Camping Mattress or Stretcher Recommendations

[Paul#25]

With the upcoming River Trip I need to look at some form of mattress or stretcher to use in my tent. Obviously it will have to keep my ample bulk off the ground so can't be flimsy. Any recommendations based on experience with a product instead of just sales pitch would be appreciated.

[AndreasR]

Paulie. The price we pay for our statuesque figures is that there are very few solutions to take care of out camping comfort. I have tried blow up mattresses. Damn horrible unless you enjoy getting seasick. I have tried stretchers. They are not very wide and are generally unstable.

I had a great solution on last years river trip. A very sturdy stretcher that folds out with a tent cover over it that is attached to the stretcher. It garnered a great Manny giggles from the rest of the crew but I slept great in it and my camp was always the first one up. For me it was a good solution. They call them stretcher tents.

For me the best solution when sleeping in a ground tent is to put a mattress on the floor of the tent. This will leave you with only one problem. There is a direct correlation between the comfort of the mattress and the size of the mattress. ie. the amount of packing space that it will take up. Go for the most comfortable one that roll or folds up the smallest. If packing space is not a problem “go big”.

On river trip you really want to set up and break down camp as quick as possible to save hassle as we move everyday.

[AndreasR]

Just to add. On river trip we camp in the river bed so the ground is nice and soft so bear that in mind.

[KurtG]

I used a pop up Frontrunner tent, R1200 well worth it. I then placed a 50mm fold up mattress on the floor of the tent, took a fluffy blanket folded it in half and slept in my sleeping bag on top of that. It was very comfortable and more than adequate.

But then I only weigh 78kg so hardly comparable to your shapely physique Paul .

I think if you could use two 50mm mattresses and the blanket, you may be okay



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[BushWacker]

Dealing with someone like The Foam Factory
in centurion you can order a custom 4-section
fold-up mattress ...
... they supply and cut the foam
size/thickness and covering to order.
I suggest High Density Foam of about 8cm
thickness ( to address the v.high gravitational pull etc
in this part of the world)
If you want softer than HD then you can get
compound foam HD below with LD top layer.


PS: ... 4 sections of 8cm is 32 cm ie third of m thick...
comfort as such is voluminous to carry ...

[Graeme McConnachie]

Try looking at www.discobed.com They are strong & break down small. They are available from Outdoor Warehouse for R995.

Cheers
Graeme

[Paul#25]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm going to a foam mattress place close to where I live tomorrow to see what they can supply me.
They made-up 3 beds for my Border Collies a while ago.

[Anthony Forgey]

+1 for carmaquip

I haven't used one but those who own them don't sell them. Its a self inflating foam mattress that can handle....well, ...our type of physique....hehe

[Wave]

I'm also looking at sleeping options and was probably going to get a fold-up or roll-up mattress and sleep on the floor of my al-cheapie Campmaster dome tent, it's easy to set-up/break-up on my own and is light and not too big when packed.

With these self inflating mattresses, how to they pack away? Speed? Size? Ease?
From experience the blow up mattresses never pack up as small as the day you first unpacked it, stopped that nonsense years ago.