Camper Matress Mod

[rich]

Hello All,

I'm a raft guide and we spend a lot of time sleeping out which has lead for a desire to have a beefier and more comfortable sleeping pad under us. A company called Jacks Plastics makes a pvc self inflating matress called a paco pad. It is the comfiest night's sleep you'll ever have in the outdoors. You never have to blow air into it, in fact if you do it gets too stiff to sleep on and you can literally lay this thing over a bed of river rocks and sleep like a baby. So many guides were using these pads to live in the back of their trucks that they came out with the pick up paco http://www.jpwinc.com/index.php?page=products&item_no=4280
made for truck beds. They also branched out and will now make custom sizes so you can send in the dimensions of your FWC or ATC bed and get one of these made to fit. The benefit is that they are pvc so you can hose them off when they get dirty, they are impossible to pop so you can pull it out of the camper and throw it on the ground for an afternoon nap in the cool breeze in baja and they float, in fact they make great floats so you can grab a margarita and lay back on this thing in your favorite lake or river and enjoy. When you're done just throw it in the sun and it dries in minutes. Check them out if you are looking for a comfier bed option.

Has any one out there put one of these in their camper?

 

[rich]

One more thing

A note of caution,

Because these pads are pvc they tend to be cold to sleep on so it is best to cover the pad with a fleece blanket. Many of my friends have sewn a fleece cover for theirs. A thin sheet wouldn't be enough unless it's summer and you are looking to keep your bed cool.

 

[HERR42]

i am VERY happy with the units that came with the camper.....but....there is always a but.....

the pads that rest on the slide-out are a bit thicker than the main pad.....and the thickness of the slide-out itself adds to the height difference bring it to a 1/2 inch or so?

it would be nice to get rid of that!

 

[SunMan]

Memory Foam

Reading Hayduke's post in the thread link below about folks adding memory foam to the thinner upper pads. Can you still close the top with the two extra 1" pieces of memory foam up there? Has anybody else done this or found a better way? Having only spent one night in my new camper I quickly came to the conclusion the bed could be a bit more comfortable.

Also, am I understanding correctly that the extended cabover has a thicker upper pad?

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=368&page=3&highlight=memory+foam

 

[Sam]

Rich,

Thanks for the info, the pads sound great but I am a little leery about them getting cold. I have had some miserably cold nights on air mattresses, they suck the heat right out of you.

 

[craig333]

How is this different from the self inflating therm-a-rest pad?
That was never very comfortable but I always had a thin one and always rolled off it at night, not a problem I'd have in the camper.

 

[rich]

Very Different than a thermarest

I spent years on a thermarest as well but a paco is very different. It has foam in the middle that keeps it stable so when you roll over it doesn't shift air to the other side, it is virtually unpopable and provides much greater comfort. It also floats and doesn't absorb water making it easy to hose off and put right back in the camper if you have a muddy dog mess or a hot cocoa spill.

 

[rich]

Cold Pad

Hi Sam,

Yeah I have had the same problem with air matresses and a little bit with the pacos. My wife and I have an old fleece blanket that we throw over it and it totally solves the problem. They provide good insulation even when sleeping on the ground it's really a convection problem with the air cooling the pvc surface so if you cover it there's no problem but if you don't they feel very cold to the touch. I posted this mostly because my in laws are selling their pop up (not an fwc but similar matress) right now because the bed isn't comfortable enough for them and I thought of this option for them so I figured I'd throw it out there and see if anyone had tried it.

 

[chnlisle]

Sun San,
As I mentioned in an earlier post and you've seen in TT's camper when we left the Costco mem foam on the bunk with the slider out it jiggled the light on and FIRE!!!. The mem foam is heavy as well. You can get a queen size feather bed from Overstock.com for about $80. Its very light quite comfy and toasty in the winter. All in life is a compromise but if you have a Quad Cab Ram it makes it less of a hassel to bring those little extras along.

 

[Jack]

Foam pad supplement

For less than $25, we got 3 ensolite foam pads from K-Mart (they are narrower and longer than the mattresses). We cut them to the size of the mattresses and used duck tape to create the right size. Our mattresses are encased in a custom fit allergy case, so it was easy to slip them into the same case. (Before we got the allergy case, it was a bit of an extra hassle to shuffle both the pads and mattresses when popping up or down, but well worth it). The extra 3/4" does not pose a problem with calmping the top down.

In addition, to vastly increasing the comfort, they also provide the needed underside insulation for cold weather. And a second bonus: we took the remaining scraps and made a 54" x 8" strip that we place next to the edge of the sliding panel. The 1/2 edge can no longer be felt.

 

[SunMan]

Jay/Jack,
Both good ideas, didn't really consider the weight of memory foam or completely replacing the pads entirely but it's certainly an option. I too have a double (quad) cab, so the feather bed idea is definitely an option.

I didn't realize the memory foam was the culprit to your fire Jay...no bueno. Hmmm...too many options...the things that keep me awake at night.

 

[chnlisle]

Sun San
Hey its better than living in Bangaladesh. We are very lucky to have to struggle with such fun decisions.