Mattress for side sleeper

[oldhotrod]

I know there are several posts about mattresses here and elsewhere but i haven't found help for my specific question..
i will be replacing the ridiculously thin 2 mattresses in my 2001 fwc grandby camper but...i prefer to sleep on my side and the clearance with top down is about 4" which is the height of the current 2 single mattresses stacked...i don't think the top will close at 5" but maybe...anyway, will be replacing the 2 with one thick mattress. Any side sleepers care to help?

 

[firemen7]

Hey Oldhotrod,
Three was a thread several years ago (2011 or 2012) regarding mattresses, at the time I had a 2005 Hawk. I replaced the mattresses with a custom set that was made up with two inches of support foam and two inches of memory foam. If I recall it was a company in San Francisco.
When we sold the 05 Hawk I kept them and placed in our 2018 Hawk. We like them as much if not better than our Temperpedic.
I will try to locate the company for you and send you a pm.

 

[oldhotrod]

Hey Oldhotrod,
Three was a thread several years ago (2011 or 2012) regarding mattresses, at the time I had a 2005 Hawk. I replaced the mattresses with a custom set that was made up with two inches of support foam and two inches of memory foam. If I recall it was a company in San Francisco.
When we sold the 05 Hawk I kept them and placed in our 2018 Hawk. We like them as much if not better than our Temperpedic.
I will try to locate the company for you and send you a pm.

I only know so many "truths" but one of those is that homeless people and fireman can sleep anywhere and on anything so don't know how much I value your reply...lol, kidding of course...just to be sure, you are a side sleeper?

 

[firemen7]

I’m a side sleeper and the original one were killing me + my wife refused to go camping unless I replaced the mattresses. When we sold those 05 the buyers tried to talk me into leaving the mattresses. They also double as a guest bed in the house.

 

[PaulT]

I'm a side sleeper and while the 2014 Hawk factory matterss is ok, my hip does feel the pressure and my wife complained about the comfort. We bought a Klymit Double V sleeping pad at Costco when they had a display to see if it helped; It makes a big difference. It doesn't consume any significant space as we deflate it when the top is down. It comes with a stuff sack that also serves as a pump. Attach the stuff sack to the mattress intake and open the sack to take in air. Roll the sack to push the air into the mattress. It takes about 10 times and the mattress inflation is good.

They were about $100 when Costco had the Klymit display.

Paul

 

[oldhotrod]

I'm a side sleeper and while the 2014 Hawk factory matterss is ok, my hip does feel the pressure and my wife complained about the comfort. We bought a Klymit Double V sleeping pad at Costco when they had a display to see if it helped; It makes a big difference. It doesn't consume any significant space as we deflate it when the top is down. It comes with a stuff sack that also serves as a pump. Attach the stuff sack to the mattress intake and open the sack to take in air. Roll the sack to push the air into the mattress. It takes about 10 times and the mattress inflation is good.

They were about $100 when Costco had the Klymit display.

Paul

Thank very much Paul...will have to take a look...

 

[larryqp]

We had a 2" memory foam mattress topper, which we cut to fit just the large fixed portion of the mattress in our 2014 Eagle, we left it in place, lowered the roof and just expanded the exterior roof clamps. Worked fine, but wasn't slavagable after the wreck. So will do the same once we get the new Hawk. Don't remember the company, but found on amazon.

 

[ckent323]

I am a big guy, I sleep on my side. We had an OEM FWC 4" mattress in our 2007 Keystone. Both of us always had sore hips sleeping on it. At first we tried a Walmart 1" foam topper. Better but not quite what we needed/wanted.

After a condensation and mold problem during Winter storage I replaced the 1" topper and 4" OEM mattress with a 4" thick, High Resilience, Foam, medium firm firmness, mattress I bought from "Foam Online". Unfortunately, medium firm is just a little too firm. Nuts!

I bought a set of Froli springs to put under the mattress. Big help!

I recently bought a 4" high resilience, foam mattress in medium firmness for my Dad's sailboat. A firmness of medium is what we should have bought for the camper instead of the medium firm.

If you can tolerate a 5" mattress then that would be better on the FROLI springs.


In summary: I think a 4" thick, high resilience, foam, medium firmness, mattress on Froli springs is pretty comfortable. As an added benefit you get air circulation under the mattress which will help minimize mold risk from moisture trapped between the top of the bed platform and the bottom of the mattress (keep in mind we transpire water through our skin which can condense on the bed platform surface under the mattress).

Alternatively I think a 5" thick, high resilience, medium firmness, foam mattress would be pretty comfortable.

One could even order say a 3" high resilience medium firm firmness foam mattress with a 1" medium firmness foam mattress bonded to it (for 4" total thickness) or say a 4" mattress with a firmness of medium firm with a 1" medium firmnress mattress bonded to it (5" total thickness).

Expect to pay about $400 for a high quality High resilience 4" think foam mattress in queen size (main mattress including the two removable bolsters in a slide out bed)

The Froli system is "tunable" and we are still moving the softer springs around to fine tune it to our needs. We don't have much time on them yet but they do work pretty well in my opinion. Not cheap though.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

+1 on the Froli Springs! I love mine!

Here's a review from Truck Camper Adventure:

http://www.truckcamperadventure.com/review-of-the-froli-star-sleep-system/

 

[oldhotrod]

Yeah, the froli is not gonna happen..it would cost 400 to cover the pull out then still need mattress. Plus the bed area is pushed in for travel then pulled out to queen size so i don't see how the plastic spring things would work with the bed setup so exped air mattress it is...thanks for all the replies from you side sleepers, exactly the help i was looking for...

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Something that might (?) help is a layer of HyperVent under the mattress. If nothing else, it keeps the mattress off the wood and minimizes moisture/condensation related problems. We have it in our hardside camper, and it works for us.

 

[ckent323]

oldhotrod,

Ours is also a slide out - Queen size. I installed the Froli springs in two separate rectangular sections. The main rectangular section was laid out with the bed pushed in. The second rectangular section was laid out with the bed pulled out and sits next to the main section when the bed bottom is pulled out. The smaller section can't move around due to the raised lip of the bed bottom.

We have found that we cannot feel that the two sections are not attached to each other when we are laying on the bed. We do however slightly feel that the Queen bed comprises three separate pieces - the main rectangular mattress and the two end to end removable bolsters that go in the slide out portion when laying on the mattress(s).

It is easy to lift up and put the smaller Froli section on top of the mattress when I push in the bed bottom.

We have found that we rarely push in the slide out bed bottom but there are only two of us and we have a large Keystone model.

I realize this set up will likely not work for everyone but it does work well for us and may work well for some other folks too.

We go on long trips and I decided sleeping comfort was very import and and worth spending money on more so than many other conveniences considering successive nights of uncomfortable sleeping can significantly detract from the enjoyment of an outing.

My only regret is buying the mattress in Medium Firm instead of Medium. It is, however, far better than what was originally in the camper, particularly when combined with the Froli springs.

I have read about Hypervent and it may be worth looking into but it may also make sliding in the bed more problematic than using a Froli setup like we have, frankly I don't know that for sure.

Regards,

Craig

 

[smlobx]

We are also big proponents of the Froli system but understand the concern about costs.

Earlier this year we towed our Nest pop up tent out to Colorado for our older son and his wife to use. We new she likes a very “comfy” mattress so we bought a couple of these sleeping bag pads and slipped them under the foam mattress in the tent.
She really liked them so it may work for you...

https://www.rei.com/product/810386/therm-a-rest-ridgerest-solite-sleeping-pad

 

[oldhotrod]

Exped mattress has been purchased, thanks to everyone for staying on topic with the replies....appreciate the help

 

[Mthomas]

For future reference, have a fwc hawk, front dinette with the up to king pull out option. Never use larger than queen size. Tried hypervent and topper, it was ok. Got rid of that stuff and added in a froli queen size kit, but only built it out to one row wider than the single size so I can close up the slide out. Works great for the two of us. Wife is small and could probably be comfortable on anything, I am 250, 6-2 side sleeper and the prior set up was pretty rough on my hip. We put in the two cushions to pull out to queen size, and sleep primarily on the front, double bed sections, with my legs extending a bit onto the plain stock cushion area. It is great.