mattress and mattress air flow questions

[Ted+Teresa]

Hi. After several major life events delayed finishing our build, we're almost there and are looking at finally ordering a mattress. I've looked through some old forum questions and am wondering how some of the decisions turned out.... The floor of our teardrop is 60" x 75". We're probably going to order from the Foam Factory, though I'd still be open to suggestions if they meet my criteria, which is it has to be firm/supportive enough for me not to have a recurrence of a lower disc problem but also needs to have some cushion for side sleeping.

1. Is it best to have the mattress fill the entire space, or is it better to leave a gap on all sides for air flow, ease of making the bed, etc.?

2. Since we live in the humid SE and will probably occasionally be heading to the even more humid Gulf Coast areas of the U.S., we are worried about condensation/mold under the mattress. Right now, the best option/price I've found is Hypervent Aire-Flow ordered from Mattress Insider. https://www.mattressinsider.com/mattres ... ntion.html (It's more expensive from the manufacturer and they charge a lot for shipping.) Has anyone used this product and/or ordered from this business? And if so, how has it turned out? And if we go with this, we're still thinking about question #1 and whether there needs to be a gap around it to allow for the air to flow so this product can work. (We will have a fan on the roof and an AC.)

While I'm asking bed-related questions, I might as well add another:

3. If you and your partner share the space and you went with 2 side-by-side mattresses, does this cut down on movement disturbance during the night? I'm a light sleeper, and my husband twitches and kicks a lot in his sleep, which causes the bed to shake and wakes me up. We're thinking two mattresses next to each other could help mitigate this issue. Plus he can have his sheets loose as he likes while my bed is made more traditionally as I like. Any experience to comment on here?

Thanks for your responses,
Teresa

[Shadow Catcher]

Our first mattress was a firm 5" foam from https://www.foambymail.com/mattresses.html My wife after 10 years, felt it was too firm and we tried a memory foam topper. I hated it, hard to move. We now have a queen Sleep Number I found on Ebay with a bad pump. Now with a 12V pump from Silverfish we are both happy. The floor which is OSB plywood is covered with carpeting. 14+ years we have not had a problem. Northern MidWest so winter it is DRY.

[TravelJunkie99]

If leave space around mattress can make better airflow and stop mold from growing. This is very important in places with a lot of humidity. I hear Hypervent Aire-Flow is good to control moisture, so leaving gap should help it work even better. About the two mattresses placed next to each other, it is clever way for reducing movement disruption and allowing different sleep styles. Just make sure gap between them stays very small so no discomfort happens.

[tony.latham]

If leave space around mattress can make better airflow and stop mold from growing. This is very important in places with a lot of humidity. I hear Hypervent Aire-Flow is good to control moisture, so leaving gap should help it work even better. About the two mattresses placed next to each other, it is clever way for reducing movement disruption and allowing different sleep styles. Just make sure gap between them stays very small so no discomfort happens.

The BOT returns.

Tony

[foxontherun]

I'm a light sleeper, and my husband twitches and kicks a lot in his sleep, which causes the bed to shake and wakes me up.

And my wife thought she was the only one.....

I don't work for them but I would highly recommend checking out Brooklyn Bedding (https://brooklynbedding.com/products/brooklyn-chill). They have a good selection of sizes (when you click on the size keep scrolling down past the normal bed sizes and you will get to a list of the oddball sizes you can get. We have bought two and they are very comfy. We ordered 6" thick and it is plenty firm. The thicker you go the softer they get is what I understand on the model in the link above.

I have very bad degenerative disc disease and this mattress is comfy. I am a side sleeper and this mattress works well for me. We live in TN and all of our camping (so far) is in the southeast so we are quite familiar with the heat and humidity. We've had the mattresses a couple of years now and no issues with mold/mildew. Our beds sit on plywood platform; nothing under the mattress but the plywood. I will preface this with I am in a 7x6 trailer have A/C and two maxxair fans in the roof to circulate air. The fans run pretty much 24/7 even when trailer is not being used. I also try to keep an eye on humidity levels. It's probably not gonna be easy in a teardrop.
Our beds are separate (14" apart); might need a his and hers teardrop, ha!.
Best wishes, Harry

[tony.latham]

1. Is it best to have the mattress fill the entire space, or is it better to leave a gap on all sides for air flow, ease of making the bed, etc.?

I have a 60" wide mattress in a 58-1/2" cabin. It's 80" long in a 78" space. A foam mattress that is cut to size slides around. If we had to order a new mattress, we'd do it from The Foam Factory and order it the same size. A queen.

Tony

[philpom]

Hi. After several major life events delayed finishing our build, we're almost there and are looking at finally ordering a mattress. I've looked through some old forum questions and am wondering how some of the decisions turned out.... The floor of our teardrop is 60" x 75". We're probably going to order from the Foam Factory, though I'd still be open to suggestions if they meet my criteria, which is it has to be firm/supportive enough for me not to have a recurrence of a lower disc problem but also needs to have some cushion for side sleeping.

1. Is it best to have the mattress fill the entire space, or is it better to leave a gap on all sides for air flow, ease of making the bed, etc.?

2. Since we live in the humid SE and will probably occasionally be heading to the even more humid Gulf Coast areas of the U.S., we are worried about condensation/mold under the mattress. Right now, the best option/price I've found is Hypervent Aire-Flow ordered from Mattress Insider. https://www.mattressinsider.com/mattres ... ntion.html (It's more expensive from the manufacturer and they charge a lot for shipping.) Has anyone used this product and/or ordered from this business? And if so, how has it turned out? And if we go with this, we're still thinking about question #1 and whether there needs to be a gap around it to allow for the air to flow so this product can work. (We will have a fan on the roof and an AC.)

While I'm asking bed-related questions, I might as well add another:

3. If you and your partner share the space and you went with 2 side-by-side mattresses, does this cut down on movement disturbance during the night? I'm a light sleeper, and my husband twitches and kicks a lot in his sleep, which causes the bed to shake and wakes me up. We're thinking two mattresses next to each other could help mitigate this issue. Plus he can have his sheets loose as he likes while my bed is made more traditionally as I like. Any experience to comment on here?

Thanks for your responses,
Teresa

I'll share what we used, can't say it would work well for everyone but it was affordable so trying it won't break the bank.

We bought a queen size foam mattress that folds in to a kind of sofa. We put it in "sofa" mode if we just want to sit and read, play games etc while getting out of rain for example. We also put it in "sofa" mode during transit and storage to keep it off the floor (relieves moisture concern) and makes room for totes, extra coolers etc while traveling to and from. There is very little wiggle room left to right of the mattress but about 4" or 5" at the foot which we use to shove shoes, shirts, shorts, etc at night when we sleep. The foam isolates movement on it's own pretty good. Comfy for me, I like a fairly firm mattress, my wife says it's ok but a tad firm for her, beats the heck out of an air mattress. This mattress was only $99.

Congrats on getting close with yawls build!

[Ted+Teresa]

I'm a light sleeper, and my husband twitches and kicks a lot in his sleep, which causes the bed to shake and wakes me up.

And my wife thought she was the only one.....

I don't work for them but I would highly recommend checking out Brooklyn Bedding (https://brooklynbedding.com/products/brooklyn-chill). They have a good selection of sizes (when you click on the size keep scrolling down past the normal bed sizes and you will get to a list of the oddball sizes you can get. We have bought two and they are very comfy. We ordered 6" thick and it is plenty firm. The thicker you go the softer they get is what I understand on the model in the link above.

I have very bad degenerative disc disease and this mattress is comfy. I am a side sleeper and this mattress works well for me. We live in TN and all of our camping (so far) is in the southeast so we are quite familiar with the heat and humidity. We've had the mattresses a couple of years now and no issues with mold/mildew. Our beds sit on plywood platform; nothing under the mattress but the plywood. I will preface this with I am in a 7x6 trailer have A/C and two maxxair fans in the roof to circulate air. The fans run pretty much 24/7 even when trailer is not being used. I also try to keep an eye on humidity levels. It's probably not gonna be easy in a teardrop.
Our beds are separate (14" apart); might need a his and hers teardrop, ha!.
Best wishes, Harry

Harry, Thank you. This was all very helpful. I'm familiar with Brooklyn Bedding. Our daughter and son-in-law ordered one of their mattresses a few months ago and are happy with it. I hadn't been seriously thinking of this 6", but your specific recommendation is helpful, and they do make the size we're looking for to go side-by-side. (Having the mattresses 14" apart would help, indeed! My husband does joke that the teardrop is for me and he'll be sleeping in a tent outside! )

[DJ Davis]

Ted + Teresa,

For my home built, I purchased three sections of 4" thick medium density foam, two at 33" x 55" and one at 14" x 55". They had two "grades of softness" of med-den foam and I opted for the firmer one because I intended to cover each section individually and use them as a couch (like philpom above) as well as then laying them out end-to-end for sleeping at night. The foam is a bit firm for sleeping and at times I wish I had gone for the softer grade, but an unzipped sleeping bag "softens" things up just fine. The firmer grade of foam does best for when the sections are in "daybed" configuration - the two 33" sections stacked and the 14" section used as a backrest - so I think I made the right decision.

I leave the sections in daybed mode when traveling and have over 50% of the floor space for gear. I'm also chasing down a window leak that is allowing rain intrusion when driving, so if I anticipate a wet drive, I put the sections stacked on top of the gear or in the car. So far, (knocks on wood) that's the only "humidity" issue I've had. The sections fit tight on all sides in bed mode and I've noted no moisture or mildew issues when camping. I'm guessing that moving the sections around a lot like I do lets things air out as needed.

Another "two-cents worth," is check out Drew on "Playing With Sticks" and look for his video account of chasing the best night's sleep. His thin inflatable camp mattress and foam topper combination idea might be something to consider.

[bdosborn]

I don't remember seeing anyone on this forum post about a moldy mattress problem but I have seen posts in other forums. It seems like it's people that live in their rigs full time that have issues rather than part timers like us. I have seen a few people use the under mattress pad stuff like you posted, usually after they found mold under their mattress. I had saved this in an Amazon list, it's probably cheaper than your link:
Amazon Linky
x2 on the Foam Factory, I've bought several mattresses from them. They cut it to whatever size you want for free.

Bruce

[Ted+Teresa]

I can't see a way to thank each person who replied without quoting the entire response, but I want you all to know that I appreciate your responses!

[DJ Davis]

Ted+Teresa,

Glad to of (maybe) helped. Or gather all of our "two-cents worth" and buy some penny candy. Yeah, I know...I'm dating myself. It's not so bad, though, except for having to be in before midnight....