[Old Goat]

We are replacing the sagging 3" foam mattresses in our Niagara  with new ones that are custom made by a factory in this area. They are 4 1/2" thick and will have inner springs which will give better  support and are guaranteed not to sag.. Sagging seems to be the big problem with often used thinner foam mattresses. The extra  thickness will not be a  problem when lowering and latching the top . This I checked by laying a sheet of 1 1/2" foam on top of the old mattress and then lowering the top...
These will be more expensive than new foam ones but I feel they will be well worth it.  Good sleeping is a must for happy camping.........
I don't know any thing about memory foam  or how thick it has to be to comfortable......

[brainpause]

We added a simple eggcrate mattress from Walmart that has improved our bedding a LOT. At home, we have a 3" memory foam topper on the bed, and I actually prefer the eggcrate. The memory foam seems very hot to me.

Larry

[tlhdoc]

I tried egg crate toppers and they helped.  Now I use 2 inch foam that is scored in to small rectangles.  I find it much more comfortable than the egg crates.

[keeperdog]

I tried egg crate toppers and they helped.  Now I use 2 inch foam that is scored in to small rectangles.  I find it much more comfortable than the egg crates.

Do you have it on top of the original PUP mattress?  And if so, are you able to leave it in place and still close the camper or does it have to be removed to break it down?

Thanks.

[Kelly]

Another way to see how much clearance you have with the top down is the "kleenex box test".

Put a box of kleenex on your bunkend before you put the roof down.  Lift the roof and see what happened to the box ... if it isn't squished you have some room to work with.  If it is you need a plan b.  

Good luck.[/FONT]

[tlhdoc]

Do you have it on top of the original PUP mattress? And if so, are you able to leave it in place and still close the camper or does it have to be removed to break it down?
 
Thanks.

Yes we leave it on the beds when we pop down.  I added it a few camping trips ago and really like it.  I second what Kelly says about the tissue box, I used an empty box to do the test.

[Buzz]

Our original Coleman mattress (still in use) is one step above sleeping on a board, hard, woke up with neck and back ache.
We bought a 1 1/2 memory foam pad from overstock.com (about $50) now the bed sleeps as good as any bed I'v slept in.
Later we ordered a 1 3/4 for the other end- - (kings both ends)- - we figgered if 1 1/2 is good another 1/4 would be better, not necessarily true....I can't tell the difference.

[keeperdog]

Overstock has a 2" that comes with two pillows for 69 bucks.  I may give that a try.  Even if I have to roll it up when we break down the camper, it will be worth it to have a good nights sleep.

Thanks everyone.

[springer02]

We had an old air mattress from DD and DH's tenting days.  With it deflated, the top closes with no problems.  Only problem is that it doesn't fit the king bunk exactly but the 4 inch-or-so area that it deoesn't cover is a good step for the dogs!  It's much more comfortable than the old Coleman mattress.

Let us know what you decide to do!

Tena

[gravy]

I don't know what kind of foam is in our Evolution,but it is super comfortable.I'm a pretty big guy(big not pretty) and I sleep better on it than I do at home.

[Gone-Camping]

I personally didn't care for the memory foam, it was too slow to recover, and kind of left a hole there when you roll over. I've done the air mattress in the past, and penty of egg crate foam, and the square cut foam too. Right now I'm using a combination of a 2" feather topper with sqaure cut foam and thin egg crate on top of that...all on top of the hybrids mattress. The foam is working pretty good, but the feather topper does the same thing as the memory foam...it creates sink holes that don't recover very well.

I'm about over the mattress thing, getting ready to buy another air mattress...their biggest draw back is they are not consisitent...they change according to the temperture of the air. So if I go back to an air mattress, I'll probably have to get a mattress warming pad with it...
 
And since I'm converting a bus into MH, I'm looking into spending the extra few bucks into an 'RV Queen Short' Sleep Number Bed (ronthebusnut.com has them for $450)...

[Nell]

I have had a 2" memory foam mattress on top of our original Coleman mattress for about three years now. I bought a king size and what was cut off one end I stuck on the side (with the proper foam adhesive) to make the correct size 77" X 70". I then adapted a very cheap king size fitted sheet (by basically making a pleat down the middle) and fitted it right over the Coleman mattress and the memory foam mattress so that it holds the two as one. I only take this off once a year for cleaning. I then use an additional fitted sheet with a duvet as the bedding. My camper bed is SOOOOO comfortable, it is wonderful. It does make the top a little bit of a squeeze to close but nothing much and remember that the memory foam will compress right down anyway. The support poles from the camper all get stored on the other bed end so that there is no addtional bulk on the memory foam end. Also when I pull the bedend out (because of the additiional weight) I am very quick to get the underneath support poles in place so as not to strain the bedend. If your camper can take this and you need more comfort for your bed, I highly recommend you trying this.