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Little Fin · 10-07-2012, 10:37 AM

Nothing about AS says "roughing it" EXCEPT the mattress. We have the double bed with a curved corner and it's too hard! I might try a memory foam topper $$, but hubby is considering having a custom Tempurpedic made, $$$$. What have you done to improve your quality of sleep comfort? Pleeeease help, I'm more comfortable on an air mattress in a tent, yikes!!!

Ag&Au · 10-07-2012, 11:00 AM

First off, not all Airstreams have the same mattress. So one solution will not fit all. I think your husband has the right idea. If you are planning to keep the trailer for a while. I would suggest that you go to some place that can make a custom mattress. Test their different products until you find one you like. Make sure that you test it on a firm surface like the one it will be on in the trailer. After several nights of good sleep you will forget about the $$$.

Ken

ASwifey · 10-07-2012, 11:18 AM

We never even took the plastic off of the mattress that came with our tailer. In our last trailer we replaced the mattress after our first trip. Those things are horrible!

Costco has a very nice 12 inch memory foam mattress that is easily cut with an electric knife. Just unzip the cover, cut a few inches off, round the corners and zip it back up. The cover will be a little big after that, but with a fitted sheet on, no one will ever see it. It's a third of the cost of a Tempurpedic, and very comparable in comfort.

Hankster · 10-07-2012, 11:25 AM

Hi Little Fin,
We have a '97 25 ft Safari that we recently bought. We totally love it and tend to her every need as much as we can afford. What we cannot afford at this time are the high end mattress replacements advertised for RV's. Ours is a rear queen/full with the curved bottom ends to allow for walk around, shorter than your standard queen, thus not replaceable with a mattress store queen.
Our first night on it was just like you mentioned, NOT GOOD! We had an IKEA queen mattress topper on our guest bed that we tried, but it was too long. So, what I did was:
*buy a good quality egg crate type foam pad (not the memory foam toppers that are very $$)
*on top of that, an old down feather bed we had not needed in some time, AND
*on top of that, a good quality, thick, cotton mattress pad that I bought at a discount store like Marshalls, Ross or TJ Maxx.
And now, voila, we get a very good sleep and didn't break the bank. Those custom mattresses are pretty pricey.
My husband says I am like the Princess and the Pea and very persnickity about mattresses but I am content with our AS sleep now. Good luck!

drboyd · 10-07-2012, 11:34 AM

I'm trying to find a nice sleep-able mattress for a jack knife couch that doesn't cost more than the trailer.

Fly at Night · 10-07-2012, 11:51 AM

I thought they improved the mattress in the 2012-13 models?

dkottum · 10-07-2012, 12:44 PM

Ours is hard as a rock just the way we like it (other folks don't). This makes it possible to add toppers to suit each individual taste for softness, but if it was too soft you would have no choice but to replace the whole thing. Or you can just replace the whole thing.

doug k

JimGolden · 10-07-2012, 02:53 PM

My 34 had rear twins. I built a platform that bridges the two together and put a Simmons Beautyrest King size plush top firm. It's awesome. The only downside is that the whole back of the trailer is now a bed, so there's no walking around it. But my feet don't hang off the edge of this one!

The twins that were in it originally were utterly miserable. After one night, I was beat up....after three I was exhausted. Can't have much of a vacation if you can't sleep. Now, I have a better mattress in my trailer than I do in my house. I sleep well on vac now

I agree with the others; get the best you can swing. A good night's sleep means a lot.

Best of luck,

murreywalker · 10-07-2012, 02:56 PM

Our 2011 had that luxurious (?) hard as a rock quality, too.

A three inch topper (which still accommodates custom AS bedding) was the solution for us.

$$

handn · 10-07-2012, 03:25 PM

Our old bones couldn't take the foam rubber pads that passed for a mattress in our 2004 Safari.
Matress manufacture is a low tech operation. Most every city of any size has a mattress factory. We took the foam pads in and had custom innerspring mattress made that had the radiased corners of the factory pads. Cost was a little less than $500 for two twins.
A few years passed and the bones got older. We got memory foam pads from Costco and trimmed them to fit. The beds are now comfortable again.
Now if anyone has figured out how to keep the pads from sliding off the mattress, please let us know.

Orlop · 10-07-2012, 05:12 PM

a lot of solutions here ..... we did it a little different. I have done the same thing on three boats and two Airstreams. Go to a foam rubber shop and tell them what you want. You can specify thickness and length/width. A good shop will clue you in on how to order hardness. You will probably need at least 5 inches, six may be better. You can cut the curvy shapes with an electric knife.

Cheerz

herrick51 · 10-07-2012, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fly at Night

I thought they improved the mattress in the 2012-13 models?

Hello,
We had the improved twin bed late 2012 with pillow top which is still horrible. We had a queen temp. for our truck camper and had a local mattress maker cut to the twin size. For the other twin we puchased the entry level temp and cut to fit. However,if I was starting without resoures,I would check I-comfort/costco/ikea and others. My recommendation would be equal to or better than your home mattress. We spend 6-8 months in Airstream and sleeping/seating comfort is a high priorty. Not sure how you evaluate mattresses by laying on them for two minutes which is why I recommend ,if you are happy with home matress,that you try for same comfort level. By the way ,still looking for anti-snore feature

Little Fin · 10-07-2012, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caseypris

Hi Little Fin,
We have a '97 25 ft Safari that we recently bought. We totally love it and tend to her every need as much as we can afford. What we cannot afford at this time are the high end mattress replacements advertised for RV's. Ours is a rear queen/full with the curved bottom ends to allow for walk around, shorter than your standard queen, thus not replaceable with a mattress store queen.
Our first night on it was just like you mentioned, NOT GOOD! We had an IKEA queen mattress topper on our guest bed that we tried, but it was too long. So, what I did was:
*buy a good quality egg crate type foam pad (not the memory foam toppers that are very $$)
*on top of that, an old down feather bed we had not needed in some time, AND
*on top of that, a good quality, thick, cotton mattress pad that I bought at a discount store like Marshalls, Ross or TJ Maxx.
And now, voila, we get a very good sleep and didn't break the bank. Those custom mattresses are pretty pricey.
My husband says I am like the Princess and the Pea and very persnickity about mattresses but I am content with our AS sleep now. Good luck!

I already have 2 of the three layers you mentioned, so it makes sense to give it a try! I imagine it looks very "princess in the pea" with all the layers, but I LOVE a snuggly bed! Thanks for your help!

Little Fin · 10-07-2012, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fly at Night

I thought they improved the mattress in the 2012-13 models?

I can't compare the old to the new, but if this is an upgrade

DaveFL · 10-07-2012, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little Fin

I already have 2 of the three layers you mentioned, so it makes sense to give it a try! I imagine it looks very "princess in the pea" with all the layers, but I LOVE a snuggly bed! Thanks for your help!

PO of ours must have needed a very soft bed, had two layers of foam on std airstream queen, we found it too soft, took of the middle layer 1.5 inchs reg foam, so 1.5 inches of memory foam works for us. You might want to try one layer at a time.

elolson · 10-07-2012, 09:09 PM

We threw away our stock AS mattress and put in a regular size queen mattress. Much better. Of course it is now a bit cramped getting around the sides in the bedroom but that is worth it for the much better sleep quality, and all the fitted sheets fit like they are supposed to.

You might try a local mattress company in your area, there must be some. Tucson has A-1 mattress, they make them right here in town. They can custom make 1 any size and were cheaper than all the national brands and chains. I bet if you looked you might be able to find a similar local company in your area that could make you one that would be much better than the AS mattress and less expensive than a custom national brand.

Deb Trimble · 10-08-2012, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASwifey

We never even took the plastic off of the mattress that came with our tailer. In our last trailer we replaced the mattress after our first trip. Those things are horrible!

Costco has a very nice 12 inch memory foam mattress that is easily cut with an electric knife. Just unzip the cover, cut a few inches off, round the corners and zip it back up. The cover will be a little big after that, but with a fitted sheet on, no one will ever see it. It's a third of the cost of a Tempurpedic, and very comparable in comfort.

What size is the mattress from Costco? We have 2 twins that are 36" by 78".

ASwifey · 10-08-2012, 11:50 AM

They have them in all standard sizes. Check out costco.com. The brand name that we have is Novaform Pure Comfort.

Swenjen · 10-08-2012, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little Fin

Nothing about AS says "roughing it" EXCEPT the mattress. We have the double bed with a curved corner and it's too hard! I might try a memory foam topper $$, but hubby is considering having a custom Tempurpedic made, $$$$. What have you done to improve your quality of sleep comfort? Pleeeease help, I'm more comfortable on an air mattress in a tent, yikes!!!

I went to Lands End online and bought a 3 " SensorPedic foam mattress pad-40% off and free shipping made it more affordable. We both like it and it fits the AS stock mattress with just a little extra length that I pull around under the mattress with the sheet.

Condoluminum · 10-08-2012, 02:09 PM

We bought a 2" memory foam topper from Amazon seller for way less than $100, including delivery. Less expensive there or Overstock.com than brick and mortar stores, though even WalMart sells them for ~ $100.. As you shop, realize they come in 4 thicknesses (1" to 4") and 3 densities (3# , 4# or 5# - really heavy..). Easy to trim to fit, including curves for trailer side walls if needed.

One key is that Airstream Queen works with "Twin size topper" and two Airstream twins can be covered by "Full size topper".. The Airstream Queen beds (older versions at least..) are only a couple inches wider than standard twin mattress.. A queen size topper would be too large to fit any mattress AIrstream ever put in a trailer...