Memory foam mattress

[snowleopard]

The mattresses in our main cabins are latex foam. Very expensive, very heavy and very hard. I'm planning to replace them with a lighter foam, maybe memory foam. Any thoughts on thickness, foam type etc? Would a combination of standard upholstery foam and memory foam on top be any good? If they get damp, do they take weeks to dry?

Argos are offering a king size 6" mattress for £180 which would cut down to the shape we need.

 

[Croak]

Argos are offering a king size 6" mattress for £180 which would cut down to the shape we need.

That is what we did, v comfortable.

not got them wet.

We have some slatted stuff under the mattress.

 

[snowleopard]

I have the problem of limited headroom over the bottom 2/3 of the beds due to a step in the aft decks. The present mattresses are 4" deep and 6" would be a bit restrictive. I've found a 4" 'topper' on eBay for £62 but am concerned it wouldn't give enough support.

 

[oldbilbo]

Should you have a Matalan store within reach, you might be pleasantly surprised by the prices of their 'memory foam' offerings. Milady was.....

 

[KellysEye]

Be very wary about price Tempura (the original) is very expensive and the cheaper it gets the less effective it is, so find a medium price. It is also heavy and choose a medium soft version, it's difficult to turn over in a soft one. If you want to cut costs you can buy a four or five inch topper to fit on top of your current bed. That's what we did when living on our boat and then we bought a memory foam mattress for our bed at home. Toppers are usually sent rolled up but you can only do that once if you do it again it will split.

 

[BelleSerene]

maybe memory foam... If they get damp, do they take weeks to dry?

When I bought a cheap memory foam topper to cut to size and lay over our boat mattresses, I stored it on board for a while and felt it was damp: it absorbed moisture much faster than most materials. A damp mattress is a bad night's sleep. True, it was winter at the time and I didn't have the dehumidifier then; I'd be interested how others have found it works - could be easily persuaded to do this again but properly.

 

[oldvarnish]

I thought about memory foam, but after a bit of searching and reading I found others complaining they caused 'sweatiness' and became too warm in summer weather. So I didn't bother.

 

[CharlestonBed]

Latex or memory foam

I think you would be very foolish to replace latex for poly foam. Latex is the very finest and poly foam is a far distant second. Latex is the most supportive foam (which is what you need). It also sleeps the coolest. It is considered a fast recovery foam. Dense poly foam (over 4 lb) is often advertised as "memory foam" because it is slow recovery. Poly foam comes in different weights. Light weight 1 or 2 lb is what you see on most spring mattresses. 5 or 6 lb. is what you see in "visco". Visco foam has the characteristic of trapping heat. The heat does not dissipate and therefore you sweat during sleep. And i might add you toss and turn because you sleep hot. Latex is a natural rubber product and does not trap heat. Your body heat dissipates through the material. Also, the firmer the mat, the less joint pressure on your shoulder and hip. My suggestion is learn to love that latex.

 

[pagoda]

That is what we did, v comfortable.

not got them wet.

We have some slatted stuff under the mattress.

We converted to memory foam at home some time ago. That was a very successful move.
For the boat we bought a king sized 3" topper, with a fitted cover. ( Ebay about £70)
We simply took it out the cover and cut it carefully to fit the Stbd Aft cabin. My wife then trimmed the supplied cover to the new shape. We than used an inexpensive duvet as a cotton cover, fitting the straight edge one way and trimming and putting in a seam to fit on the other side. A very satisfactory result - with minimal loss of headroom. We have a 15mm mesh open weave spacer under the original cushions for air circulation. I haven't noticed any issues with "damp".
It depends on where you live and when you sail and WHO gets cold in bed or not???
SWMBO always feels cold in bed ... I never get cold in bed??
So you have to make some compromises!!!!

Graeme

 

[Seajet]

How does fire safety reckon in all this ? I know everything ( hopefully ) has to meet a certain fire retardant standard nowadays, but I used to photograph fire safety tests on various materials for the Dunsfold Fire / Rescue people and some of the results were hauntingly bad.

 

[Croak]

I have the problem of limited headroom over the bottom 2/3 of the beds due to a step in the aft decks. The present mattresses are 4" deep and 6" would be a bit restrictive. I've found a 4" 'topper' on eBay for £62 but am concerned it wouldn't give enough support.

I would be tricky cutting a 6" down to 4"

I don't like sleeping on memory foam, I prefer to sleep on the bed rather than in it.

 

[AndrewB]

I thought about memory foam, but after a bit of searching and reading I found others complaining they caused 'sweatiness' and became too warm in summer weather. So I didn't bother.

Too true. It was on our boat when we bought it in Greece. After a month it was dumped - what a waste.

 

[nigelmercier]

It [memory foam] was on our boat when we bought it in Greece. After a month it was dumped - what a waste.

I do use a memory foam topper on the boat, but it is far from ideal. It now has a quilted topper over that, which helps.

A triumph of marketing over mediocrity IMO.

 

[Seajet]

It's with things like this where the forums are really useful ! I have 4" thick matresses on my my boat and they work fine, but I might have been tempted by the various offers I get by e-mail for wonder memory stuff if I hadn't read this thread; thanks !

 

[snowleopard]

My suggestion is learn to love that latex.

After 500+ nights on board I still haven't got used to them and still get backache for the first week of every trip. Add to that the fact that the beds are on top of the engines and to get access I need to lift a 20 kg section of mattress.

Thanks but no thanks.

Interesting though that you confirm my suspicion that some so-called memory foams are something different.

 

[Scotty_Tradewind]

We thought about memory foam last season but do they really breathe well?

Eventually, as we were going to be afloat for 5 months we bought 140mm thick fully sprung mattresses for right across the forepeak.

Brilliant, best nights sleep we've ever had on boats....but pricey!

 

[snowleopard]

fully sprung mattresses

Stainless springs?

 

[Simondjuk]

After we refitted our last boat we found the foam we'd used was a little too hard to make it comfortable for sleeping on, although perfect for the seating areas. We added memory foam (3 or 4 inch, I forget which) on top and found it fantastically comfortable, including during a summer living aboard.

 

[DogWatch]

Stainless springs?

I fully endorse these>>

http://www.victoria-yachting.fr/en/p/Nos-produits/Matelas/Sommier/victoria-star/victoria-star_49

Not so cheap, but absolutely not a gadget, they really help latex beds, no more hips on fire and chronic lower back ache. They require a solid base though, but if I'm right and your beds are on the bridge deck then they work well. I promise you wont be sorry!

For my double sized berth I needed a box and a half. One day I will stump up and buy a 3rd box so I can also fit them to the guest cabin.

 

[snowleopard]

They require a solid base though, but if I'm right and your beds are on the bridge deck then they work well. I promise you wont be sorry!

No. In the hull on top of the engines and the front half has to be removed to get to the engines.