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johnsonjm209 · 05-31-2011, 05:02 PM

Well, I thought it might be time for me to implement an idea I had a couple of months ago. My couch/bed pulls out and has probably the worst mattress ever made in it. It's full of springs and other cloth junk. It's great if you don't want company to stay over, but not so good if you want your own (real close) relatives to stay.

So, I thought I could get rid of the lousy mattress and replace it with an inflateable. I got a Coleman for a typical bed and put it in with a good grade pillow top that we had been using on another bed.

I inflated it, put the top on and then a mattress cover and it felt great. I deflated it and stored it and it worked well as a couch seat.

Tonight we decided to open it up again and put a flexible sheet on it. I tried to inflate it to give it some more body. Wouldn't inflate. It seems that the metal framing made mince meat out of the inflateable.
Good idea gone bad.

I had some input in the past from others that have done this and say it works well. Obviously the inflateable was only $26.00 so it is on the "cheap" side. I wonder if others have used a better mattress or have found a way to insulate the framing from the mattress. I was thinking of trying some foam pipe insulation, but it seems labor intensive.

Any thoughts??

num1dgh · 05-31-2011, 05:16 PM

There are inflatable air mattresses specifically designed for a fold-away couch. Our coach has a queen size inflatable mattress. I would check at Camping World or with any RV dealer's service department. You might even check at a furniture store, as I imagine that they have that type of mattress for residential fold-out coaches as well.

sparks1032 · 11-05-2011, 08:02 PM

anyone figure out if there is such a thing? for less than $500 bucks!

tom77hmstd · 11-06-2011, 08:34 AM

Our 2006 Tradewinds came with an inflatable with a cover that looks like a real mattress works good but I don't know who made it and National is gone so we can't ask them.

howdja · 11-06-2011, 10:06 AM

Our fold out mattress isn't too bad itself, but the crossmember and the springs that it is supported by are terrible. They dig into your body, After considering many solutions, I decided to try putting a 1/4" sheet of plywood under the mattress. It seemed to work. I then ripped the plywood into 2 sections lengthwise and now store them directly beneath the seat cushions on the sofa. An added benefit is that it firms up the seating area on the sofa, making it much more comfortable to sit on.

62_inrightlane · 11-06-2011, 01:38 PM

You may try getting a piece of felt and place it between your frame and the air mattress. You can probably tie the felt to the frame for a permanent application.

EDALLSAILS · 11-06-2011, 01:45 PM

We had one of those monsters. went to a upholstrey shop and had them cut me a peice of 5 inch thick foam rubber. And that improved things a bit. Added two peices of cardboard (got it from lowes) and put on top of the metal springs. that improved things a lot. Much cheaper than buying a 4 or 5 inch thick foam mattress. good luck. ed

Benny367 · 11-06-2011, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tom77hmstd

Our 2006 Tradewinds came with an inflatable with a cover that looks like a real mattress works good but I don't know who made it and National is gone so we can't ask them.

I have the same set up on my MH and it is made by Flexsteel. ( It's very comfortable too!)

toadog · 11-06-2011, 03:31 PM

Hi,
We got a 4" memory foam pad and now family love to stay. I slept on it for 12 days when father in law came, with wife and two dog very comfortable , storage is the only problem.
Bob ps, I am 6'2 had to put feet on swivel chair.