What kind of mattress for upgrade?

**sourdough** · 03-18-2016, 03:06 PM

I am going to replace the factory mattress in our 319rls before we leave for FL the last week of April. I've read some comments about mattress replacements on the forum and did a search but didn't really come up with what I was interested in. We tried a 2" topper and don't think we are interested in that route.

Ours is a full queen. It was a factory "upgrade"

Obviously we want something thicker and more comfortable. I know some folks get memory foam and/or gel foam. The only ones I've ever slept on made me feel like I would sweat - which I do not like when trying to sleep; and I'm a pretty light sleeper. That was years ago and I've heard people say that they have not only improved the materials but also the way they are made to eliminate that. Has anyone tried them? How do they hold up? Do they get the "dips" in them where you sleep?

I think I've also read some mention of sleep number beds for an RV. Has anyone tried that?

I'm just an old school type of guy and I had figured on just getting a nice innerspring mattress from Simmons, Serta etc. but wondered how they would actually be without a box spring. Not going to have a lot of time to do store shopping after I get my knee in so just wanted to narrow the field as much as I could to save some time. All input is appreciated.

Festus2 · 03-18-2016, 03:44 PM

Offering "input" to someone else about what kind of mattress to buy is a risky business. It's much like offering suggestions about floor plans, color schemes , tow vehicles. and even a "good" restaurant to eat. Some folks are happy with mattress toppers of various sorts, others prefer the new and technologically improved foam, while others, maybe the "old school type" get a great sleep on a "normal" spring mattress - whatever that is today. And don't forget about the "dial-a-sleep" crowd who swear by the sleep number beds.

All I can offer is to find a mattress of some description - be it foam, springs, specially designed air pockets .....whatever and try it out for a week - if you can possibly arrange that.
While you're at it, find out about the return policy on an "uncomfortable" mattress. I've found that the usual 5-10 minute laydown at Sleep Country doesn't give you much, if any, idea of what an 8 hour stretch would be like.

What is comfortable for me isn't necessarily so for Tom, Dick or Harry, you or even your wife!

Good luck in your search for THE mattress of your dreams!.

Tbos · 03-18-2016, 03:49 PM

Ditto on what Festus2 said. I regular mattress should work on your bed frame/support if it is solid. It will make it more firm than if on a box spring. Take your mattress from your bed in the house and put it on the floor in your room. You will see its more firm. Keep that I. Mind when looking. Good luck.

**sourdough** · 03-18-2016, 04:05 PM

I know that a mattress is about as personal as it gets when making a decision, and in retrospect it was probably ill advised to ask. If you asked a thousand folks I imagine each would have a different preference.

I was hoping that there might be some clear consensus for one kind or another that might help me cull what we look at; which is probably unrealistic. This knee situation has been delayed until I'm right up against the wall trying to get things done so we can go to FL. I'll be installing a mattress and batteries pushing around on a walker it appears

I've also got a hundred other things to get done so guess I'm getting a little antsy.

This may be hard to answer too but is it better to get a mattress specific for an RV? If we try a regular bed mattress in a showroom on a box spring it won't be the same sitting on a plywood sheet as tbos pointed out. If the RV specific mattress is the way to go I guess we'll have to order it hope for the best.

vampress_me · 03-18-2016, 05:55 PM

I won't be much help because we are the odd-balls that like our mattress that came in our X-Lite (it's a foam one). But, my thought is that whatever mattress you end up with, you may want to be careful about how thick it is. I know some regular house mattresses are quite thick, and in our trailer, that would put me closer than I would like to hitting my head on the board above the head of the bed when I'm getting in/ out of bed.

I do know from experience that we had 3/4" plywood on the box spring (hubby's inexpensive version of a foundation) under our sleep number bed in our house, and the current bed is a tempur-pedic which came with a foundation under it, which is basically a hard box too. So, not much give in either, but the bed is still comfy.

kfxgreenie · 03-18-2016, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourdough

I know that a mattress is about as personal as it gets when making a decision, and in retrospect it was probably ill advised to ask. If you asked a thousand folks I imagine each would have a different preference.

I was hoping that there might be some clear consensus for one kind or another that might help me cull what we look at; which is probably unrealistic. This knee situation has been delayed until I'm right up against the wall trying to get things done so we can go to FL. I'll be installing a mattress and batteries pushing around on a walker it appears

I've also got a hundred other things to get done so guess I'm getting a little antsy.

This may be hard to answer too but is it better to get a mattress specific for an RV? If we try a regular bed mattress in a showroom on a box spring it won't be the same sitting on a plywood sheet as tbos pointed out. If the RV specific mattress is the way to go I guess we'll have to order it hope for the best.

A "regular" mattress in the store should have the same, if not better feel sitting on a wood substrate as most mattresses today are designed for the base not to flex. It seems most on here do not realize that most "box springs" are called a Foundation today. Cheap foundations are wood with cardboard on top, and an upgraded foundation is made of steel that does not flex with fabric on top. A foundations job is nothing more than to raise the height of the mattress. You will often find that the thick mattresses today have lo-profile foundations under them, around 5" thick vs the normal 9"s. Now that we have that out of the way, as others have eluded to a mattresses are mostly a personal preference, but i will say there is a lot of gimmicks in the mattress industry. If you like the feel or some of the proposed advantages of a memory foam mattress, but hate all the characteristics that go with it give a latex mattress a shot. They are expensive but one of the best nights sleep you will get IMO. And if you find one to try out make sure is has latex top foam as well as latex as the base foam.

MBD · 03-19-2016, 08:41 AM

To answer your question - we now have a sleep number bed in our toy hauler. The boss loves it, much more so than the factory "memory foam" mattress.

But as others have posted, your needs/desires may be different. If you can't buy what you want or need, a little ingenuity will make it happen. Only you know what type of bed/mattress you sleep best on. If you have to make someone else happy, there may be a compromise in your future.

**sourdough** · 03-19-2016, 09:25 AM

Yes, I do have to make someone else happy

We usually just run around to stores and plop down on them and reach a consensus. I won't be able to do that this go round so hoping for the best.

Grbill · 03-19-2016, 04:07 PM

We purchased a 3" gel infused memory foam topper from Menards, I believe it is a serta. Made a huge difference and it doesn't make us sweat. We only spent 1 night on the factory mattress and knew we had to do something different. Spent every weekend last season on it with no divots appearing, liked it so much we got one for home too.

spicercars · 03-19-2016, 05:29 PM

We went to our local furniture store and bought a scratch and dent pillow top mattress and it is very comfortable and a lot less then you would spend on a high end mattress. Spent less then $300

**JRTJH** · 03-20-2016, 05:05 AM

Sourdough,

If you're satisfied with the mattress you use in your "sticks and bricks" house, then why not consider the same brand for your RV? Some "house mattresses" aren't manufactured in RV sizes, but your 60x80 queen size should be available from your "already satisfactory" size.....

**sourdough** · 03-20-2016, 10:48 AM

We really do like the mattress we have in our house. If putting a regular "house" mattress in an RV won't cause an issue that might be the easiest thing for us to do and cut out a lot of time and worry.

jkohler70 · 03-20-2016, 11:53 AM

I think it depends on how the ingress is into the bedroom area. I don't think there's any way I could maneuver a house mattress into our sleeping area. We went with a 4" dual-ply topper. It's memory foam/firm foam. Came from Wal-Mart for $140. The boss and her bad back approves.

PerryB · 03-20-2016, 06:28 PM

We put a Sealy Posturepedic in ours. Personally I like it better than the Sleep Number in the house. Of course I'd rather be somewhere in the trailer than at home any day of the week.

kfxgreenie · 03-20-2016, 06:44 PM

Just an FYI most "house" mattresses can be special ordered in any custom measurement you need, in about a 2 week time frame from your local store..

Pmedic4 · 03-20-2016, 06:51 PM

Only 2 questions for a person looking for a mattress for their RV. Qualify by it by saying, do you like the one you use at home? Does your RV take a standard size?

We had a small TT which took a short size, so we had to get a short size, and we went to a local place, called VERLO, which will make a mattress for any size, any firmness/softness you want, so it was an easy choice. We actually made it slightly longer than the short size 76" and they made it 78". That it hung over 2" was no big deal. Even moved that one to our next TT, so it worked out well. If you look around you can probably find a company anywhere in the US that will make what you want, and not terribly expensive - unless you want one.

We recently upgraded our home mattress to one of the full foam mattresses, and now we're tempted to do the same for the RV. Nice thing about a lot of these foam mattress, you can order them online, and they ship it to you in a box. Decide on the firmness level, and order it. Lots of vendors, and even some unique return policies, so you can check them out.

chris199 · 03-26-2016, 06:54 AM

We have had sleep numbers in our last TT and now in our Monty. Very satisfied with that. Each side can adjust to their comfort.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

audio1der · 03-27-2016, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vampress_me

I won't be much help because we are the odd-balls that like our mattress that came in our X-Lite (it's a foam one). But, my thought is that whatever mattress you end up with, you may want to be careful about how thick it is. I know some regular house mattresses are quite thick, and in our trailer, that would put me closer than I would like to hitting my head on the board above the head of the bed when I'm getting in/ out of bed.

We replaced our full queen mattress with pillow-top mattress. It is a couple inches thicker and was a little awkward to get onto the bed (around the entertainment center) but neither of us has noticed a downside to being closer to the upper cabinet.

DMK · 04-02-2016, 05:05 AM

After going through several mattress toppers and different configurations, I finally just took our sleep number queen out of our house and put it in. Just had to put some holes near the head of the bed support for the air tubes, than mounted the pump to the floor out of the way of the slide mechanism with some Industrial velcro. Now we are sleeping better than ever! What about the house? Oh, it's listed so we are in the TH full-time now... Other than the sleep number the most comfortable mattress to us was the one from the top bunk in the garage coupled with a My Pillow mattress topper! (We use the top bunk for storage.)

You may also like: