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myoung · 03-09-2006, 07:52 PM

Hard to believe (pun intended) that people can sleep very comfortably on the AS mattresses, at least on the twin mattresses in our 2006 AS 25-FB. We weren't too happy with the rock solid mattress and were disappointed that Select Comfort only had queen-sized mattresses.

What to do? Well we just bought a king-size memory foam topper 3-inches thick from Overstock.com for just $130. Today we cut it in half and rounded the corners and we now have nice comfortable beds which aren't too thick, mattress and topper, so we can use the fitted sheets just fine. We're happy now.

cosmotini · 03-09-2006, 07:59 PM

We did the same thing. Our mattress feels like the foam was starched.

We got a memory foam topper and cut to fit and it's much better.

I am surprised that your mattresses are hard, I thought I read that A/S used different ones now.

Dennis

cammur · 03-09-2006, 08:00 PM

Actually, the bed padding hasn't bothered me much.

The dinette cushions are what get to my butt. I sink lopsided. Very uncomfortable for more than 10 minutes. But maybe my butt is just lopsided.

myoung · 03-09-2006, 08:13 PM

Dennis,

Perhaps our 2006 model has softer mattresses. What does that say about the pre-2006 models?

uwe · 03-09-2006, 09:01 PM

Ooooh...I just got the new foam for my 63 Overlander double bed. It is a 3" hard foam lower part with 2" of latex foam on top. It feels fantastic, and is only 5in thick. Can't wait to try it out in Mexico next week.
I imagine that the latex foam would make a great top layer for any mattress that is too firm. It has thousands of small homes in it, probably so that one does not perspire too much.

Airstream25 · 03-09-2006, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myoung

Hard to believe that people can sleep very comfortably on the AS mattresses. We weren't too happy with the rock solid mattress.
What to do? Well we just bought a memory foam topper. We're happy now.

I was also very disappointed with the hard mattress in our 1995 Excella. We put a memory foam topper on it and sleeping was a little better. Following the age old advice of "If a little is good, a lot is better", we added a second topper and now sleep very well.

cosmotini · 03-09-2006, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myoung

Dennis,

Perhaps our 2006 model has softer mattresses. What does that say about the pre-2006 models?

Maybe, if I check, I'll find a tag that says "Flintstone Signature Series" on our mattress.

Dennis

Janssvt · 03-09-2006, 10:23 PM

We added 2 inches of memory foam on top of our mattress and then added 2 more inches inside the cover that came with it. I liked it so much that we added 2 more and now we sleep like a baby. The mattress that came with the trailer was like a board. The queen size jersey sheets fit over it all perfectly. Before the memory foam only a full size jersey sheet fit it right.

ZoominC6 · 03-10-2006, 05:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cammur

Actually, the bed padding hasn't bothered me much.

The dinette cushions are what get to my butt. I sink lopsided. Very uncomfortable for more than 10 minutes. But maybe my butt is just lopsided.

If you ever find a way to change those cushions let us all know will you? I agree, lopsided as heck. I may try my favorite upholstery shop to see if they can make us something else for the dinette. I'll keep you posted from this end.

Sleep Number solved our problems with our Queen except for the fact that they sent the long Queen instead of the short one. They're rectifying that mistake now but we won't have the new bed in time for our next trip.

FiveGreers · 03-10-2006, 06:35 AM

I actually sleep better in our Safari than I do in the house-hum, maybe I should move-lol! I guess it's a foam mattress, but it does my back good! When we had the pop up, I always slept horrible the first night, then sound the rest. But the first night in the Safari, I slept like a baby!

Life is good!

**jcanavera** · 03-10-2006, 09:25 AM

Another alternative for those with queen beds is the Aerobed topper. This is a dual chambered air bed that is designed to sit on top of the existing mattress. It comes with a central pump and two controls for comfort level. It adds about 2 inches of height to the bed, but in many ways mimics the comfort level of our much more expensive home Select Comfort mattress.

My biggest need is to mount the pump under the bed and get it wired into 110 volts. You can pump up the bed with the pump and remove it. The bed comes with caps on the inlet tubes to hold the pressure in case you can't keep the pump connected. I normally pump the beds back up prior to each trip, since some air eventually escapes over long term storage. I then store the pump somewhere else in the trailer.

I think my wife found this one on clearance for a little over $100.

Jack

**azflycaster** · 03-10-2006, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcanavera

Another alternative for those with queen beds is the Aerobed topper. This is a dual chambered air bed that is designed to sit on top of the existing mattress. It comes with a central pump and two controls for comfort level. It adds about 2 inches of height to the bed, but in many ways mimics the comfort level of our much more expensive home Select Comfort mattress.

My biggest need is to mount the pump under the bed and get it wired into 110 volts. You can pump up the bed with the pump and remove it. The bed comes with caps on the inlet tubes to hold the pressure in case you can't keep the pump connected. I normally pump the beds back up prior to each trip, since some air eventually escapes over long term storage. I then store the pump somewhere else in the trailer.

I think my wife found this one on clearance for a little over $100.

Jack

Don't you have a problem when you gain altitude? I know if I inflate my float tube at home, it will explode when I get to the mountains...

**jcanavera** · 03-10-2006, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azflycaster

Don't you have a problem when you gain altitude? I know if I inflate my float tube at home, it will explode when I get to the mountains...

Well you know we haven't been to the mountains with this trailer, but I imagine you are correct. Thinking about it I probably would deflate a little prior to gaining any altitude. I remember how those potato chip sacks look as we come from the flatlands up to Denver or Colorado Springs.

The good side is if you install this mattress with the pump hooked up (as its intended) you just touch each comfort control to the down position and it bleeds off the air through the pump.

Jack

**azflycaster** · 03-10-2006, 11:43 AM

One time I left my tube inflated on the trip back home. We started at around 9200 feet (Big Lake in the AZ White Mountains). Got home at a little under 2000 feet (Phoenix) and the tube was less then 1/2 filled!
BTW, the pump for the bed and the controls, do they run on 110 volts or do they have a 12 Volt model?

**jcanavera** · 03-10-2006, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azflycaster

BTW, the pump for the bed and the controls, do they run on 110 volts or do they have a 12 Volt model?

110 volt only. This really was designed for home use. If you start looking be sure you only look at the Aerobed Topper. Not the regular Aerobed which is a bed in itself.

If I were boondocking I would make sure that the beds were inflated to maximum pressure before I left. You can always bleed air out if necessary. Quite honestly one of the reasons I haven't moved faster on power for the pump is that we normally fill them to max pressure and don't make any adjustments. We've been out almost 10 days at a time and they don't seem to lose pressure in that time frame.

Jack

85MH325 · 03-10-2006, 03:25 PM

The mattress in our 34' was the original Airstream RV-queen (read short) mattress that was nine years old and in not-very-good condition. My wife tore out the headboard and we bought a memory foam full-sized queen and installed it. We liked it so well, we moved our select-comfort style airbed into our guest room and bought a second memory foam queen for the house!

It's so nice not having to adjust to a different bed when we use the trailer.

Roger

davidz71 · 03-10-2006, 05:18 PM

I purchased the 2" memory foam topper with 5 lb. density and put it on our king size bed at home. My wife loves it. I am eyeing the same thing for the Sovereign and will probably order from Overstock.com like I did the first one.

65glbtrotter · 03-10-2006, 06:38 PM

Our '65 still had the original foam and it was like old hard bread (hard but crumbles with use), we just had new cushions madewith a four inch premium base and two inches of memory foam, so nice we had to sleep in the trailer just to try them out. Wow waht a difference that makes, and they were only $600 for both gouchos.

sequoiacoast · 03-10-2006, 10:43 PM

I'm pondering this foam issue: With the dinnetes, or even the goucho, do the cushions breakdown from all the butt pressure... and become lumpy to sleep on? Does anyone carry along a topper to roll out over the cushions... in particular with the dinnete and the abundance of seams from the cushions pushed together?