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Skunkhome · 11-03-2011, 03:16 PM

We have recently purchased a 2008 Itasca Navion 24j and in general have been well pleased. That said, the rear bed can be a real torture chamber. The inboard part of the bed is fine but the outboard half is horrid at best. Instead of having a solid matress as the inboard half it has a frame to support it over the outside storage compartment. When an adult lies on the matress they can easily feel the crossmembers of the frame. The only way to get comfortable is to lay on your back and position your backside between the crossmembers. Unfortunately I am not a natural back sleeper. When I turn on my side the frame feels like is going to cut me in two. I have considered memory foam covers but that would not eliminate the hard edges of the matress frames cross members. I came up with a plausable solution but I have remover the cover and discovered that it is a sealed foam matress with built in frame. I finally made a modification that I think will make the matress more comfortable. Have any of you navion owners experienced this issue and what have you done to resolve it?

csdavis62 · 11-14-2011, 06:04 PM

I did not have the uneven support problem but even on a perfectly flat surface my factory issued mattress was at best circa 1970 mobile home quality. Now as one who went through countless mattress styles at home prior to hitting on nirvana 100% Natural Talalay Latex (yes I know but trust me) mattress I consider myself somewhat of a poor mattress critic. Poor because I wasted so much money ($1000's) on many different brands/types of mattresses, critic cause I know what i like. But I digress.

If you have the coin I would go for a Latex mattress from Habitat Furniture on the net. They offer a 6 month zero risk 100% money back guarantee including return shipping I believe but I promise you you won't need it. Now a king was over 2K so that may be an inhibitor for you. In my RV I purchased a memory foam mattress that came in a bag which you can get at SAM's or many discount stores and then ordered a 2" Talalay mattress topper to put on top and bingo. Is it as nice as the one I have at home... NO but it is better than most you will sleep on and the key is the foam should conform to the uneven bottom and make is disappear and give you a level sleeping surface.

My two cents..

Hope you fine a solution that works for you.

Skunkhome · 11-15-2011, 06:40 AM

I did come up with a solution that removed the issue of the frame poking me in the back and side. I cut the foam open at the edge and opened the envelope around the frame which is made of aluminum with cheap plastic strap webbing made with package strap. BTW one of the straps was broken. I cut a piece of 5mm lauan plywood 20x74" and inserted it between the frame and mattress then glued the mattress halves back together using 3M #77 spray adhesive. Even without any other modifications I found the mattress much more comfortable when I slept on it the other night. . We are planning on using a 2 " topper of some sort but will be giving it a test run this weekend without any such topper. I will look at your miracle latex topper.

m2oh3 · 11-16-2011, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skunkhome

I did come up with a solution that removed the issue of the frame poking me in the back and side. I cut the foam open at the edge and opened the envelope around the frame which is made of aluminum with cheap plastic strap webbing made with package strap. BTW one of the straps was broken. I cut a piece of 5mm lauan plywood 20x74" and inserted it between the frame and mattress then glued the mattress halves back together using 3M #77 spray adhesive. Even without any other modifications I found the mattress much more comfortable when I slept on it the other night. . We are planning on using a 2 " topper of some sort but will be giving it a test run this weekend without any such topper. I will look at your miracle latex topper.

We are going with a 10" memory foam mattress from Overstock.com. Ours is the full with a taper on the lower right corner. I guess I'll just trim that with a straight edge and carpet knife.
I'll let ya know how this goes.

toneumanns · 11-16-2011, 06:26 PM

We feel the same way about RV beds. I asked a salesman why they put such poor mattresses in RV's & he said that they do because most people throw them away & buy the mattress that they like. Our's is boarder line but I may replace. Same way with boats. I have a Sea Ray cruiser ($$$) & the permanent bed has a mattress that is close to those used in pop up campers. Go figure.

RobRV · 11-16-2011, 06:48 PM

It doesn't matter how Good the Mattress, if the Foundation under it is not smooth and Solid the whole thing needs to be redone to make it right!

m2oh3 · 11-17-2011, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toneumanns

We feel the same way about RV beds. I asked a salesman why they put such poor mattresses in RV's & he said that they do because most people throw them away & buy the mattress that they like. Our's is boarder line but I may replace. Same way with boats. I have a Sea Ray cruiser ($$$) & the permanent bed has a mattress that is close to those used in pop up campers. Go figure.

Thats what I had. The V birth was redone with high density foam the first year and two inches thicker than came with the boat. I actually went to Merritt Island and watched mine being built and tried to get it upgraded then. I was trading in a 24' and knew the cushions were sub-par if you actually spent a lot of time onboard.