Foam replacement for RTTs - lessons learned

alia176

Explorer
Hello fellow RTT habitants,

Yesterday I had the pleasure of FINALLY swapping out the factory 2.5" foam out of my Autohome Columbus Variant for a 3" foam from my local foam/fabric supplier. I wanted to share with you what I learned from this experience.

Joshua came out to the parking lot and felt the factory foam to get a feel for it. His immediate response "holy cow, that's HARD". When I told him that I'm unable to sleep on it sideways during my ownership of this RTT, his response was this: it's hard but not supportive. He looks me up/down and says (paraphrasing), you're a slender fellar so you're slowly sinking to the bottom because the foam has no "product" to support you. He says you need a foam with more "product or resiliency" in it so that it holds your hips and "pointy parts" properly, all night.

So he laid out three samples on the showroom floor, I grabbed the pillow and layed down on each of them. After trying them out, I just wasn't sure which one to pick and told the proprietor that I'll return the next day with my GF so that we can both check them out. We both settled on a foam, the model/spec totally escapes me even though the gent told me that info multiple times. If I can find the receipt, I'll update this post with the specs.

Currently the new foam is hanging over the balcony airing itself out before our trip next weekend. My GF is sensitive to chemical smells so I'll try to air it out as much as possible before use. Cost was $215.

I guess the purpose of this post is that if you're experiencing less than stellar sleep at night, invest in a quality foam that's tailored to your body type and weight. My local buddy with the same RTT, that be bought last year, opted for a 2.5" foam plus 1" memory foam topper. He is built similar to me. He takes his sleeping bag+pillow out of the RTT before closing vs me leaving everything inside before closing.

Shop info: http://www.nmfabricsplus.com/, Joshua is an excellent educator.

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plh

Explorer
Great post - useless without specs ;-)

My upgraded mattress is made from Lux-HQ from The Foam Factory (foam by mail).
Density: 2.8 lbs/ft3
25% ILD rating: 50
Support factor: 1.9

3" thickness for the RTT. Its firm, has a 12 to 18 year life expectancy, I like it.

I also had these guys make a Queen mattress for my home. 6" of the Lux-HQ topped with 4" of 3lb memory foam, they also cased it in a cotton case. Sleeping like a baby.
 
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1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
In almost every roof top tent, sleep inside setup and now my Sportsmobile Poptop I have used Exped MegaMats and love the 4in of bliss.
You can let some air out to pack away with your sleeping gear and you get a high R factor to keep you warm.
 
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roving1

Well-known member
I don't really see the point of foam with a zillion nearly infinitely tunable inflatable sleeping pads available in all kinds of sizes.
 

alia176

Explorer
I really thought about going this route but couldn't find an exped mat that was the perfect width for my 48" wide RTT, unfortunately. Either they were too wide or too narrow.

In almost every roof top tent, sleep inside setup and now my Sportsmobile Poptop I have used Exped MegaMats and love the 4in of bliss.
You can let some air out to pack away with your sleeping gear and you get a high R factor to keep you warm.
 

TOUGE

Active member
I don't really see the point of foam with a zillion nearly infinitely tunable inflatable sleeping pads available in all kinds of sizes.

There is no inflatable pad that will perfectly fit the Teupi Ayer. So foam/latex fits edge to edge perfectly as you can cut it and it's cheaper(except for the upgrade Tepui mattresses as they foam and a rip off).
 

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