Memory Foam Matress topper

[Loren G. Hedahl]

My husband and I have just purchased a 16' Uhaul VT so I've researched everything and anything about our new (To us!) "egg".

Being one who values her sleep, I read everything and anything about mattress toppers. It seemed more people thought the Memory Foam like it than didn't, so I caved-in and bought a 4" Memory Foam topper from W/M - $129.00.

We have our first camping weekend scheduled on the 19th of October, so I wanted to make sure we tried it out before our first and last trip this year before 'she' goes into the storage garage for the winter. We decided to get movies and pizza and 'camp' out in our driveway this past Friday night.

I let the topper air-out for 4 days, and it's no where near 4" thick as the box it came in stated. 2" at the very most. Friday afternoon, I decided to lay on it for a bit to get a 'comfort factor' and realized I may need an "egg crate" foam to lay over it as it was hard as heck. I have a few on the beds in the house, so I took the thickest one off the guest bed and placed over the $129.00 topper I purchased eariler in the week.

About 2am (after an evening of movie watching on the lap top computer) we had been asleep for about 2 hours. My lower back was already sore and I still had several hours to lay on this thing. I didn't get good sleep (only because I couldn't tell if it was a bear outside our trailer or my husband...)

I've decided to put 1 or 2 more "egg crates" on top of the memory foam hoping to soften the bed before our real trip. I probably won't even feel the memory foam somewhere sandwiched between the trailer cushions, and the 2 or 3 foam cushions on top. Would I buy another one? Nope...and like a previous poster said above, it's too heavy and difficult to drag it all the way back to W/M -

I believe the reason it didn't come up to the 4 inch thickness and was hard as a rock is because the stuff is sensitive to heat. Hence the name of the original "Tempurpedic". It likely just didn't get warm enough to do its "thing".

I have a pillow made of the stuff that I like, but in a cold camper it is also hard as a rock until the warmth of my head softens it.

For this reason, the weight issue and the difficulty of compressing it back to a reasonable size, I haven't considered it a reasonable camper mattress upgrade.

[Carolyn Patterson]

How warm does it have to get to expand? Our trailer is parked in the driveway and it's been above 75degrees for the past week. I open the door up during the day (screen door on) to allow the inside to get some air.

It's been well over a week of 75-80 degree weather.

Does this thing need to have the heater turned on also to make it expand fully? I'm eager to make our new 'egg' happy in her new home with us, but.......

[Bobbie Mayer]

How warm does it have to get to expand? Our trailer is parked in the driveway and it's been above 75degrees for the past week. I open the door up during the day (screen door on) to allow the inside to get some air.

It's been well over a week of 75-80 degree weather.

Does this thing need to have the heater turned on also to make it expand fully? I'm eager to make our new 'egg' happy in her new home with us, but.......

I've owned three and they all expanded immediately. Something is wrong with yours if it is still flat.

Bobbie

[lynneh]

Carolyn,

It sounds like something is wrong with your mattress. Ours was packed very tightly for shipping, it took about 2 days to expand most of the way and no more than a week to be completely expanded. Memory foam should feel pretty soft, it shouldn't feel hard at all. We have a 6 inch mattress -- 4 inches of firm foam base with a 2 inch memory foam on top.

Just like the advertisements, we can push our hand (with fingers spread out) firmly into the memory foam topper and clearly see the full outline of each finger and palm before it slowly expands back out. Is your memory foam topper soft enough to show a full hand print like this?

I use jersey sheets with our memory foam mattress. Jersey has a fair bit of give, unlike linen or cotton which tend to remain taut, so it works well in conjunction with the memory foam instead of fighting against it. And on the plus side, jersey is soft and snuggly like putting on your favorite well-worn t-shirt.

--Lynne

[Vivian]

Carolyn,

I recently purchased a Wal-Mart Spa Sensations 4" memory foam twin size for a bed in the house and it expanded to the full 4" in a very short time. For the price you paid, it would seem worthwhile to return it.

Vivian

[Gerry]

Just came back from W/M after checking out their prices. The 1 1/2 in memory foam on sale here at $59.00. This was for what they called a double bed size[49 x 72]. That's just a bit wider and slightly shorter than my Boler[47x76]. Sears 3/4 mattress of 6 in foam also looks good , but pricy at $259.00. I wonder if the curved corners in the trailer would affect it much. But then I'd have to store the cushions against the time I'd want to put the table and seats back. With the memory foam I still would want to replace the worn and tired upholstry on the seats.
Keep this thread going. I'll get there yet

Yea James, this is the one we got from W/M the inch and half and it is a bit wider then our Dinnete bed in our Boler but the wife likes it because she can fold a bit up onto the rear wall.
She sleeps on that side and the wall gets alittle cool on the body .
I wish I got a queen size so it would go up alittle farther.
We use this topper over the regular seat foam configurations and it eliminates all the seams and cracks to fall into and the uneven edje I felt I was always rolling out of the bed.
We cover it with a flanel sheet, tucked in all round.
Gerry the canoebuilder

[Carolyn Patterson]

Thanks for the replies...

When I got my topper, I opened it right there in the trailer, as it is very heavy and I didn't want to have to have the neighbors help me carry it from the house to the egg. You're right, it was vacuum sealed - better than the summer veggies in my freezer!


I bought the queen size one because I had read a few others on this forum thought the full size one was too short (width wise) for their bed. Ours fits perfectly length wise, but I will admit the corners are a few inches tall where the curves of the rear bed is. I thought it was ok as that's the side I sleep on.

Should I drag it into the house and let it 'air out' in the livingroom no one goes into? It's been 2 weeks now, and I'm not seeing the 4" expansion. I go out to it every day and sit in it looking around at what I can change, and how fun our first trip in it is going to be. My neighbor is making me new curtains for it, I put down a new wood-looking vinyl floor, sealed some small leaks in the windows, (my husband just wants to sleep in it, I want it to be an extension of our home!) I just can't seem to figure out this mattress thing.

Thanks for all of your imput - this forum is just amazing!

[BOBSMITH]

We tried several options before we finally caved and went out and bought a memory foam topper. We used foam rubber (awful), then air mattress (better, but not perfect), and finally grabbed a memory foam topper. We went for the full size because neither of us really wanted to deal with the edges bunching up in the curved part of the Casita. The full works great, even if there is a very slight gap one side which doesn't bother us at all.

In short...all of our mattress problems ended as soon as we got the memory foam topper. We've used it and it sleeps great. One of the best after-market purchases we've made for our fiberglass RV. Right up there with our Honda generator.

[Gerry]

Seems to be alot of trouble with the 4" memory foam toppers???
We just have the 4 inch seat cushions with the $59 Wal*Mart 1 1/2 topper and it works great.
Before we got that I insisted we put flannel sheets over the cushions and the wife did not see any wisdom in this as we were sleeping in sleeping bag but this helped hold the cushions together.
I think like any product you will get a reject once in a while but if the 4" stuff doesn't work try something else and at the cost some of you spend, I would for sure get my money back.
Gerry the canoebuilder

[Evinger1]

been some time since I was on this site, been to busy camping every weekend. Sad it might be time to put her to bed for the winter. i just wanted to add... We never put up our table, but leave it as a bed all the time. we took the bench foam covers and store them in the garage. We have a 6 inch foam matterss and I have to say it is the best sleep we get, that is why we hate to stop camping. we do not cook or run water in the trailer, it is just our bed on wheels so to speak and a different place to lock her down every weekend.

This trailer is the best idea we have had in years, used to do the tents and tent trailers, but they do not compare to our surfside.

Kathy E.

[Nancy]

Kathy,

Does that 6" bend easily to get into the area under the bench?

On our front bench I have two 3 inch pieces, one firmer and one memory foam. I can easily pull one up and then the other. Was thinking that 6 inches might be more of a problem, especially on the bigger bed.

By the way. I noticed that you are from Winnipeg. Please note the Grand Marais, MN gathering June 12-15. We need to draw northern people. The Lanesboro group already has 70 views. Well, they have the Cities, Des Moines and Chicago folks to come. Maybe I need to look to Canada for hardy people ready to camp early season.

Nancy

[Tom Reynolds]

I bought my Memory Foam at Overstock.com, they have 2, 3, and 4 inch, most of it is made by Serta,
we bought the 4 inch and it seems to work well. It seems that it don't make any difference how big you
buy, it is all the same price so we got the California King and cut it into 2 pieces one for each of the beds
in our BigFoot. It cuts easy if you smash it with a straight edge or a 2X4 and use a sharp knife.
Here is a link to the sight we bought it from.

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PA...RACK=emailcusts

Tom R.

[andy s]

We purchaced a 4 in supposed memory foam off e-bay from Sleepy Mountain Mattress... $109 A real peice of junk! just cheap foam.We purchaced the 4 in memory foam from Wal-Mart$109 and it is great!

[Benny K]

A couple of things that I don`t like about my memory foam from Obusform in our home is that your body gets too warm from the foam as it doesn`t breathe like a regular mattress.....your body heat can`t dissipate, and also it takes a bit of time to get to its shape when you turn over and so you tend to roll into the depression that was made when you were sleeping on it......I find that if I wake at about 3-4 a.m. I have a hard time going back to sleep....maybe it`s me and not the memory foam.....maybe I`ll try another bedroom that has a regular mattress and see if there is a difference over a few days....Benny

[peterh]

We purchaced a 4 in supposed memory foam off e-bay from Sleepy Mountain Mattress... $109 A real peice of junk! just cheap foam.We purchaced the 4 in memory foam from Wal-Mart$109 and it is great!

Interesting. We bought a 6" queen mattress from them and love it enough to consider buying an 8" version for our bed at home. Our 6" mattress is 4" of firm foam base with a 2" memory foam topper. (The 8" is supposed to be 2" memory foam, 3" medium foam, and 3" firm foam.)

[Paddy Morris]

We've been using the 1 1/4" for a couple of years now, excellent. Got it from Zellers in a Queen size for the Tillium 4500's big bed. Generally leave the bed down all the time anyway.