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PU mattress, memory foam & egg crate
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133 Posts
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January 12, 2012 - 7:52 pm
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 We have a premium 2" heated mattress (OEM).  We also have added 2" memory foam and a 2" egg crate. Both DW and I still "bottom-out." 

After a barrage of different air mattresses (which all have lost their air), stuffing towels and pillows there has been no permanent  resolution to painful, disruptive sleepless nights in the PU. The memory foam, egg crate and air mattresses just don't work for us!

At home we use a Select Comfort sleep number bed.

Does anybody use "Therm-a-Rest" sleeping pads or another brand of hiking, self inflating sleeping pad under their PU mattress?

I have recently become a member of REI and like there policies.

At the store they have a few of these different types of "hiking style sleeping pads" that can be tested on a queen sized bench. The weight, thickness, width, shape, R-value and length all vary according to the hikers preference. 

After using many brands of air mattresses, egg crate and memory foam for years of camping I was very weary of these 1" thin roll ups. I have to tell you; if I didn't try it for myself, I wouldn't believe it! I was so surprised that I didn't bottom-out. I blew a few puffs of air to firm it up after self inflating. These pads are designed to be slept on rough terrain (cold ground, gravel, dirt, trails) having thickness of 1" to 3.5".  The price point range according to brands & sizes start at about $40 - $200.  

This seems to be one of the most common complaints in PU's. The price of course would reflect the purchase of two pads.  Can anybody share their experience with sleeping pads and make a recommendation on a pad? 

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1238 Posts
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January 13, 2012 - 6:04 pm
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Matt,

I've got (or had) a Therm-a-Rest.  I think I tried it under one of the bunkend mattresses.  It didn't do much as I recall.  I did get a couple yoga pads.  They had enough R value to make it worth my while and give just a tad more support than not.  However, it may not work for everybody/everything.

I've bought new 4" medium density foam just before I moved to WA.  I haven't had a chance to do anything with it yet.  It's still sitting on top of Roamie when I parked him in the garage.  (Not TOO terribly long ago I also got in the material I had ordered for it.  One day 1+1=comfort.)

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January 13, 2012 - 8:04 pm
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Thanks for your reply Steve. I seem to like the pain-free aspect of the Therm-a-Rest.  I've tried so many foams, air mattresses, mattress toppers and memory foam that just didn't work for us, so I understand what works for one may not work for another.
Thx
Keep on cookin'

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January 14, 2012 - 8:11 am
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I've got a 3/4 length, 2" Therm-A-Rest for backpacking, and I love it. I never really thought about putting in the pup for this problem. And the pup is put away for the season, or I'd take it out and let you know how it works. From my backpacking trips, it's worked great to "soften" the ground. I don't know that it would provide enough to prevent you from "bottoming out" in the pup though.

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February 20, 2012 - 12:54 pm
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When we bought our pup it had two busted air matresses  so we went to walmart and bought two 4" king memory foam matresses. we have had these for a couple of years and my camping buddy cantgetright weighs in at around 330 and has not bottomed out yet. still sleeping comfortably on these. they were about 150.00 each and i had to cut about 5"off one side but they were a cost effective way of replacing the matresses. that was my fix and so far it has worked out great. Happy Camping 🙂

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February 20, 2012 - 1:22 pm
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[quote author=wapwap]
I've got a 3/4 length, 2" Therm-A-Rest for backpacking, and I love it.

+1 on 3/4 length.  Not sure about the thickness.  I'm still trying to find it.  So much stuff is "hidden" after the move.

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March 2, 2012 - 10:13 pm
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I'm curious how thick PUP mattresses usually are.  Mine seems to be about 4" thick, and I thought should be thick enough, until I read this post and started wondering.  I posted a question asking what items people found essential in their PUP, and Wolfcat1 responded

a mattress topper...the thickest that works for you..otherwise you get into bed, all is good, by midnight you feel like you are sleeping on a board...cuz you are,  then you begin turning 180 degrees, but ultimately you wind up feeling like you slept on a board, cuz you did...lol  a mattress topper would be at the top of my list...ya gotta have a good night sleep
best of luck, Wolfie

lol, he makes a good point! Do I have a thicker than typical mattresses, or am I just being overly optimistic?

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March 3, 2012 - 10:05 am
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Overly optimistic, but you have to try it and make your own decision. We have a 2" egg crate memory foam on top of ours and it works for us. We got ours on overstock.com.

Best Regards,
Norm

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March 3, 2012 - 10:03 pm
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It will only take you one night to find out-

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March 3, 2012 - 10:19 pm
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lol Matthew!!

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May 22, 2012 - 8:51 pm
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This past weekend we rented 2 sleeping pads from REI. This was exactly the experience I was hoping for. The "Camping pad" was 3.5" thick and measured 29" X 78"; which was perfect for our 60" X 80" mattress. We tossed the useless memory form and egg crate on the other bunk and slept with the pads under our (OE) heated mattress. We finally got good restful pain free 2 nights of sleep. We highly recommend these pads for others having "bottoming out" syndrome.

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May 23, 2012 - 5:50 am
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Good to hear that you found a solution! Were the pads the self-inflating style?

John

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133 Posts
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May 23, 2012 - 8:57 am
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Yes. I added a few puffs of air to make mine firmer but DW likes her pad softer.

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May 23, 2012 - 10:03 am
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[quote author=MatthewinGA link=topic=1346.msg13743#msg13743 date=1337734265]
This past weekend we rented 2 sleeping pads from REI. This was exactly the experience I was hoping for. The "Camping pad" was 3.5" thick and measured 29" X 78"; which was perfect for our 60" X 80" mattress. We tossed the useless memory form and egg crate on the other bunk and slept with the pads under our (OE) heated mattress. We finally got good restful pain free 2 nights of sleep. We highly recommend these pads for others having "bottoming out" syndrome.

Any chance you have a link or a brand/model for this camping pad?  I've never come across them that thick.

edit:  Actually, was this the pad?

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133 Posts
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May 23, 2012 - 11:56 am
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It's the REI brand. We rented them from REI.

http://www.REI.com

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May 23, 2012 - 1:09 pm
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those are nice, comfy, and compact too ! there are a few scouts that have similar ones for our backpack over nighters.

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May 27, 2012 - 11:28 pm
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Yes they are compact. You can remove the air so they are flat and not have to worry about the roof closing.

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May 30, 2012 - 7:38 pm
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[quote edit:  Actually, was this the pad?

Yes, the large pad.

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July 10, 2012 - 4:16 pm
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Thank you but we have found our solution.

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July 10, 2012 - 7:04 pm
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MathewinGA, was your solution the 3 1/2" REI matress ? I've been following along and have them tagged as a favorite now. I'm strongly considering throwing our memory foam over to the other bunk for DD and/or DS and getting 2 of the 29 x 78 matressses as they would be perfect for our 60 x 80 bunk.
The memory foam works fine when we first crawl into bed but I often wake up to find my pressure points, hips, or shoulders have bottomed out to the hard surface.

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