Making ovecab bed more comfortable on Winnebago navion?

We have a coachmen freelander, but I currently have a featherbed in the cabover and it works well. The only complaint is that my daughter says the feathers poke through. When it's time to replace it I may go with a down alternative instead.

The nice thing about the featherbed is that you can "squish" it to fit. I do have 2 memory foam toppers on the sorry excuse for a mattress in the back. It took 2 to make it sleepable! I had to cut the corner on those to accommodate the bathroom door opening. I didn't want to use a foam topper in the cabover area because I was afraid it wouldn't be thick enough. The padding up there is very firm. But, the kids never complain, and I've only had to sleep up there once. I think one of those 4" thick foam toppers would do fine though.

Mattress topper cannot be too thick, as you have very little room in the cab over on the '07 and earlier models. I finally looked at your pic and saw what model it was. I see yours is a '07 or earlier.......... '08 and later ('07 chassis) has a much taller cab over area so you will not have the room to add a thick topper and not feel like you are sleeping in a coffin.

Look at the shape of the cab over area in the pics, '07 on the right, later model on the left. (5 cyl has a single air vent in the hood, six cylinder has two air vents in the hood)

Charles

We use the memory foam top and it works out great. The only issue with the memory foam is that it gets pretty hard and rigid when the temprature is cold. It does soften up to normal after a few minutes of body heat. We use the memory foam on the overhead bunk and the rear bed. Works for us.

If you are not a member of the Yahoo View/Navion forums (regular forum, tech forum, mod forum) then you really should be. Lots of good information to be found. The interface is kinda klunky, and posts can take hours (or days) to appear after being posted (its a Yahoo issue), but still, lots of good info.

On the View/Navion board on Yahoo a couple of people have suggested a mod where the cab over mattress has the cover removed and a sheet of plywood is slid down inside on the bottom. I don't fully understand how it is done. They keep referring to eliminating the feel of straps or bars that support the mattress.

Here is the thread.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ViewNavionMods/conversations/topics/4621

Charles

My overcab bed is acceptable (to me, at least) with the standard cushions. Obviously that varies with makers and units and such.

My rear bed "mattress", on the other hand, was not very comfortable. A memory foam topper completely transformed it. Memory foam (and I think other foam) toppers are very easy to trim to size with an electric knife (the kind used to mutilate thanksgiving turkeys) or, with only slightly more effort, a serrated bread knife. I would not spend lots of time and money finding one made to fit if you can cut a standard size one down. There may be a little sewing alterations to the cover if you care to use it.

At least with my topper, it took a good while for it to air out. It had a very strong and annoying chemical smell for the first several days. It might be a good idea to unwrap outdoors and leave it in the sun for a day before use.

We bought this topper on Amazon and it made a huge difference. They make it in several sizes so be sure to get the right size. We also bought a second one that we keep in the cab over area but pull down at night and place on top of the jackknife sofa.

We also are looking to enhance our bed. Please post your finds, as we haven't found anything that fits the bill yet and need help.

Foam topper is what we were thinking. I wasn't sure if there was some sort of super secret rv mod...I'll have a look on amazon and see what's available.

I agree. Go foam topper. Simple & easy.

I like a latex foam topper but many others go for memory foam. The memory foam tends to be hot and cheap memory foam is too soft. Also, cheap foam doesn't last long.