Why Not Regular Mattresses?

[Sailing4Jesus]

If you can afford The Best the TEMPUR-CLOUD Luxe Breeze 1.0, from Tempur-Pedic are the Very Best that money can buy, and they neither Need or Have Springs.

Senior Chief U.S. NAVY, RETIRED

[Hillbilly]

One thing I agree with. I can't imagine how such a stupid idea as box springs ever came to be. Six or eight inches below your body, they can't possibly reduce any pressure points. All box springs can do is allow the mattress to sink toward the center, side to side and head to foot. A person sleeping face down has their back bowed backwards. A conventional mattress has this same tendency. The thicker it is the more it does so. I get my best sleep on my relatively thin foam mattresses in my boat and RV. I'm biased some since I sleep face down much of the time. Unfortunately my wife is too conventional and reluctant to deviate from what the marketers are pushing.

I also would be concerned about humidity moisture, not to mention a water leak into the berth. My pedestal and all its deck penetrations is directly above my mattress.

[j.g.evans]

I chose a standard size, inner spring, 8", queen for a 40' mono-hull. I assumed it would be cooler than foam. I folded it in half with straps and four guys got it into the boat berth. We used it for 10 years and sold it with the boat. It was great. No mold or mildew. Unfortunately you will have a hard time finding an 8" innerspring mattress today. If you do it may be cheap. I paid about $300.

[Cheechako]

Regular mattresses ARE available for boats, they are expensive though.
Seems inner spring mattresses are not the norm for homes anymore though either...?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by acem

What about a waterbed!?!?

Yes! Very light weight!

Travel with it empty, then fill it up at anchor. Ha ha.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Spot

I was under the impression there are 3 basic types of upholstery foam for marine use:
-closed cell (like EVA) that do not take up water
-open cell (like regular polyurethane, etc) that act like a sponge
-reticulated (self-draining open cell) that act like a sieve

That’s my impression as well

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by makobuilders

Might want to not lay your mattress on solid plywood, it instead insure there is some air circulation available underneath.

My apologies if this is duplicated further down.

I'm on my phone and exploration is difficult.

The previous product was known as ventair...

the current product is available from a variety of vendors and a name that I don't recall. It's about like a 3M scrubby on steroids with a cloth spread on top.

it is absolutely invaluable in keeping cushions in anything else above it dry.

I'll edit this when I get back to the boat...

My replacement product was bought from defender...

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by doublewide

I like our queen-sized "Sleep Number" mattress. It's lightweight, comfortable, basically waterproof, offers adjustable firmness. True, you need to turn on the inverter to change the firmness. It uses a 120V air pump for that. But one rarely wants to change the firmness.
Use any type of mattress you prefer. Hopefully your boat builder was clever enough to build bunks sized like standard shoreside beds.

Yes. I was that clever. .

They are all 60”x80” queen size.

[sailm8]

I replaced our original boat mattresses with 8 inches of a memory foam mattress from Overstocks.com. Love it.

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

There are mattress makers who offer boat shapes with pocket springs. Handcraft Mattress Co, for one.

There was at least one long mattress thread here (4-5 months ago?) that mentioned several other brands and mattress solutions...

-Chris

Based on the info in that thread I had two custom mattresses made by Portland mattress. Took forever to get them but worth it. Very good fit and very comfortable. They offer two thicknesses, l went with the thinner one.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Hillbilly

One thing I agree with. I can't imagine how such a stupid idea as box springs ever came to be. Six or eight inches below your body, they can't possibly reduce any pressure points. All box springs can do is allow the mattress to sink toward the center, side to side and head to foot. A person sleeping face down has their back bowed backwards. A conventional mattress has this same tendency. The thicker it is the more it does so. I get my best sleep on my relatively thin foam mattresses in my boat and RV. I'm biased some since I sleep face down much of the time. Unfortunately my wife is too conventional and reluctant to deviate from what the marketers are pushing.

I also would be concerned about humidity moisture, not to mention a water leak into the berth. My pedestal and all its deck penetrations is directly above my mattress.

I can currently take a tsunami or even operate as a submarine at a small depth with no leaks at my berth. Ha ha. I’m actually not kidding. It’s uninterrupted, water and airtight glass currently around the berth area. I need to cut a hole and install a hatch there still. That hatch will be the only opening to the outside.

In a different area in the center beam that attaches to the staterooms, I’m putting some “catamaran dorades”. Air inlets that face downward and only allow air in because it travels upward against gravity.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

My apologies if this is duplicated further down.

I'm on my phone and exploration is difficult.

The previous product was known as ventair...

the current product is available from a variety of vendors and a name that I don't recall. It's about like a 3M scrubby on steroids with a cloth spread on top.

it is absolutely invaluable in keeping cushions in anything else above it dry.

I'll edit this when I get back to the boat...

My replacement product was bought from defender...

Sorry - editing window closed.

Hypervent...

The same product but only one side scrim; both sides allowed the deck to avoid potential wear, but in the area we've put the Hypervent, we've not noted any wear, so likely you would not, either.

We just went through a swamping, and it worked a treat...

One vendor:
https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?id=1818021

[SalingSue]

I bought a mattress in a box from sears years ago, queen for like $300, VERY nice, very comfy, and frankly I couldn’t tell the difference compared to the expensive ones at the mattress shop.

The foam ones are just better in my opinion.

[davenrino]

Originally Posted by sailm8

I replaced our original boat mattresses with 8 inches of a memory foam mattress from Overstocks.com. Love it.

I tried 3" blue supposedly cool memory foam toppers and hated them. It felt like they surrounded me and were way too hot for Hawaii. I replaced them with 2" natural latex toppers and love them.

[Simi 60]

We have a proper king size inner spring with pillowtop
Incredible comfort
Cut in half and zipped down the centre makes it easy to get aboard and flip over
And you can't feel when your partner moves around