Any Thoughts on an Air Bed

[svjim]

Every body knows TCs come with top of the line supper comfort mattresses. Anyway, I wonder if anyone has some insights and suggestions on replacing a mattress with an air bed.

Of course one drawback is going to be keeping it inflated and I suppose it could be cold in cold weather. Then again the mattress we have is hot in warm weather and all around not very comfortable. I suppose we could just replace the existing mattress with a better one, but weight is a bit of a concern.

Thanks for any ideas,

Jim

[travelnutz]

~DJ~,

Over 18 years and still waiting for the first leak on even our oldest air mattress! No problem as I have lots of patience!

A hint for you. Quit wearing your spurs to bed and you will likely see 18 years with no leaks too!

[_DJ_1]

There are only two types of air mattresses. Those that leak and those that are going to.

I went to a local mattress factory and had them cut me a 5" thick foam mattress. I got the extra firm but they come in varying densities.

[Jfet]

We have a full queen sleep number bed with automatic pump in our truck camper. Best mattress I have ever slept on. Has a wireless remote and is easy to air down going over passes by pressing a button.

[travelnutz]

DWeikert,

Try -13 to -15 F for more than one night in any TC or RV when it never got to even zreo during the day when boondocking for snowmobiling in the northern U.P. of Michigan in January or February. Also hit -27 F & -30 F on Drummond Island and in Ontario Canada near Chapleau and again at Ranger Lake at night also when boondocking in the TC.

+19 degrees is shirt sleeve temps compared to these! 30 to almost 50 degrees colder! All our Lance TC's have been very well insulated and I also have storm windows and a layer of Astro Foil under the air mattress but maybe you don't know what real cold is? However, if you really want to learn how to actually shiver, try it and report back!

[tattoobob]

We bought a Aero bed And it was cool in the cold weather I went to sleeping in a sleeping bag and the problem was solved, it's basically all personal preference on what to sleep on.
We travel mostly at sea level so air pressure isn't an issue

[DWeikert]

travelnutz wrote:
I'll bet many on this forum know what it's like to climb on to an OEM bed mattress in a TC that sits right on and outside wall when it's zero F or below and windy. If it wasn't for the constant shivering that got you thru the night, you probably have frozen to death! Even worse when having a very cold, hard as a rock, clammy feeling Memory Foam topper under you and don't you dare to roll over.

This doesn't speak well of your camper. Granted, I've only camped down to around 19*F but did so very comfortably. No shivering involved.

[travelnutz]

I'll bet many on this forum know what it's like to climb on to an OEM bed mattress in a TC that sits right on and outside wall when it's zero F or below and windy. If it wasn't for the constant shivering that got you thru the night, you probably have frozen to death! Even worse when having a very cold, hard as a rock, clammy feeling Memory Foam topper under you and don't you dare to roll over.

[DanoT]

I love my Froli under mattress spring system.http://www.frolisleepsystems.com/index.html

[deltabravo]

Condensation is always a problem too. And they are like a big heat sink and suck all the warmth out of you in the cold weather.

I use one occasionally in the back of my truck bed. It loses air. I don't use it frequently. Over the last 15 years, I've gone through 3 of them.

[iwon415]

Get a mattress topper from Costco, works great and not that heavy.

[WNYBob]

Slick Rick wrote:

I agree.
We have a sleep number bed at home (air mattress) and it needs air every few days, I hate it!

My take on the subject:

We have a sleep number bed in our S&B. Wife also has issues with her back, and she loves it. They make rv sizes and now they have heaters & coolers, but are very pricey $$$$$. Could cost over $2,500 with the extras.

[travelnutz]

We love our air mattresses and had/have replaced to original RV matress with an air matress in all of our last 6 RV's bought since 1997, all were purchased new. Never had one air mattress leak yet! 2 were Aero Bed with the pump inside and had dual chamber side pressure tethered controls so each side was inflation controllable just by pushing the right button, and 2 were Coleman single chamber mattresses. All our RV's have inverters in them since back in the 1980's and they are simply wonderful. Reasonable 110 AC anywhere anytime.

My wife is disabled with a very back back and neck issues and had 3 fusions, metal brackets and plates in her back and is very touchy about the mattress she lays on or she's in much pain in only a couple hours. She can't stand any regular mattress no matter the price even with a foam topper. Therefore, I replaced the mattress in our Lance Truck Camper with our first Aero Bed inflatable with one of the egg crate style approx 1" thick sponge foam pads under the bottom sheet and it was night and day difference for her and was also much better sleeping for me too.

We used the TC in the cold months a lot for travel in the U.P. of Michigan and other cold areas and noticed that the bed was much warmer with the air mattress than with a regular mattress. Once a regular mattresses is cold, it chills you all night long because NO heat can get under the dense heavy mattress and it has steel springs inside that transmit that cold. That's when I decided to try an electric blanket under the egg crate foam and plugged into our inverter. "Walla", no more cold bed to crawl in to and no chill greeting our bodies! Heavenly! Just preheat the bed with the electric blanlet about 1/2 hour before climbing in and it stay warm from your body heat all night long.

Then did the same for our 5th wheel and our MH and then moved the air mattresses to each new RV and both Aero Bed mattresses are still working fine and one is 18 years old now. The Coleman mattresses are only about 4 & 5 years old but both still hold air like when new. Only difference in our air mattresses is that we now have a 2" thick Memory Foam on top over either a heated mattress pad or an electric blanket. As most know or have found out, when Memory Foam is cold, it's real hard and will chill you so quick and the heated pad or blanket solves that issue too real quick and you sleep like a baby! Live and learn and it's our 51st year of extensive RV'ing and have learned a lot.

[DWeikert]

Back when I was sleeping under the cap of my pickup I used a Coleman air mattress and found it very comfortable. I'm not sure I'd want one in the TC unless I was sure to carry spares, and even then... One thing I made sure to do was leave some air out of the bed each morning when I was traveling. A few thousand feet of elevation change would be all that's needed to turn a good mattress into a leaking mattress, and going to sleep on what you think is a good mattress only to wake up a few hours later to find it's a leaking mattress is not conducive to a good night's sleep.

[Impkitti]

We have a dual chamber air bed in our S&B with a 4 inch memory foam topper. Best sleep we ever had. After a week in our 5er and aching backs, we bought the same set up for our RV. We call them Big Bed Of Comfy I & II.

One of them is Sleep Comfort the other is another brand I can't remember at the moment. We purchased a factory return for the RV, when one of the chambers leaked out of the box, they replaced it within a couple of days, no questions asked. Just wanted us to return the failed chamber.

Purchase residential quality, camping quality won't last. We adjust the pressure for height changes as we travel, it is not a big deal.