Making your mattress more comfortable

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AnastasisGrace

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Joined
Mar 26, 2022
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New York
Got my new to me 5th wheel recently and am looking for suggestions on what you put under the mattress to give it that added comfort. The mattress itself is not horrible and I have a mattress topper. But let's be honest, it's really that plywood frame that's hurting my back.

I've read a few articles and each time it looks they are trying to sell me something. So I'd like opinions from real people using real products.

TIA.
 
You can buy various thicknesses and densities of foam and cut to fit. A store might be able to cut the foam to shape/size. But, if not, use an electric carving knife.
 
I'm not convinced the foam is the way to go but I certainly can be wrong. Years ago I slept on your normal store bought kind of foam and it was better than nothing, barely. I saw a women walk out of a store yesterday with a twin size piece. It gave me flashbacks. The new stuff, Avocado, Blue and all that other high price memory foam offerings I've slept on while house sitting. It seems comfy when I get in bed but in the middle of the night i find turning over is like trying to pull my way out of the Grand Canyon. I hope you find an answer and let us know what you've found that may work. I need to do the same thing and I'm not keen on tossing 500 out the window.
 
I'm not convinced the foam is the way to go but I certainly can be wrong. Years ago I slept on your normal store bought kind of foam and it was better than nothing, barely. I saw a women walk out of a store yesterday with a twin size piece. It gave me flashbacks. The new stuff, Avocado, Blue and all that other high price memory foam offerings I've slept on while house sitting. It seems comfy when I get in bed but in the middle of the night i find turning over is like trying to pull my way out of the Grand Canyon. I hope you find an answer and let us know what you've found that may work. I need to do the same thing and I'm not keen on tossing 500 out the window.
Memory foam would sit on top of the mattress, but the OP was asking about foam under the mattress. That's why I didn't mention the memory foam.
 
Thinking out loud here....I know the memory foams are for on top of the mattress...but any reason they can't go underneath as well?
 
Thinking out loud here....I know the memory foams are for on top of the mattress...but any reason they can't go underneath as well?
None at all if the price is right. But what benefit would the "memory" function provide under the mattress?
 
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Our TT came with a standard RV Queen. We pulled it out and replaced it with a super comfy Sealy individual coil queen. The length over hangs 8 inches or so, but a huge improvement over the factory…..
 
You spend approximately 1/3 of your life in bed. If you live to be 60 years old, that means you have spend 20 years of your life in bed! Think about that. That's a lot of time!

If the mattress is not right, nothing you do will improve it. It will only frustrate you more and more. Putting lipstick on the elephant will not cover up the elephant. It's still an elephant.

Take the plunge and get a proper mattress. Remove the one from the bedroom in your house and put it in your camper. See if it works better. If it does, then put the one in the camper in your house. See if that works better there. If it does, you have a win-win situation.

If it does not, I suggest you just purchase a new mattress that does work in the camper. I think every master bedroom bed in every camper has storage under the bed and the mattress lifts up to access it. They are also always hinged in the middle, so the mattress has to be able to bend. A box-spring type of foundation would never work, unless you never store anything under the bed.
 
We have switched alll our beds including the RV to Latex foam mattresses, or at least Latex hybrid mattresses, they are great, they are also nothing like memory foam which i hate. I fell and broke my back in 2010, and only latex mattresses have provided the back support I need to not have pain when I wake up in the morning. (though I have not tried purple, etc., though I did throw out an expensive Beautryrest Black series mattress after 2 years, it worked ok for a year or so, then started sagging too much for my back) One great thing about latex is you can get a good mattress at only about 5 inches thick, and a great mattress around 7-9 inches thick. There are companies that specialize in this and offer RV size mattresses such as RV Mattresses all Latex is best, mixing other foams is a cost savings thing. (I have not bought from these people, they just have one of the better online sites). I have bought a king size mattress from Latex Mattresses, Organic Latex Mattress, Pocket Coil Mattress - Flexus Comfort and would buy again, smaller shop, no fancy web site, though you would need to get a custom quote for an RV size mattress. (they are almost always running 20% off sales, and sometimes 30% off like they are now)
 
You spend approximately 1/3 of your life in bed. If you live to be 60 years old, that means you have spend 20 years of your life in bed! Think about that. That's a lot of time!
Thanks, but didn't need the mansplaining. Or spelling out math like I'm an idiot. Posts like this really ruffle my feathers.
 
Our TT came with a standard RV Queen. We pulled it out and replaced it with a super comfy Sealy individual coil queen. The length over hangs 8 inches or so, but a huge improvement over the factory…..
That's what we did but we got new wood to extend length so mattress all supported.

To the OP if you've got an IKEA near you have a look at something like this


I'm sure Amazon will have similar too.

The best bed I've ever slept in was by a company called My Bed and theirs were made up of different layers so this kind of thing might work well.
 
Jackie, the thing I HATE about advertisement like that is it tells you nothing about the type of foam, is it ultra cheap poly foam, is it memory foam, or is it latex, or some other blend. There is a BIG difference in the way each one feels and performs, and this is before you get into the finer details, like the density of exact type of foam. My bet is this is cheap poly foam like is commonly found in sofa cushions, etc. since they don't specify.
 
Jackie, the thing I HATE about advertisement like that is it tells you nothing about the type of foam, is it ultra cheap poly foam, is it memory foam, or is it latex, or some other blend. There is a BIG difference in the way each one feels and performs, and this is before you get into the finer details, like the density of exact type of foam. My bet is this is cheap poly foam like is commonly found in sofa cushions, etc. since they don't specify.
Agree.

That's why I prefer to go to a store to see things. I was intimating visiting IKEA.

Amazon let's you return things usually so that's an option if you're not close to a decent store.
 
But let's be honest, it's really that plywood frame that's hurting my back.
If you can feel hard plywood, it's that mediocre mattress. I've been sleeping on platform beds for years, both RV and at home, with no issues at all. And no box spring either - just a quality mattress. Which you can forget about getting in any RV, even most high end modes. My recommendation would be to sell the mattress and replace with a good hybrid type (innersping + multiple foam layers), but you can perhaps doctor yours up with a good grade of foam topper and maybe a high density foam layer underneath as well.
 
Thanks, but didn't need the mansplaining. Or spelling out math like I'm an idiot. Posts like this really ruffle my feathers.
Note that, at least to some of us, the term "mansplaining" is rather derogatory, no matter how "cute" it may seem to others.

Note also, that many of us perhaps explain a bit more than is absolutely needed (maybe) since we have little idea what you know or what your background is. All too often I've tried explaining something simply and found that too many other details were needed. When this is face to face, it's probably the right way to go, since the recipient can ask questions and get an immediate answer, but online that exchange of Q & A, Q & A, Q & A wastes my time and yours, and means that you have to wait for the complete answer (unless you already know most of it, the part that I did NOT leave out).

So please be patient with the different ways that folks try to help -- they're not trying to insult you, or demean you, just trying to get a point across.
 
Chris has her side of our Sleep Number beds set to a "soft" 30-35, and I have my side set to a "hard" 100. When we bought our first SN bed and tried them in the store, Chris wanted the most padding, and I wanted the least; I lost that one, and asked the salesman if I could get a mattress that would inflate to 150 instead of 100 on my side. When he laughed and said "no", I asked if I could have the padding removed from my side of the mattress and plywood installed instead.
 
One thing that this and other similar threads confirm is that we all have a different definition of comfort. But hopefully there are sufficient suggestions to help, or at least provide a basis for further research.
 
Agree.

That's why I prefer to go to a store to see things. I was intimating visiting IKEA.

Amazon let's you return things usually so that's an option if you're not close to a decent store.
True, though IKEA is not a handy option for everyone, myself included as the nearest IKEA store is about 170 miles away.
 
True, though IKEA is not a handy option for everyone, myself included as the nearest IKEA store is about 170 miles away.
That's how far we used to have to go until they opened one much closer. And at that time they didn't deliver either. I had to borrow the work van if we wanted anything that wouldn't fit in the car.
 
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