Bedding down for the night

C

captd

New member
My Mis Dee (wife) has insisted on having a comfortable sleeping arrangements. At a Cabalas store we found the higher end air mattress and thought we would give it a try. It halfway inflates its self and a few more huffs and it becomes three inches thick. It felt ( to me ) as good as the select comfort ( The sleep number bed ) we use at home and in the camper. Mis Dee has not had any experience on it yet. We also have that real soft closed cell foam, 4 inches thick. When you press on it it leaves your hand print in it for awhile. Mis Dee has a hip problem and the foam works pretty good for her. What I don't like about it is, it is awful heavy stuff. This winter we will be sleeping many weeks on the boat. This problem must be solved or I will be boating alone. I have been warned.
( not only that but I will be sleeping alone.)
captd
 
We got a queen size memory foam 2" thick for the Tom Cat 255--and one side of the CD 25--works well for us. It is a bit heavier, but doesn't seem to present a problem.
 
A memory foam mattress is cold and hard when you first get on it but quickly warms up and I think is warmer than a normal foam pad. We keep a ceramic heater in the v-berth and it keeps things cozy
 
We too have 2 " of memory foam cut to fit the sleeping area of the 22. Makes all the difference between a toss and turn and a good nights sleep waking up feeling rested. Well worth the extra weight.

Jay
 
For those of you that have memory foam in the v-berth, what do you do with it during the day or on day cruises? Is it covered with a sheet of some kind to keep it clean? Are you also using a Travasak or just regular bedding? My daughter likes to play in the v-berth during the day and I am wondering if the memory foam would be in the way. Seems like it might make accessing the porta-potti more difficult as well. The idea of making things more comfortable is appealing though.

Rob & Karen
 
Rob and Karen

We have it lined and use a travasak too. Porta Poty goes to the cockpit when underway. The area in front of where the porta poty is normally stored is filled in and thats the area where my head rest when I sleep so I can stretch out and be comforable. During the day most of the time the travasak and memory foam is rolled forward. That area when under way is generally filled in with clothing and other soft gear where as if one of us wants to crawl in and take a nap while underway we can.

Jay
 
captd":51lvbkbn said:
My Mis Dee (wife) has insisted on having a comfortable sleeping arrangements.
Click to expand...

And you are a wise man indeed, to listen to her! :mrgreen:

My question is, what does she find objectionable about the current mattress? Too hard? Too soft? I replaced the foam inside of the factory cushion covers with a higher grade of foam (cost me about $400 and well worth it.) We might try a 2" memory foam topper one of these days, but we have been quite comfortable with the standard cushions, with better foam.

Warren
 
Factory v-birth was and is to hard, plus it is too lumpy in all the wrong places. Dee has been suggesting having one custom made. One of the problems is having reasonable access to storage underneath. The air mattress works great, but they are not made in "V" shape . In the Ranger , there is enough room for two but everything you put in there must fit or it is lumpy or crawling up the bulkhead.

We ought to offer a reward for the beat idea for making the most comfy front v- birth.
captd
 
We also were very uncomfortable with the v-berth in our 22 and tried to up-grade by using a thin egg shell. We must have some hidden royalty in our blood because we were still uncomfortable. Not until we followed the advice from this site and purchased some memory foam did we get the comfort we were looking for. We got some 3" thick and put on top of the thin egg shell and now its like sleeping on a cloud. We trimmed the egg shell and the memory foam to fit into the v-berth. We cover the bed with a blanket so the we can still use the hatch in the bow without "sanding up" the berth. We also added a small board across the opening (over the poty) so that our heads do not sink into the depression. There is some extra effort in lifting the board to slide the poty out, but this arrangement works for us.
 
To expand on Delta Bell's remark--we have a 7 x 5 foot piece of canvas which works great as a "Bed Spread"--and allows us to step thru the hatch etc--just shake it out, if there is grit--and folds up at night for sleeping.
 
I use the foam in the Susan E also and it has been great. I can not sleep unless Iam on my side and unless we have the foam my hipps hurt all night. the first year I got little sleep on the boat until we got the foam. I ened up rolling over on to the other hip every two hours, now with the foam I sleep thru the night. Susan even sewed a cover for the foam out of fleece. really works well for me.
 
Rob & Karen":os0cf0ts said:
So is 2" of memory foam enough, or would 3" be better? We often fall into the "if some is good, more is better" routine.
Click to expand...

I don't know if this would be a factor for your boat, but on the TC, if the memory foam was too thick it would make it real difficult to get into the three lockers in the bow. The bottom of the hatches is right at the level of the factory pad, so the memory foam pad would have to be rolled out of the way to provide access.

Tom, the fleece cover that Susan made sounds like a great idea!

Warren
 
We thought that 2" was enough for us--and we have used 2" on two RV's, our bed at home and our boats. The weight is a problem when opening the hatches under the bunks...
 
Hi Folks,
And thanks to captd who I think started this thread. I had mentioned the topic in 2nd seating, as both are of interest to us.
We were interested in thickness and density of foam, and memory vs "plain" egg crate, etc.
Looks to us that 2 or 3" of mem foam is good, 3 or 4 lbs/cuft. We just ordered a large pc of 3" (advertised) mem foam that has an egg-crate surface. it was that or 2" flat mem foam at the same price (about $65 incl. shipping).
thanks again to all who contributed info.
 
The 2" memory foam is available at Sam's. We had a queen size that we used for our CD-25, but when it comes time to replace it, we'll get a king size. You need that for the width, then cut to fit at the V. We, also, use a Trav-a-sack which adds to the cushiness. The Trav-a-sack has a "winter" and "summer" side (differs in thickness) that you can flip as needed.

We recently spent over 5 months on Wild Blue, with all but about 10 nights on board. Two enthusiastic thumbs up for the comfort of the berth with the above set up.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Al & Pat and others: Keep me posted on what comes in and what works best. Seems that we all agree that for extended sleeping, something is needed. I bought from REI one of the largest memory foam/self inflating then blow on it a few times pad and it works rean nice. Only, I do toss a bit at night, so having the entire V-berth covered would help. I was simply going to do a bit more research and see if there is a way I can join two of these together, It rolls into a nice "log" as you press it into it's roll shape. Actually made for hikers...who do not mind the "heavyness" on their weight load while hiking. Sure wish I had this back in the sleeping on the tracks and HUMVEEs....

Byrdman
 
Anyone have a good source for 3" memory foam? I suspect that I would be most comfortable on a 3" pad. Also if anyone has experience in cutting for a cd22 would you suggest queen or king? Thanks.
 
Hi bshillam,
We just ordered from www.overstock.com, they have several different options on thickness, mfgr, etc. We took the cheap way out, $63, for a CalKing size, to be cut as needed. Walmart shows that they have it in stores, but at $3 for shipping from O-stock, it doesn't pay us to drive to town and then find out they don't have it here. You can google and find lots of places & options.
good luck,
 
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