Shore mattress on a boat?

I have noticed that the boats I have looked at have pretty lame mattresses. Is there a reason I couldn’t use a mattress from the local furniture store if it fits? Moisture?

I want to do the Great Loop so I would be spending quite a few nights on the mattress.

We use a "regular" mattress. Our berth is made to a standard size. Works great. Be aware that many new mattresses are much thicker than they used to be, so if headroom is an issue you need to find a thinner one.

If you don't have a standard size berth, you can always buy a memory foam mattress and cut it to size.

What works great on a boat are the memory foam mattresses, which can be cut to the oddball shapes almost all boat berths have. Which is why you don't see many off the shelf "shore mattresses" on boats. Perhaps the boats you have looked at are in and of themselves "lame".

Note the simulpost with Tom.

I have a Tempurpedic Majestic that I had cut down to fit.
Works well.

If you can get the home style mattress in the boat and it will fit the bed, no problem. Sometimes the home style mattress will not go through the doors on the boat and you can have an articulating mattress made that will fold to get it inside the boat. However I really prefer a memory foam mattress which will come vacuum packed so it will go easily inside the boat. Also as mentioned already you can easily cut the memory foam mattress with an electric knife to fit.

You could never get a standard king size mattress through my doors and into my bedroom. However, a king size Sleep Number bed easily fits through the doors and works great.

You can check to see if you have a custom mattress maker in your area. We have one here and we had a custom made mattress for our home and it was no more expensive than a regular mattress. And it's great, I sleep like a baby. [emoji16]

We have two standard furniture store queen size mattresses. One came out of our guest room in the house when we moved aboard. I don't see any reason you need anything special unless you like some of the new foam or air mattresses.

I, too, have two sleep number queen size mattresses in my staterooms.

I definitely have been looking at some older boats. But the mattresses looked original and lame.
Thanks for confirming that I don’t need a special ‘marine’ mattress.

KK36 Manatees have a standard queen elevated island berth forward with a vast storage area below the mattress. To gain easier access to the storage area we replaced the plush 8" thick Serta queen mattress (76" x 60") with two 30" wide x 6" thick custom made mattresses topped with a single 60" wide 2" memory foam. Same comfort.

We do run a dehumidifier or AC 90% of the time so moisture is rarely a problem.

Just before we bought our vessel we had bought 2 pillow top xl single beds zipped down the middle = a king.

Fitted on the boat, easy to get aboard.
Into our 4th year, no a/c no dehumidifier, no problems

We have a queen size memory foam mattress. Been on the boat about 10 years.
Its very comfortable.

As long as there is good ventilation under the mattress most anything seems to work.

The key is in really cold weather if the area under the mattress is not "room temp" the hunk of ply the mattress rests on can be cold enough to be a moisture barrier , so moisture will condense and freeze..

Everyone has different sleeping desires we use heavy latex foam with a down topper.

These drie out well should a hatch be left open or a port underway.

Capitaine R said:

You can check to see if you have a custom mattress maker in your area. We have one here and we had a custom made mattress for our home and it was no more expensive than a regular mattress. And it's great, I sleep like a baby. [emoji16]

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We’ve had 5 custom mattresses through the years from 4 different non-marine mattress companies. The one we’re sleeping on now is 100% natural latex and we paid $800. Needless to say we love it.

This winter will be our third living aboard in Maryland where, indeed it gets quite cold in January and February. At first, we had a moisture problem on the underside of the mattress, actually it got very wet. We solved this problem by doing two things. Another poster mentioned the temperature disparity between the platform and the mattress. We found that to have been the problem. We put down, easily cut to size and available at Home Depot, etc., a one-inch foil-backed on both sides rigid insuating board. It is sold in 4 x 8 sheets. On top of the board we installed a layer of interlocking Duraguard decking that provides about a 1/4 inch of air space. Problem solved. NO more moisture.

FF said:

As long as there is good ventilation under the mattress most anything seems to work.

The key is in really cold weather if the area under the mattress is not "room temp" the hunk of ply the mattress rests on can be cold enough to be a moisture barrier , so moisture will condense and freeze..

Everyone has different sleeping desires we use heavy latex foam with a down topper.

These drie out well should a hatch be left open or a port underway.

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Hmmmm, there is a woven metal pad under my mattress.
I cannot think of a reason to add a dehumidifier under the bed. I use that for important stuff like parts and soft drinks. SMILE
I have a custom mattress and a custom hydraulic assist mattress lift system.
I will have to admit, everything I have added to the boat, for comfort, is custom, custom translates into "expensive" and over-kill. I do hope the next owner appreciates my add-ons.

When I was in the upholstery business, I did a Bayliner that had a double size mattress in place of the oddly shaped original mattress. It was a spring mattress and only a few years old. The steel springs had rusted and broken leaving some sharp ends to stick through the mattress. It was a generic no name mattress. When I redid the V birth, I put back an 8 inch foam mattress cut to fit the original shape. I made three sets of sheets from standard king sheet sets.




These should be easy to cut down with an electric carving knife. They come vacuum bagged so give them at least a full day to expand before cutting and shaping.



https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...4bdc83073582cce9ce85b3e0314ab9&language=en_US

I think moisture becomes more of a problem in colder climates and with installations that go against the hull. I do have to mop out a little moisture under the mattress near the hull and against the hull when the weather gets wet, but it's always against the coldest edge along the hull. I don't think it would happen if the bed didn't fit the curve of the hull, and it doesn't happen in dry weather, just extended periods of rain.

AKDoug said:

I think moisture becomes more of a problem in colder climates and with installations that go against the hull. I do have to mop out a little moisture under the mattress near the hull and against the hull when the weather gets wet, but it's always against the coldest edge along the hull. I don't think it would happen if the bed didn't fit the curve of the hull, and it doesn't happen in dry weather, just extended periods of rain.

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Have to tried to use a 12vt fan, 24hrs a day, like you do with your compartment fans?

When we lived in the PNW we used a pad similar to Hypervent. It created a space/air gap between the mattress and the plywood bed frame. It worked for us.

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/hypervent-hypervent-mattress-pads-39-50

AdkChris said:

Is there a reason I couldn’t use a mattress from the local furniture store if it fits? Moisture?

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It's mostly about the shape, household mattresses usually being rectangles in standard sizes. Some materials user-modifiable.

There were two relatively recent mattress threads on cruisersforum.com (sister site) with boatloads o' info about various materials and sources.

-Chris

Larry M said:

When we lived in the PNW we used a pad similar to Hypervent. It created a space/air gap between the mattress and the plywood bed frame. It worked for us.

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/hypervent-hypervent-mattress-pads-39-50

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Yup, looks like the stuff that came with my boat.

The moisture forms against the colder surface, under the mattress or between the blankets and the hull. When not on board I prop the mattress up with one of the access covers to allow air to circulate under and have no issues. It's only when damp for extended periods (think rain) AND when it's cool or cold outside, a fan wouldn't help.

I have considered trying hypervent...

We bought a new "Purple" mattress a few months ago and still love it. It's on the hypervent material, which seems to work as our bed is a centerline queen (and as liveaboards we run a dehumidifier most of the winter).

On our previous sailboat we used the Froli Sleep System in the v-berth, which was very effective at eliminating moisture from under the old vinyl covered pads. It also made them much more comfortable to sleep on.

ranger42c said:

It's mostly about the shape, household mattresses usually being rectangles in standard sizes. Some materials user-modifiable.

There were two relatively recent mattress threads on cruisersforum.com (sister site) with boatloads o' info about various materials and sources.

-Chris

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If you see that thread again could you post it? I'm a member over there and can't seem to find it. Thanks.

We have bought custom mattresses for several generations from Gardner Mattress is Salem, MA. Most of those same generations were conceived on Gardner Mattresses. We had mattresses made for our last boat, off shapes and all, and I think we paid for all three mattresses what the “boat” mattress people wanted for one. And we are doing the same for the next boat. I don’t know if they ship, or how practical that might be.

ben2go said:

If you see that thread again could you post it? I'm a member over there and can't seem to find it. Thanks.

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Here ya go:

Best mattress? - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

What do you guys use for mattress - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

The usually-useless basic search tool worked this time just using "mattress" to show several possibilities.

-Chris

ranger42c said:

Here ya go:

Best mattress? - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

What do you guys use for mattress - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

The usually-useless basic search tool worked this time just using "mattress" to show several possibilities.

-Chris

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Thanks. I appreciate that.

If you were in the Ft Lauderdale area, I would put you in contact with the company that made the mattress to fit my AT34.