Memory foam or not - new bed mattresses

[garvellachs]

We mainly cruise around the west coast of Scotland and the Irish Sea. We sleep in the fore cabin when cruising, on a large v berth with too triangular mattresses. The mattresses are original and need updating. They are hard and 12cm thick but one gets used to them with a shaped duvet as a topper to soften them a bit. We have to lift them up from time to time because the big sail bins are underneath and other things as well as sails are stored there.

We are looking for new comfortable mattresses. The choice seems to be a sandwich of memory foam 3 or 5 cm thick over a medium or medium/hard foam; or a single layer of cool-something foam without the memory bit; or maybe latex. I'm sure pocket springs are comfy but I reckon they'd be too heavy to keep lifting for the sail bins? Overall we think 15cm thickness would suffice. Neither of us is heavy, so about 10 or 11 stone per person.

My question is whether memory foam is worth it. It seems prone to getting hot and sweaty - no supplier refers to it without the measures being taken to mitigate the heat problem. And it seems not to suit the side sleeper like us who likes to turn over etc.

What please are people's experiences of berth mattresses with and without memory foam in recent years?

 

[matthewriches]

I renewed all mattresses on board recently as did so by using a hot knife tool and memory foam mattresses from an online supplier. Templated with polythene then transferred to mattress and cut. Edges smoothed off and then the local upholsterer made new covers, fitted sheets and a few other bits and pieces.

Double came in at about £160 and singles were able £90 each once finished. Not including my own time at a couple of hours.

 

[simonfraser]

v impressed with memory foam, 10cm topper, transformed the 20yr old thin 'cushions' to a comfortable bed.
some condensation under it now its colder, hull edge obviously.
as i have left them separate they are easy to move, dry under and leave standing up.
but it looks messy, the wife might not approve.

 

[Praxinoscope]

SHMBO wanted a memory foam mattress, we compromised on anormal matress with a memory foam top, ....hated it!...
it was like sleeping on a furnace, just couldn’t cool down, we tried ‘cooling’ options with special covers, but no success...we got rid of it after 6 months, would never even consider merory foam again.

 

[Sailingsaves]

My wife and I both found memory foam too hot. A latex topper is wonderful we found. I find it sleep inducing it is so comfortable; no sleeping tablets ever required since. It is a remarkable material imho.

 

[Old Bumbulum]

I'm utterly astonished at the remarks about "heat" with a memory foam mattress. At home I have a sandwich mattress of medium density foam with a 40mm memory top layer.
It's by far and away the most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on (it replaces a waterbed)
I've never had the slightest inkling of overheating.

 

[andyc352]

My wife and I both found memory foam too hot. A latex topper is wonderful we found. I find it sleep inducing it is so comfortable; no sleeping tablets ever required since. It is a remarkable material imho.

Agree with the above. We’re full time liveaboards and fitted a latex topper to our 30 year old mattress 18 months ago. It’s extremely comfortable, does wonders for my bad back and is much cooler than memory foam.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I'm utterly astonished at the remarks about "heat" with a memory foam mattress. .....

Eve, manufacturers of mattresses, are not astonished, from their differentiating technology page: -

https://www.evemattress.co.uk/mattress

...... no more overheating ..... The old kind of memory foam got too hot. Ours is 30 times more breathable to keep you comfortably cool.

 

[longjohnsilver]

We bought an expensive memory foam mat for our bed at home about 12 years ago. I hated it, far too hot, so we rolled it up and stored it in a cupboard. A few years later our queen sized mattress on the boat was becoming uncomfortable so we took the old memory foam mattress down (luckily exactly the same size) down to the boat and fitted it.

I now love it, my favourite place to sleep. I guess because it’s generally quite a bit cooler on the boat the heat now isn’t a problem.

 

[JumbleDuck]

My question is whether memory foam is worth it.

It seems to arouse very mixed opinions. The sort of people who like waterbeds seem to like it (the same appeal of being wrapped in hot, sweaty plastic?) while many others don't. I think you really have to try it to be sure one way or the other.

 

[Lightwave395]

Bought a 100mm memory foam topper cut to shape for the forward 'V' berth last year before we set off for 3 months cruising. Absolutely lovely, we slept soundly and didn't regret it for a moment. It was less than £200 and worth every penny.

Tried a waterbed once - bloody awful...!

 

[johnphilip]

Have a look at Duvalay sleeping bags. They have two sleeves, one for a mattress topper and another for a duvet ( single size). Joined together down one long and one short edge you can wrap the quilt around you or sleep half out if it is hot, They are the best thing we have tried. Pricey but worth every penny. We bought ours with the breathable foam option.

 

[pagoda]

v impressed with memory foam, 10cm topper, transformed the 20yr old thin 'cushions' to a comfortable bed.
some condensation under it now its colder, hull edge obviously.
as i have left them separate they are easy to move, dry under and leave standing up.
but it looks messy, the wife might not approve.

+1 We like memory foam. We got round the problem of fitted sheets by inserting the foam topper into an inexpensive duvet cover. My wife trimmed the foam and the duvet cover to fit the fore berth - with no further problems. We also sail the West of Scotland and Ireland so heat is not really a problem during most summers! Much more comfortable than the stock mattresses. I guess the perceived heat problem depends on the heat output of the bodies in the bed?

 

[RAI]

We tried a memory foam / viscostatic mattress overlay from IKEA on top of our foam mattress. We are still using it after 12 years. Time for a new one.
It is warmer than normal the 15cm foam but we needed more insulation anyway.

 

[garvellachs]

Thank you for all the replies and info, I appreciate the time taken. Looks as if we'll just have to try some memory foam in a shop somewhere - it's a love or hate thing it seems. An extra thought: has anyone tried the Duvalay caravan mattresses (Dragons' Den and all that)?

 

[Pye_End]

An extra thought: has anyone tried the Duvalay caravan mattresses (Dragons' Den and all that)?

Post 12.

 

[daveyw]

Bought myself a new mattress last year. It has 2 or 3 inches of memory foam on the top. Really regret it. You lie on it and sure enough it sinks to conform to your body. Trouble is, when you roll over you have to roll out of this hole! I guess if you're sharing the bed you just roll in the hole.

 

[Pavalijo]

Our memory foam was the most comfortable mattress ever - but on warmer nights I would wake up in a pool of sweat.
A client who sells beds says that he tries to dissuade customers from buying them for that very reason.
Our current setup is a sprung slat base, then the original boat mattress, then a mesh ventilation layer and finally on top of that a “gelify” mattress topper. It is comfortable, reasonably cool and condensation has been much improved (we live aboard for months at a time).
Nothing will ever be as comfortable as the memory foam, but we couldn’t live with the sweating!!!

 

[KellysEye]

We had memory foam on our boat bed and have it on our bed at home and yes it is hot, so I fitted a fan in the aft cabin to cool it down and we used to sleep under a sheet in the summer and duvet in the winter. On our house bed we a thin duvet for summer and a thick one for the winter, we don't turn the radiators on so the bedroom is cold in the winter.

 

[garvellachs]

Post 12.

Thanks, but it's Duvalay mattresses I'm asking after; the sleeping bags look lovely as johnphilip says, but our mattresses really do need replacing.