Boat Mattress

We want to replace the mattress in our boat. Looking for recommendations around the Jacksonville, FL, area. Thanks.

tlaw7

Welcome to TF

You can buy one of the very expensive boat mattress or replace your bed with a Lessa Mattress. We are very happy with ours. I would suggest putting a water proof cover on it.

We got a memory foam mattress from Amazon. I then added a 2” memory foam topper. It is very comfortable. And added bonus was that I paid extra for 1 day delivery. It didn’t show up and long story short Amazon refunded the entire purchase price. So for a free mattress it is even more comfortable. I took an electric knife and trimmed the square corners on the mattress round to fit the bed pedestal.

I agree with Dave regarding foam. Latex foam is better than memory foam (for many reasons but is more expensive), but maybe a less expensive foam mattress with a latex topper? It can all be cut to fit whatever shape you need. We just recently bought a talalay foam mattress with topper for home. It is great so far (just over one month). It is totally flippable, so should last a long time with only the topper needing replacement (sooner than the base mattress).

Try Yachtbedding.com. I just purchased a latex mattress for my Mainship 390. It was pricey and took 1 month to arrive but the comfort, quality, and custom design was exceptional.

We bought a Walmart foam mattress. Maybe 8 inches thick. King size. Around $200. My wife cut it to shape with an electic turkey carving knife. I sleep better in the boat than I do on our $1000 Purple mattress.

Certainly one can save some money by butchering a foam mattress down to size. Or, one can get a custom-cut foam mattress encased in fabric and edge piping that is just as functional and far more esthetically pleasing, albeit at a higher cost. We used replacement-matress.com but there are other suppliers. Our 78" x 58" (near queen-sized) costed $645, delivered. It is the most comfortable mattress on which we have ever slept. When we transition back to a dirt house in a few years we will need a new mattress. We will be ordering from these folks again. If I were buying a boat and found a hacked up foam mattress aboard I would want a price concession to replace it. Boats: choices, choices, choices. None correct, none incorrect and all very personal.

One caution and some advice. You will need a moisture barrier for the underside. The mattress came with a protector but that does not solve the moisture problem. Our mattress sits on a plywood platform (aft cabin). The hull is about 24 inches below. The temperature differential above and below creates moisture.. What worked for us is: (1) installed an insulating board, one-inch foil-backed (both sides) rigid foam from Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.; (2) on top of the insulation is dry-deck interlocking squares which provide an air gap. After having done so, we now get NO moisture underneath the mattress. Before having done so, at times, it became soaking wet underneath. Cutting the rigid foam board is easily done with a pizza cutter wheel.

Pmcsurf1 said:

We bought a Walmart foam mattress. Maybe 8 inches thick. King size. Around $200. My wife cut it to shape with an electic turkey carving knife. I sleep better in the boat than I do on our $1000 Purple mattress.

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I would highly recommend a very nice foam mattress. The new technology there is amazing. They arrive in a box. Just get the box in your stateroom before opening it, and let it expand into the most comfortable nights sleep you will ever have. You can cut them to shape if you want/need. I cannot imagine traditional mattress stores will be around 2 years from now. Tuft and Needle would be one example, but there are dozens of them now. They are very nice mattresses.

I have 2 IKEA mattresses. They come in a box, have a waterproof cover and we're reasonably priced. They delivered to the boat. Excellent sleep.

Just one way to reduce mold under the bed

catalinajack said:

Certainly one can save some money by butchering a foam mattress down to size. Or, one can get a custom-cut foam mattress encased in fabric and edge piping that is just as functional and far more esthetically pleasing, albeit at a higher cost. We used replacement-matress.com but there are other suppliers. Our 78" x 58" (near queen-sized) costed $645, delivered. It is the most comfortable mattress on which we have ever slept. When we transition back to a dirt house in a few years we will need a new mattress. We will be ordering from these folks again. If I were buying a boat and found a hacked up foam mattress aboard I would want a price concession to replace it. Boats: choices, choices, choices. None correct, none incorrect and all very personal.

One caution and some advice. You will need a moisture barrier for the underside. The mattress came with a protector but that does not solve the moisture problem. Our mattress sits on a plywood platform (aft cabin). The hull is about 24 inches below. The temperature differential above and below creates moisture.. What worked for us is: (1) installed an insulating board, one-inch foil-backed (both sides) rigid foam from Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.; (2) on top of the insulation is dry-deck interlocking squares which provide an air gap. After having done so, we now get NO moisture underneath the mattress. Before having done so, at times, it became soaking wet underneath. Cutting the rigid foam board is easily done with a pizza cutter wheel.

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We bought the FROLI system for under our latex mattress There is plenty of breathing room thus no mold to date.The latex mattress hasn't had a mold problem. Having a sizeable dehumidifier and two "Super Quiet" running "all the time" (except when away from the dock) fans which keep the air circulating has made all the difference keeping mold out of the cabin.

So what's the consensus on the BEST foam mattress?


Seems like a lot of thoughts here, just need some guidance.


I've got a Bragada in my dirt home, and I'd rate it just adequate. I have a sheep skin cover I can put over the top and/or a thick mattress pad, both of which help the "sweating" issue, which is a real PITA with foam.


Thoughts?

"So what's the consensus on the BEST foam mattress?"


My back sez heavy Latex foam at least 6 inches thick works best for me.

There is a local custom mattress place in our area, Gardner Mattress. We have been buying mattresses from them for literally generations. My wife jokes that our whole extend family were conceived on Gardner mattresses, and she's probably right. They have made custom mattresses for us for three boats now, the most recent of which are being delivered today. They can make anything, like a mattress with a notch in the side to accommodate a cable race on our last boat. And they are very reasonably priced. The four mattresses they just made for us were less than one mattress from a Yacht mattress place. Plus they have records of what they have made for you in the past, so we can say we liked this one, but not so much that one, then construct a new what that is just so. It's very Goldilocks.



Anyway, I expect there are similar custom mattress makers in other parts of the country, so that's what I would pursue. Also, I'm not sure how the economics would work out, but Gardner can ship mattresses too.

Another issue is the boat used for passage or has times that folks other than owners are on it for a significant period of time. If that’s the case may want to go with foam toppers instead of full foam. That allows good sleeping on salon berths, pilot berths and quarterberths. We used our guest stateroom to allow easy access for some stuff. Would dump it on the berths and then remove it and store that stuff if folks were visiting or we where going on passage. Cant say enough about Froli springs. Ended up putting them under everything. Berths, cushions, everything. That bit of springiness and having air flow under makes a huge difference especially in the tropics.

Ge3z, always something new to learn here. The Froli system looks quite interesting. Had we not already come up with a solution (learned here), we might have used Froli. Instead we used dridek squares. The point is the moisture problem goes away when employing some sort of air gap.

Nocanvas said:

We bought the FROLI system for under our latex mattress There is plenty of breathing room thus no mold to date.The latex mattress hasn't had a mold problem. Having a sizeable dehumidifier and two "Super Quiet" running "all the time" (except when away from the dock) fans which keep the air circulating has made all the difference keeping mold out of the cabin.

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If you haven't already seen it, you might want to check out this good TF discussion involving mattresses:


https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/new-bed-49099.html

catalinajack said:

Ge3z, always something new to learn here. The Froli system looks quite interesting. Had we not already come up with a solution (learned here), we might have used Froli. Instead we used dridek squares. The point is the moisture problem goes away when employing some sort of air gap.

Click to expand...

That’s very interesting and affordable. Thanks for sharing

I prefer spring mattresses much more than foam.

I would echo what a lot of people are saying. Go buy one off of Amazon. Also buy an electric turkey knife (if you dont already have one) and trim the corners as needed.
My fiance` is very "picky" about our mattresses and she loves the one we got. No more complaints from her...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NH0QVM4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Zeno’s in Ft Lauderdale has made mattresses for my last two boats and our Tiffin RV. Love em. You pick out what you want and they make it to fit. They also add custom touches like being foldable. My wife loves them also.

We bought a latex foam Handcraft Mattress Company custom-made mattress for our Corbin 39 in 1997. It was not cheap, but we were totally pleased with it for the 16 years that we slept on it. We just bought a Nordic Tugs 32 and are headed south down the ICW. Will get to Ft. Lauderdale and have one made for our tug.

Brad at JaxMattress.com just made a custom mattress for my v-berth. He did a great job and was reasonable.

Well that’s that!

Everybody really loves their mattress’s.

We have a HMC, Handcraft Mattress Company mattress for both our aft main bed and the offset double up front. They fold for ease of getting into the space below our bed, which is where the freshwater tank is. More expensive, but worth it. Also make custom sheets to match both mattresses.