Simple RTT mattress solution

chuppie

Observer
I have about 30- something nights on my RTT mattress. Overall it is comfortable but in the hip area, it tends to bottom out. I ended putting my high density sleeping pads left over from backpacking days under that area of the mattress and it makes huge difference in comfort. Simple and cost nothing.
 

sunnybean

Observer
I had the same issue and came up with the same solution. Good but not great.


But recently I purchased a Exped 10 Duo. It is insanely comfortable. Plus, it has less bulk which make zipping ALL the bedding up much much easier. If you can swallow the cost of the Exped, it is well worth the price.
 

chuppie

Observer
Although it looks like a great solution, I just can justify spending that much on something I use a few weeks a year.
 

plh

Explorer
I had the same issue and came up with the same solution. Good but not great.


But recently I purchased a Exped 10 Duo. It is insanely comfortable. Plus, it has less bulk which make zipping ALL the bedding up much much easier. If you can swallow the cost of the Exped, it is well worth the price.

This is what all RTTs should come with.
 

quadforce4

New member
I had the same issue and came up with the same solution. Good but not great.


But recently I purchased a Exped 10 Duo. It is insanely comfortable. Plus, it has less bulk which make zipping ALL the bedding up much much easier. If you can swallow the cost of the Exped, it is well worth the price.

you end up just replacing the entire mattress with the Exped?
 

Lucky j

Explorer
Two different RTT, tow different solution.

ARB hard mattress, added a high debaity foam mattress under the foam, but inside the zipped cover.
GF's autohome, matress to soft, inflatable backpacking matress at every use on top of the foam.

But yep, hard to beleive that matress are so wrong with the price we pay.
 

sunnybean

Observer
you end up just replacing the entire mattress with the Exped?

Yes, the Exped replaced the factory mattress. It is shorter so I kept some padding near the front to keep padding on our knees and moved the mattress strap forward a little to help keep the Exped in place when the tent gets folded.

Shorter and flatter means more room for bedding.
 

pdxfrogdog

Adventurer
I'm considering a latex foam topper from Sleep on Latex. Comes in 1", 2" or 3" thickness and 3 levels of firmness based on your preferences. We use a latex foam mattress at home and it has been the most comfortable material we have ever slept on. Unlike memory foam it doesn't get hard when cold and it sleeps cooler in the summer. My thought is that it should be relatively easy to cut to size.
 
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spagthorpe

Observer
I think it would be hard for any manufacturer to nail down something that would work for everyone, though an adjustable like the Exped would help. I mean, I'm amazed when looking back at my camping gear, that I used to sleep on the thin 1" foam pads. Getting older, then two of them. Then a thicker pad, since I had moved from hiking to motorcycle. Same at home. My mattress is hard as a rock, but with a 3" memory foam pad, it's perfect. Going to be tough to know what works before trying something a few times. Just like at home.
 

nnnnnate

Adventurer
I spent 2 nights in my Kukenam last weekend and after the first night decided I needed to do something to improve the mattress. I had read somewhere about adding a backpacking pad under the mattress and so I drove into town and bought one. I slept better the second night but am not sure how much I can attribute that to the pad verses just being more tired. I don't know if foam can or would "wear out," but that is what it seems like happened. I did 30 nights out last year and about 20 were in the RTT which I bought last July. I'm a big dude so I'm sure that also contributes to the discomfort.

When I got home I did some looking and found this write up on assembling your own mattress from a few components which seemed interesting. I know Tepui sells their "luxury" mattress for $200, its also sold out for my model. I used the links in the article and found I could build a replacement for like $180 I think it was, with free shipping. Fun money is tight right now with a couple trips coming up (not planning to use the RTT for the longer ones) but this seems like a pretty good option to piece a system together. Even just getting a couple of the smaller pads to use under the mattress would probably be a big improvement. They bought the foam for the article from www.foambymail.com, same as was posted a few comments up. Here is the article, Broken Spoke Overland. (No personal affiliation...)

Before I bought my RTT I had been using an ExPed MegaMat 10 which is awesome. One of the benefits of the RTT though is that I don't need to inflate the pad, I can just open it up and its ready to go. While I still have the megamat and will use it on occasion, I don't want to an air pad in my RTT.
 

Jeffkimkp

Member
+1 for the exped megamat. get rid of the matress in the rtt and have 2 of those in there instead and can have all your bedding and pillows
 

wvracer821

Observer
I got a 6” thick memory foam mattress from amazon for mine. The girlfriend and dog love

Edit. Just realized I already replied to this lol
 

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