Square Peg in a Round Hole?

[melissab]

I've been making a list of mods that we will want in our future Egg and got to wondering how on earth do ya'll put those nice thick square matresses into the 13 footers with round wall? Maybe I'm just missing something here.


Melissa

[Harry Young]

Melissa,

Generally the mattress is located just before or just after the belly band near the widest point of the trailer hull, on our 16 foot scamp there is no issue one way, the rear curve is different being the sizes are not standard in inches regarding the mattress sizes made in the market, they are rather odd regarding the curve to the rear in a minor way sometimes, so we just go for broke and have a foam company make ours to our size as thick as we want and choose the foam composition and layer the density to our liking.

We hate sleeping on the cushions finding them barbaric and torturous to our middle age backs so the rear table is a permanent bed as we have the side table floor plan...The other trailer is a permanent bed arrangement with cargo stowage under it.

Happy Camping, Safe Trails.
Harry

I've been making a list of mods that we will want in our future Egg and got to wondering how on earth do ya'll put those nice thick square matresses into the 13 footers with round wall? Maybe I'm just missing something here.


Melissa

[Alf S.]

I've been making a list of mods that we will want in our future Egg and got to wondering how on earth do ya'll put those nice thick square matresses into the 13 footers with round wall? Maybe I'm just missing something here.


Melissa

Hi: With a foam mattress it's very easy. Take the cloth cover off it. Lay out all the dinette cushions on top of the bare foam. Draw the outline on it with a marker...and start the Electric Carving Knife!!! Watch out cause it cuts like a hot knife thru butter. Trim the cover if you wish or just tuck it under and VOILA you have a custom fit mattress for your EGG!!! I cut a spacer board to fit against the back wall to push the table ahead a few "'s to support the front of the mattress better.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Eric Nelson]

I've been making a list of mods that we will want in our future Egg and got to wondering how on earth do ya'll put those nice thick square matresses into the 13 footers with round wall? Maybe I'm just missing something here.


Melissa

The cushions can be quite uncomfortable if they are resting directly on the table because it provides an uneven support. Our solution has been to put a 1" layer of rigid styrofoam down over the entire bed platform and table. Then I cut 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood to fit over the styrofoam (one piece won't make the turn on our U-Haul. The cushions go over the ply, the two layers of waffle foam over the cushions. the result is a comfortable permanent back bed. I also put an edge board in place at the forward edge of the bed to prevent the table and cushions sliding forward.
Not sure, but I think this would work over most back dinette beds. We tend to spend most of our time outdoors, and prefer permanent beds.
Eric

[melissab]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, ok. That makes sense using foam but what about those I've seen who put those extra thick quilted pillow top spring style matresses? Do folks have them custom made?

[brian m.]

Here's a custom mattress maker that does some for Casitas, and I'm sure any other FGRV as well:

http://southernmattressnc.com/catalog/

[Raya]

There really isn't a way that a regular type of mattress would fit the back walls of the typical curved egg. As brian mentioned, you'd have to have it custom made (various manufacturers do this regularly for boats). I mean, unless you just wanted to cut into a mattress; but it's not like cutting foam (which is easy).

I noticed that one person mentioned the table did not go down to make a level bed; on my Boler it goes down and fits flush.

A custom mattress or foam will of course be comfortable, but I also think that sleeping on "converted" cushions can be very comfortable, but that it gets a bad rap because many people are using them with the stock foam, which is nothing to crow about.

I've slept on "cushions" on boats many times and had them be very comfortable. They keys are that they make a snug, "trapped" fit (so they can't slide apart), and that you buy good foam (usually the stock foam leaves a good bit to be desired when it comes to sleeping).

Raya

[peterh]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, ok. That makes sense using foam but what about those I've seen who put those extra thick quilted pillow top spring style matresses? Do folks have them custom made?

I don't know anyone who has an inner-spring mattress in their FG trailer. I bought a memory foam mattress from "SleepyMountainMattress" on eBay (make sure you get the 6" mattress, not just the topper if you are looking for a complete mattress) for under $200 for our Scamp 5er loft bed. We throw Jersey sheets (which fit better) on it and it's great. We liked the memory foam mattress in our Scamp so much we got another one for our bed at home! (We bought that one from Costco.)

Before putting the mattress in I made a cardboard template that fit our bed space exactly and used it as a guide to cut the mattress with an electric carving knife. I'd really rather screw up a piece of cardboard I got free from an appliance store than screw up the bed I just paid for.

[Casita Greg]

I do have an inner spring mattress in my Casita. It's an 8" thick "Eurotop" (I guess it's just another way of calling it a "pillowtop" style mattress). Anyway, I too, didn't like the tight fit at the rear corner radius areas. So, I dug out my sailmaking sewing kit, stood the mattress on end in the trailer and proceeded to surgically remove some of the excess material at those two rear corners. First I cut the outer fabric overwrap at the corners and peeled it back to clear out a working area to start my dissection. There is a few inches of foam around the edge of the mattress under the ticking, and this allows for some judicial trimming of the underlying foam without getting into the actual "box spring" part of the construction. After trimming the radiused edges, I trimmed the excess fabric skin to shape and form it to match, with a good amount of overlapping of the excess material for added strength, and sewed it all back together, bias tape and all. You have to look really hard at it to even see where this was done. The vertical "seam" of the overlap is really the only part that doesn't look "factory" original. Once the sheets are on it, you wouldn't see anything anyway, (but it's just my perfectionist nature I guess). Which brings up the matter of the sheets...well, I guess it is just a matter of whether you prefer flat or fitted sheets. I prefer the latter, so you will probably need to take in the two rear corners to match the mattress modification, but after doing the mattress, the sheets should be a cinch to alter. Wasn't that difficult of a project.

[Raya]

Anyway, I too, didn't like the tight fit at the rear corner radius areas. So, I dug out my sailmaking sewing kit, stood the mattress on end in the trailer and proceeded to surgically remove some of the excess material at those two rear corners...

Trust a sailor to be able to whip out the old bosun's kit and customize the mattress

Sounds like you did a great job

Raya

[james kent]

We use a 2" memory foam pad over the original cushions.
Alf had the electric carving knife so I used my extremely sharp fishing knife. It too cuts like it's going through hot butter.

[Roger C H]

We, too, wanted a permanent bed at the rear dinette and we use the front dinette for eating playing cards, etc. We just took the rig to

http://www.foamrubbercity.com/

And they cut the foam to fit, even notching around the table support on the rear wall and made a custom cover for $250. Much better than the individual cushions for the set up tear down bed dinette.
Of course we are getting on in age and need our comfort. Isn't that why we forsook tenting for egging in the first place? LOL

BTW, I did remove the collapsible leg under the table to make it easier to slide the containers in and out from under. I took the rear container and riveted two straps to the bottom to ease removing it.

And, of course, we are storing/saving all removed hardware, cushions, etc. in case a future purchaser would like a different way of doing it.