Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ron Dittmer on April 02, 2018, 03:30:33 pm
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Our original 11 year old mattress is near the end of life so we are trying something different.
A few months ago I ordered a zippered mattress cover from Phoenix USA made of the exact fabric as our cloth dinette seat cushions of yesteryear. Our boxed window valances are appointed in the same fabric, so our new mattress will visually look like a piece of furniture when stripped of the bedding.
But more importantly, the Phoenix mattress cover provides us with some options on foam mattresses. Walmart sells a HoMedics and a Spa Sensations 6" memory foam mattress for $114.00. We are thinking buying one of them, toss the covering, trim the sandwich foam/memfoam material to the dimensions of our bed with angled corner, then stuff it inside our PC mattress cover for an affordable memory foam mattress that looks customized for our PC.
Has anyone done this? If so, how did it turn out?
For you with memory foam, is it a hot material to sleep on? Irene is concerned about that.
Here is our new Phoenix-supplied zippered mattress cover with our old mattress stuffed inside. The fabric is called "Outlander Moss" which was used in the 2007 Sagemint Green color interior. The pic did not capture the hint of green in the material.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/790/27317886528_c37c3e0f62_z.jpg)
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That's a great idea . Our custom 2350 matress is a 2" thick 3 lb memory foam top layer over a 6" thick non-memory foam bottom layer (the rv matress company that made ours calls the black/grey bottom layer 1.8 foam). I supplied the full size memory foam matress topper that I bought for our corner bed model Rialta, and let Next Day RV Matress Company do the rest.
3 lb density memory foam is the ideal firmness. Use 2 layer construction because solid 6-8" thick 3 lb memory foam would be crazy $$$$. Amazon.com has a great selection, don't remember which exact one I bought. Get the 3 lb memory foam that is specified non-smell, then let it air out for 2 or 3 days for best results.
For us, regular non-gel memory foam has been great, not too warm or sweaty. We use a simple thin quilted matress cover/pad on top, so your fabric matress cover should be good to go 2o2.
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Excellent idea. Although our experience has found memory foam to be too warm. I have read
that some users have successfully -- some more, some less -- addressed the issue with a thick
breathable pad placed over the mattress. Good luck, and please update the forum when you've
has some experience with your new bedding.
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Although our experience has found memory foam to be too warm. I have read
that some users have successfully -- some more, some less -- addressed the issue with a thick
breathable pad placed over the mattress.
Hi Cropduster,
We would likely add a typical mattress pad over the top of it like we've always done before, or possibly inside along with the mattress. Do you think having that barrier will reduce the heat sufficiently? CalCruiser says that is what they do and it works. I am seeking multiple confirmations.
Just to clarify the Phoenix mattress cover, it is not padded at all. It is a thin durable upholstery fabric. I would not count on it as a barrier like a mattress pad might offer.
Ron Dittmer
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Difficult to predict, as comfort will always be subjective. However, at a minimum, one would
expect that you would be more comfortable than without the covering. If it turns out to be
not to your liking you can investigate the always-available Plan B.
Best of luck.
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Difficult to predict, as comfort will always be subjective. However, at a minimum, one would
expect that you would be more comfortable than without the covering. If it turns out to be
not to your liking you can investigate the always-available Plan B.
Best of luck.
Yes, your point is well taken.
I personally feel you both are right. It is my wife Irene who wants more assurance. I don't always mention her, but she sometimes watches over my shoulder when typing. Haha. That is why I sometimes seem a bit unstable. :lol She is not here right now. roflol
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My wife always uses a blanket even when I don't , but I weigh 190 vs her 100 lbs.
Maybe test out a memory foam pillow at home first to see if it feels warm. I would also put a simple matress pad/cover on the inside. We reused ours from our old Rialta topper configuration out of habit, even though our new matress may not have needed it. The key thing is to get the 3 lb memory foam. I had back surgery plus a bad shoulder, so having a fixed bed with a good matress vs. a jacknife sofa or convertible dinette is a necessity. With the 3 lb density memory foam I am always comfortable sleeping on my back or side.
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Thanks CalCruiser for the details on what is working for you.
Irene says we're going to our local Super Walmart in hopes they have the HoMedics and or Spa Sensation mattresses we are interested there to try out, lay on for a while. We think we recall seeing mattresses on the floor at Walmart, but we might have our stores mixed up.
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Yes, your point is well taken.
I personally feel you both are right. It is my wife Irene who wants more assurance. I don't always mention her, but she sometimes watches over my shoulder when typing. Haha. That is why I sometimes seem a bit unstable. :lol She is not here right now. roflol
Love it. A problem as old as time, women believing they need to ride herd on their husbands. (Not to suggest that Irene is not otherwise a perfectly lovely individual). Unfortunately, your favorite wife will not be able to evaluate her sleeping comfort level until she has some practical experience. Personally, if you decided to go with memory foam and a breathable cover, it may be your best option. If you need a bedding trump card, remember to use the expression 'air bed'.
Also, thanks Ron for your terrific posts and sharing your expertise. I am always in favor of not having to reinvent the wheel.
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One last disclaimer- we keep the temperature inside the rig around 70 degrees at night using the ac or fatastic fan as required. We have only experienced the extreme 110 degree heat of the Mojave desert once. The nights cooled down enough to let the fantastic fan take over from the ac before going to bed. We had to start the ac again by mid morning . Our matress never felt warm or caused us to lose any sleep, it just got too hot inside the rig to sleep any later. Everyone was happy except the Dometic refrigerator.
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CalCruiser,
I wonder how the typical PC Norcold fridge fares in 110 degree heat.
Good to know the memory foam is not an issue with a simple barrier pad. The HoMedic mattress comes with "Cool Flow Bubble Knit" zippered cover, maybe to address any heat issues. Irene was thinking she might be able to rework that cover to the adjusted size of the our mattress requirement to provide such a barrier inside the PC mattress cover.
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CalCruiser,
I wonder how the typical PC Norcold fridge fares in 110 degree heat.
It is indeed a Norcold, my bad.
⛑Save this link for when you are out in the desert and the heat exchanger gets too hot. This fixed the notorious n code fault and salvaged our ice cream using a handy 20-22ga jumper wire (NOT 12ga).
http://thenorcoldguy.com/blog/norcold-refrigerator-in-lockout-mode-do-you-need-to-reset-your-power-board-/
The next project. Pulls hot air up and out the top vent??
http://r.ebay.com/V9VFdp
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Very Interesting CalCruiser. It seems like Norcold should have included a reset button installed somewhere behind the fridge (seen with outside service panel removed) with a label explaining how to use it. Thanks for that tip.
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Our matress never felt warm or caused us to lose any sleep, it just got too hot inside the rig to sleep any later.
I'm envious. Our experience with memory foam suggest that it would be perfect in arctic conditions. And those times when you wanted to save room by hauling only one thin blanket.
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Well, after visiting a local Walmart, looking at their Spa Sensations 8" mattress sample, we decided to buy THIS (https://www.walmart.com/ip/HoMedics-6-Memory-Foam-Mattress-Multiple-Sizes/46998075) HoMedics 6" mattress because it is a solid mattress inside without the large air gaps from the Spa Sensations egg-crate pattern between the two types of foam. With free shipping to the house and local sales tax, total cost is $122, arriving here at the house in 4 days.
I will be trimming it to fit into the Phoenix mattress cover. Irene is thinking of taking the mattress cover that the mattress comes with and re-sew it to the adjusted size, and then place the whole thing inside the Phoenix mattress cover.
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Time for an update....
We bought the Hometics 6" mattress from Walmart on-line and received it maybe 6 weeks ago, vacuumed packed in a large tubular box. We opened it and unzipped the mattress out from the fancy outer cover, then un-stitched it out from the inner fire-barrier liner, and let it lay flat on our ping-pong table for all those weeks. The standard foam is 4.5" (not 4" as advertised), and the memory foam bonded to the top is 1.5" (not 2" as advertised). Both are solid foam, not egg-crate. The 4.5" standard foam grew to a true 4.5" except along the top and bottom edges which we feel is fine. The memory foam portion never did puff out to it's 1.5", more like 1" to 1.25". It puffed out to the full 1.5" only about one inch around the perimeter. We figured the fire sale on the mattress was due to it's shelf life in vacuum-sealed condition. To fit everything snug into our new PC mattress cover, Irene bought a secondary egg crate memory foam topper at Kohl's real cheap and plans to add it over the Hometics. Irene wants to reshape/sew the fire barrier to the new shape the mattress will be (I do not because it is heavy and we don't smoke), and do the same for the fancy cover. That fancy zippered cover is fairly thick. We hope it along with the PC zippered cover in combination, will make for a nice barrier between us and the heat effect from the memory foam.
No progress has been made since waiting for the Hometics mattress to puff into it's designed shape, which looks like this is as good as it will get. We hope to move forward shortly.
I should have been taking pictures....will be doing so from this point forward.
Ron Dittmer
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We are finally making additional progress with the new mattress.
We experimented cutting the foam/mem-foam sandwich. A variety of knives and a Sawzall-type all yielded bad results. Irene's electric carver knife worked perfect because it cuts in opposing directions at the same time. The trick is to hold the electric carver straight up vertical and follow your mark as best you can. The finished edge was quite clean and impressive, almost as clean as the factory edge.
So now it's in Irene's hands, reworking the mattress cover that had originally finished off the new mattress. Once that is done, we plan to add a topper inside it, then stuff the entire thing into the PC mattress cover.
Pictures coming soon.
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Keep us update Ron. I'm not happy with the mattress in our rig. I'm considering a replacement even though it is nearly new.
How thick is the mattress cover that you got from PC? Ours is only about 4.5". I was going to try stuffing a 6" mattress into it but I'm not sure that will work.
Our mattress is 42 x 72 in size so I either need a custom one or cut to fit as you are doing. So I am very interested in how this turns out.
John
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We had a mattress problem last week when picked up our 2910D. When the bedroom slide out is retracted, the mattress is about 1-2" higher than the cabinetry and gets "mushed". PC agreed to order a new 6" mattress for us and told us just to keep the one on the unit right now. Gotta love the service!!!!
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As you can figure out by now, we are taking our sweet time with this project. We have been so busy with other life matters.
Here is our experimentation-cuts using various cutting tools. Irene's dual-action electric carving knife was the clear winner.
This piece is what we cut off to fit properly into our 2350.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1823/43100923762_9fc0120cd2_z.jpg)
Here is the mattress after the cut.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1801/42247612835_94ac9b90d6_z.jpg)
To make sure we cut it to the right size, we temporarily placed it in the PC mattress cover and it fit perfectly. We then placed it in our 2350 for confirmation. We did not want to call it done because we want to add the Hometics zippered cover to have a better barrier between the memory foam top and us. We might also try an additional cotton mattress cover to increase the barrier, but it might not work if the PC cover is too stuffed. We did give up on the idea of adding an additional memory foam topper inside the PC cover because we feel a thicker cotton layer is a better choice over more memory foam.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/838/43100926892_ffb0d5cd28_z.jpg)
Using the carving knife held straight-up in the vertical position, this is the resulting finish cut which turned out much cleaner than we had anticipated.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/844/43151673471_5d2e632fbb_z.jpg)
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1810/43151671831_4c1fa55caf_z.jpg)
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/837/42247611785_7023806150_z.jpg)
I drew the line with a pencil and drywall "T" square, then cut just outside it as shown to a slight over-size for a firm-fit.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1822/42247610255_35a30e3a41_z.jpg)
With the Hometics mattress cover turned upside-down, you can see it needs to be tailored. Irene has a plan on how to deal with the full perimeter zipper....actually avoiding the zipper by making it into a pocketed cover with the zipper on 3 of the 4 sides. I now await for her to complete this part of the project.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1825/43151674991_e22aeae93a_z.jpg)
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Any ideas on the differences in foam?
I priced a custom mattress 42 x 72 and got prices ranging from $375 to $675 at various online store. Then looked at cutting down a larger Walmart or Target mattress like Ron has done and got prices of less than $200.
I find myself confused and overwhelmed by the various foam types and pricing.
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Ron & Irene- you may want to consider this instead of putting an additional matress cover inside.
https://www.campingworld.com/all-seasons-full-queen-sleep-system-tan
It's a knock-off of the original Travasak and RVsuperbag concept. We recently started using a queen size Travasak on top of the quilt/bedspread. Just roll it up in the morning and stuff it under the shirt closet. No more hassles with making up the corner bed :-D
I was concerned the queen size Travasak might be too wide, and DW was skeptical of the entire concept, but it is awesomely fantastic!! If this type of bedding came standard on the 2350 there would be a lot more happy campers IMHO.
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Ron & Irene- you may want to consider this instead of putting an additional matress cover inside.
https://www.campingworld.com/all-seasons-full-queen-sleep-system-tan
It's a knock-off of the original Travasak and RVsuperbag concept. We recently started using a queen size Travasak on top of the quilt/bedspread. Just roll it up in the morning and stuff it under the shirt closet. No more hassles with making up the corner bed :-D
I was concerned the queen size Travasak might be too wide, and DW was skeptical of the entire concept, but it is awesomely fantastic!! If this type of bedding came standard on the 2350 there would be a lot more happy campers IMHO.
We just might consider it, but regardless, we want to make the PC-covered system as best as possible using material already in-hand with exception to a decent cotton mattress pad of which we just might drop if the Hometics cover is enough. Thanks for sharing that.
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Any ideas on the differences in foam?
I priced a custom mattress 42 x 72 and got prices ranging from $375 to $675 at various online store. Then looked at cutting down a larger Walmart or Target mattress like Ron has done and got prices of less than $200.
I find myself confused and overwhelmed by the various foam types and pricing.
I wondered the same as you.
I had originally found 6" foam sold HERE (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Foam-Rubber-Sheet-Cushion-6-x-55-x-82-USA-Made/390560947862?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649) on Ebay offered in 3 different densities and machine-cut to size. Irene found the Hometics at a lower price and so here we are. I will always wonder if a more dense regular foam version of our original mattress would have been the better choice for my sleeping comfort. But surely what we are working with will be better than the original mattress when it was new, now 11 years old.
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Following up on this older thread of mine.....
My wife did a quickie sew-job on the white zippered Hometics mattress cover, simply folding the material over itself (not cutting it) and quickly hand-sewn it to the smaller cut size mattress with it on the mattress. It went fast and turned out great. We can even unzip the Hometics cover off the mattress if we ever needed to.
We added a conventional mattress pad, folding it as well under the 2350 cut corner, and stuffed the entire thing inside the finished PC mattress cover.
We went out for a few weeks out west with our new mattress conglomeration and I love it. Irene says it's a bit firm for her but says it's okay. I no longer feel the plywood platform when sitting up-right.
If anyone wants our old 2350 mattress, come by and take it for free. It is very clean, no stains, no smells, no bed bugs, no worries. We always had a mattress pad and fitted sheet over it. We did not pancake it either. It retains it's shape well. It just gives too much when I sit upright on it, and I weigh 190. We don't smoke and we have no pets. We live a few minutes north off I-90 in West Dundee, IL. If selling your 2350, it might sell better with this mattress rather than with a very tired one. We slept on the mattress roughly estimated at 11 years x 18 nights = ~200 times.
Here it is.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1879/43833019184_a5177055ee_z.jpg)
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1889/43641516015_0f623cc710_z.jpg)
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1880/43641535575_34145ae17b_z.jpg)