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Well, I never expected that one day we’d be filming a YouTube video from our bed. But what do you know, here we are! Of course, we have a good reason – and not only because it’s a chilly 60 degrees here this week in San Francisco! Nope, our RV is 5 years old now and so was our RV mattress!
Our RV came with the upgraded mattress option. But it was still the original one from our RV manufacturer. As you might expect, most RV mattresses are not as high quality as the ones we typically buy for our beds in a regular home. But as full-time RVers, this IS our regular home. So having a supportive and comfortable bed is really important.
While our RV mattress was fine for the first couple of years we owned our coach, we gradually began noticing it was losing support and comfort. So a year ago, we ordered a memory foam topper. We hoped it would help, and it did for a while. But in recent months, we began noticing our mattress was sagging and Marc was waking up with back pain more and more frequently. It was definitely time for a new mattress!
In this blog post and the accompanying video, you’ll be learning alongside us as we share our experience buying a new RV mattress. And, at the end of this post, you’ll find a summary of what to keep in mind when it’s your time to upgrade your bed!
What's important to us in an RV mattress
Several months ago, MattressInsider.com – a company that specializes in making custom RV (and boat) mattresses – reached out and invited us to contribute to their article. It was called The Top Features That The Best RV Mattress Should Have (we’re the 4th bloggers listed in the article.)
Here’s a summary of the criteria we shared:
- We want a good quality brand that will last for at least 5 years of continual use
- As full-timers, we sleep on the mattress every night. So it’s essential that it is both supportive and comfortable to help minimize Marc’s lower back pain and ensure we get a good night’s sleep
- We like a mattress that offers good all round, consistent support (not too hard yet not too soft) and has a heat dissipating memory foam topper
- A good protective cover to prevent dust or allergies should be standard
- It also has to be the right height, length, and width to properly fit on the bed in an RV – ours is a standard full-length Queen (80″ x 60″), but some RVs do require special sized – or even special shaped – mattresses
- Another consideration is weight. RVs are more limited in weight than homes. So while we do like a quality, supportive mattress, we also don’t want to carry more weight than is necessary
- Finally, the mattress needs to have some flex as you need to think about getting in through the door of your RV and maneuver it through a smaller space as you get into the bedroom.
No matter how many nights you sleep in your RV, a good quality mattress is important to fully enjoy it.
This really planted the idea of a new mattress in our minds. We learned MattressInsider.com handles most of their customer orders online and over the phone. They make the beds in South Carolina, and they also have a Build-a-Bed showroom in Denver, CO. We were already preparing to fly into Denver in February for Marc’s Grandma Jeanne’s 100th birthday. So it all seemed very serendipitous and we decided to pay them a visit!
Shown above are many of the different materials involved in creating a custom mattress
Custom making our RV mattress
When we arrived at their build-a-bed showroom, we met the owner of the company, Jonathan Prichard and one of his mattress experts, Jeremy. They spent some time asking questions about what we were looking for and why, how we each sleep etc. Then set about “making us a bed”. They have a number of mattress component layers in the showroom. So they were able to select a number of foam layers of various components, thickness and density – and place them on the bed base to build a bed on the spot that was just right for our needs.
As soon as we laid down on it, we were amazed. We were surprised at how comfortable and supportive the bed was. But of course, we immediately realized just how old and saggy our RV mattress was… but we had just gotten used to it over time.
Jonathan and Jeremy were able to explain why Marc was waking with back pain every morning. Our mattress with memory foam topper, while it felt nice initially, simply wasn’t providing us with proper support while sleeping. And the mattress itself was just getting old!
This was the first time either of us have ever experienced buying a new mattress this way. Usually we just try out different beds on display in a mattress showroom and pick one. We’ve never had one custom made for us before. It felt indulgent and we assumed it would be cost prohibitive. Boy, were we happy to be wrong about that!
Our custom made, full queen size mattress with organic cotton cover (we ordered the Luxury) ended up coming in at just under $500. That was far less than we were expecting!
What's in our RV mattress and why it matters
Everyone is going to have very different needs and preferences for their mattress. This is what we ended up going with in our custom RV mattress, and you can see the actual layers in the photo below:
- Base layer: 5.5 inch soy based high density foam for support
- Air flow layer: convolute foam layer that allows air to enter/exit the sides of the bed
- Top layer: one inch 4 pound quality gel memory foam (sleeps a couple of degrees cooler than traditional memory foam)
- All of these foam layers are then glued together in their factory using an environmentally friendly, water based adhesive
- Cover: The mattress has an organic cotton zippered and removable cover
- Total thickness: 8 inches (but you can order as thick as 11.5 inches)
The first mattress they built for us in the showroom was only 3 inches thick in the base. Though it was comfortable, we decided we wanted it just a bit thicker, so they increased the base layer to 5.5 inches – that along with the top layer (a total of 8 inches) was perfection!
The photo below shows the layers we chose for our RV mattress – showroom sample only. Our actual mattress was yet to be built and delivered.
Comfort is personal preference
Of course, what’s comfortable in a mattress is SUCH a personal preference. The component layers, density and thickness that would work best for you may vary, depending on your preferences. This is just what worked for US.
Fortunately, these guys are VERY experienced and know how to diagnose a customer’s sleeping issues and needs over the phone and build a bed accordingly. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
Optional extra: AireFlow moisture barrier
While in the showroom, we also learned about the benefits of an AireFlow Moisture Barrier, which is designed to be placed underneath your mattress to help increase the flow of air. This provides an escape for the heat and moisture that build up in a mattress while sleeping – and thus prevents mold or mildew forming. Eeeew! Having lived in humid Sydney for many years, I HATE mold, and I’ve experienced my fair share of it! So whatever it takes to avoid mold, I’m all for it!
The AireFlow moisture barrier has a hard plastic type webbing on the bottom side (fabric on the mattress facing side). It elevates the mattress three quarters of an inch off the platform, allowing for more circulation. This is obviously more of an issue on boats but it’s also common in RVs that spend time in humid, moist climates as these will be susceptible to mold or mildew.
So we opted to get the AireFlow as well – which you can order by the linear foot – and that was around $100. The AireFlow came in two parts which we placed under the mattress (smooth side up) and because our mattress base isn’t perfectly square, Marc simply used household scissors to cut the corners of the AireFlow in the shape of the plywood platform and placed the mattress on top of it.
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How long did it take to make and ship?
It took them about 4-5 business days to make our RV mattress and another few days to ship it from the east coast. They have a machine that tightly rolls the mattress and shrink wraps it in plastic. Then they put it in a box and ship it to your campground or home via Fedex ground shipping, which is free! Nice!
All up, they recommend you allow 7-10 business days from placing your order to receiving it, so allow up to 2 weeks.
When our mattress arrived, Marc was easily able to carry it into our RV bedroom, slice open the plastic wrapper and within seconds, the mattress unravelled and bam! We had a brand new RV bed! Check out our follow up post showing the unboxing for more detail.
No smelly foam or toxic off gassing
We left the RV mattress alone to expand for a few hours before making the bed and sleeping on it that night. And we are VERY happy to report that there was virtually NO smell!
The memory foam topper we’d ordered a year earlier and needed to leave outside our RV in the forest beside us for two days before bringing it inside. Yes, we ended up with bits of tree and leaves on it. And the strong, unpleasant odor still hung around for at another week! But as Jonathan had assured us, our new RV mattress was “low VOC” which means it had very little odor at all. Virtually all foam products do have some kind of odor, but the degree varies based on the VOC levels.
The Verdict?
We’ve been sleeping on our new RV mattress for a few months now and yes, we still love it! Importantly, Marc is no longer waking up with back pain and we are both sleeping really well. So we remain extremely happy with our new mattress.
Oh – and here’s a fun little bonus – by switching out our mattress, we actually saved 28 pounds of weight in our RV! You’ll understand why we’re extra excited about that in an upcoming blog post about our RV weight loss program 🙂
So the verdict is a big thumbs up for our new bed and the folks at MattressInsider.com! They made the whole experience really easy, convenient, affordable and above all – comfortable.
Update 2020: When we sold our first RV in 2018, this mattress went with it. So we ordered the exact same mattress for our second RV. You can read and watch our follow up review and unboxing blog post and video here. When we sold THAT RV in 2020, we kept our mattress, and moved it into our house for our Queen Bed.
Update 2022: We had a custom shaped mattress made for our newest motorhome, by Mattress Insider. Same materials as our first two mattresses, and we still use the mattress from our previous RV mentioned above in our home as our primary bed.
So if you are still wondering if we are happy with our mattress, that should answer your question! 🙂
Discount!
We told MattressInsider.com that we love our new bed so much that we wanted to do a video and blog post about it so they offered a discount code for us to share with you, should you decide to buy a mattress from them too.
Whether you call, email or place an order direct via their website use the code RVLOVE and you will SAVE 10% on your purchase!
RV Mattress Options
While you can order ANY size or shape RV mattress you like and order as custom, there are three (3) standard and popular options on the Mattress Insider website that you can choose from, and simply order online. They are the Sedona, Elation and Luxury. We have the Luxury, in the 8 inch depth.
A few more RV mattress shopping tips
As promised in the beginning of this post, here’s a bit more info and some additional tips to help you with your mattress shopping.
Can I really order a custom mattress by phone?
It seems really weird right – ordering a custom made mattress over the phone, online or by email!? That’s what we thought too. But based on how they nailed it for us so quickly in the showroom – asking us some key questions and giving us a really great education on mattresses, what the various components do, how they work together and why it’s so important, we soon came to understand the difference and truly respect their expertise in their field.
Here are just a few of the diagnostic questions you can expect the people from MattressInsider.com. These will help determine what component layers you’d need in a mattress to best suit your needs:
- Do you sleep on your back, side or stomach?
- Would you like a bed that is softer or firmer?
- Do you have sleep apnea?
- Are there any weight considerations?
- And no doubt, there are quite a few more…
These guys (and girls!) have been custom making mattresses for customers for over 10 years – almost exclusively via the phone, email and their website – and their success rate is extremely high. They are so confident they can make a bed that is just right for your needs that they actually offer a ‘121 day trial period’ to ensure you like it.
That trial period is for the standard products available in their showroom and on their website. We’re pretty sure it doesn’t apply to special orders or custom shapes. But we recommend you ask them yourself to be certain of their policy.
Unboxing and Review of our New RV Mattress + a 10% Discount Code
What kinds of mattresses do they make?
As you probably know, not all RVs – or boats for that matter – have standard sized or shaped mattresses in them. Many RV mattress are shorter than a standard Queen or King Size Bed and some mattresses. This is especially true in Class B or Class C RVs. Boats also often have unusual shapes and sizes, due to the limited space.
MattressInsider.com specializes in making hard to find mattress sizes and shapes to fit RVs, trucks, sofa beds, antique beds, cots, and other custom projects. Most of their customers are everyday people struggling to find a specific size. But they also service RV dealerships, RV repair shops, truck stops, truck repair companies, interior designers, hotels, b&b’s, universities, and even the military. In a nutshell, if you want just about any size or shape mattress, they can probably make it for you!
Jeremy even told us some entertaining stories about athletes and celebrities ordering unusual custom mattress. One guy ordered a fully custom 96″ ROUND mattress. Another wanted a double-Queen size (that’s 80 ” x120″). He had to have his bedroom window removed, and have a crane hoist the mattress into the bedroom via the window!
Fortunately, we don’t usually have to worry about things like that with our RVs as we just don’t have the space! Speaking of space, getting a mattress in (and out) of an RV can be tricky – hence our maneuverability comment above! So the fact it came all rolled up and ready to unravel was very handy.
Check out our other blog post and video about unboxing and unrolling our RV mattress with this link.
Tips for mattresses shopping, health and safety
We asked Jonathan for some mattress shopping tips and specifically more info about the off-gassing. He advised that the smell is caused by high levels of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) which is what creates that “new smell” in cars, RVs, paint, some clothes and also mattresses and foam toppers. Cheaper foam components and solvent based glues create this off-gassing which not only smells unpleasant, but can be toxic.
With a lot of materials, mattress components and glues coming in from overseas and different parts of Asia, Jonathan recommended looking for the CertiPur-Us certification (an independent US-based lab), to ensure there is no mercury or lead, low VOCs and to make sure the mattress and it’s components are made in the USA. You may be shocked (as we were) to learn that there are NO regulations for the mattress industry (whether for residential, RVs or boats) beyond the need for flame retardants that meet Federal Flammability Guidelines – such as cfr-1633 nvss-302 for RVs.
Jonathan said he has seen the inside of some RV mattresses that are literally made of a couple of springs and a sheet of cardboard. And based on our experience testing out RV beds on cheaper units at RV shows – as well as seeing first hand how RVs are built during factory tours and how many manufacturer like to cut corners AND costs – we believe it!
We were assured that every component of their mattresses – that’s the fabrics, memory foams, glues, and even the FR barrier – are made 100% in the USA. Their employees are all based in the USA as well.
Read more tips for buying a replacement RV mattress
Well, we hope you found this blog post and video helpful. May you sleep well and have sweet dreams!
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GOT COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
We would love to hear from you. Drop us a note in the comments section below.
22 thoughts on “Buying a New RV Mattress Tips plus a 10% Discount”
Marc & Julie,
Our 70+ bodies don’t react well to anything other than a premium mattress, so we were very happy that our nights on the product you recommended were as comfortable as the best we’ve experienced. The old and old-fashioned rv mattresses in the rigs we rented almost turned us off from buying our own rig.
Of course, the mattress was the first thing we replaced after we brought home our 2000 model motorhome.
Hi John, well that is GREAT to hear! There is nothing better than a good night’s sleep! We still love our Mattress Insider mattress too, after 4+ years. Standard RV mattresses are typically terrible and it is SUCH an easy and relatively inexpensive (and important) thing to change. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us here! It will be helpful for others reading the article. Hope you are enjoying your motorhome!
Julie and Marc, when our (never awesome) Sleep Number mattress started deflating every night on Cheri’s side. FACT: having your wife’s sleep be bad every night is not good for anyone. She remembered your blog post and video. We logged in to your site, read the article and watched the great video, then ordered the hybrid coil/memory foam mattress. Luckily, they were having a $100 off special, and they allowed us to also add in the RVLOVE 10% discount. We saved $206! We had special shipping instructions because of our nomadic status where we didn’t know when it would ship and where we’d be. Rebecca at Mattress Insider called us and was so accommodating. She arranged with FedEx to ship on a specific date so it would arrive at the beginning of a 2-week stay to allow some flex in the timing. Very happy with the service so far. I hope the mattress rocks like their service. I dropped your names to Rebecca and she said loudly “WE LOVE RVLOVE!” You have fans everywhere! Thanks again for making the blog and video, and for all the positive contributions you make to our community.
Hi Brett and Cheri – Always great to hear from you both and thank you SO much for sharing your experience with MattressInsider.com – that’s a sweet saving you got there! Hope you love your mattress as much as we (still) love ours! It always helps for us to hear about others’ experiences, so we appreciate you taking the time! Hope to cross paths with you guys ‘down the road’ sometime this year! Take care and sleep well! I agree – it’s SO important for your wife to get a good night’s sleep! LOL
They have 3 different models, the sedona, elation and luxury models. Do you happen to know which model you have? How many inches thick is your mattress?
I just checked their website and we have the luxury model 8″ thick. We still have and love it! Use the code RVLOVE and it will save you 10%. Hope that helps!
Thank you for asking this question – we have just updated our blog post to include an image, clarification and a link to make it easier for others!
How many inches think total?
I am pretty sure it is 8″ – should be in the blog post!
Hi Julie,
My husband and I hit the road full time three months ago and are currently suffering through with the mattress that came in our 2018 motorhome. We are ready for a new mattress and are going to purchase from Mattress Insider, but were wondering how to dispose of the old mattress? What did you do with yours?
Thanks and safe travels.
Hi Mary Jo, we actually gave it to a friend with a travel trailer. Have you considered putting it on Freecycle or listing it as “free” on Craigs List or Facebook Marketplace? Am sure someone would pick it up… Give that a try! You won’t believe the difference when you get your custom new Mattress Insider mattress. We love ours. Good luck! And remember to use the code RVLOVE to save 10% – let us know how you like it after you receive and have slept on it for a bit.
In my teens and throughout my 30s, I enjoyed my king water bed. When it died from leaks I went to a Queen Select Comfort Air bed. When I decided to go full time I replaced the OEM RV foam mattress in the loft with my air bed minus the pedestal. Worked great.
With an air bed you need to remember air EXPANDS when climbing into high altitudes and to deflate the mattress some before crossing the Continental Divide or risk popping a seam.
Yes we have heard of that regarding air mattresses. Our MattressInsider foam mattress has been workout out great regardless of elevation.
Awesome article! Just what I’ve been searching for to put in my rv. So many to choose from this article is helpful in finding someone who can make a mattress the right size and right price. Thanks guys!!
WOW, y’all got a great deal on the AireFlow moisture barrier at around $100! The price for a Queen (60″x80″) size AireFlow after the 10% discount is now $305! Seems high…
Just what we are looking for. Thanks
We currently have the awful Denver mattress with a memory foam topper on it. The topper has helped, but hubby thinks it makes it much heavier. What is the actual weight of your mattress? I would definitely like to replace it one of these days. Also, ours has to bend up when the slides are in. Is this very pliant for that? Thanks!
HI Kelly, Our old mattress weighed about 78 pounds WITH the topper and our new one weights about 50lb so we were VERY happy to save 28lb. Our mattress doesn’t have to bend when slides are in, but our new mattress is pliant enough for that. The problem with heavier mattresses as well is lifting it to access under bed storage. Hope that helps!
Great video and article! Our RV came with the standard mattress. 2 nights on it and we traded it out with our spare bedroom mattress. The spare bedroom mattress is really heavy and tall and we can barely lift the bed to get to the storage underneath. This shows me that I can purchase an affordable mattress that won’t be super heavy, but will be comfortable!! We are not full time yet, but hope to be in another year or two. Thanks for all your great videos and articles!
Hi Susan, That is a really great point you make about the mattress being light enough to be able to access the under bed storage. It also needs to be flexible enough as there is sometimes a hinged bend point on the platform. Also a heavier mattress can really eat up your cargo carrying capacity quickly and that’s another reason we were glad to ‘lighten up’ our mattress. Something many probably don’t even think about! Thanks for your positive feedback and look forward to seeing you out there!
Marc and Julie: This was a fabulous article and video, very informative as it addressed all the questions one would have when shopping for a new mattress. Quality presentation again – thank you!
Hi Joy – you’re welcome! Glad you learned a lot as we did. Not everyone can get into the showroom so it was good to be able to share what it’s like with everyone. Have a great day!