Air mattresses

[captainwireman]

My cat has these mattresses that are a piece of foam. I sweat and it leaches down to the bottom of these mattresses on a typical sweltering tropical night. These new style air mattresses seem very durable and comfortable and not hot at all like foam. I am working out of town and I am sleeping on one. Has anybody tried one for their bunk or found something for a cool sleeper berth solution?

[JPA Cate]

Just a suggestion here. We tried an air mattress. It was not suitable for us, but we did have friends who were quite pleased with theirs. It will work best if it is EXACTLY the same size as the hole for the foam. In the meantime, you might try a mattress pad over the foam on the boat. It has made our foam less sweaty.

Ann

[darylat8750]

I have the same issue. I currently have a rather thick mattress pad and a fleece blanket under the sheet. Much better would listen suggestions .......

[captainwireman]

Well, sure a thick, absorbent pad but a lot of work and impractical while at sea unless I am not understanding. I tried something similar but every day I needed to rinse in fresh water and hang it out to dry. Quite the conundrum.

[Nicholson58]

We made new mattresses using Outdoor Foam from The Foam Factory, Outdoor Foam, Dryfast Foam You can pour water straight through, its antimicrobial. The stuff is easy to cut & glue into any odd shaped mattress. Make zipped-on covers. They can be cleaned with a hose or dip them in a pool and place on edge to dry.

[UNCIVILIZED]

You might do a search for the topics revolving around bunk condensation. While, yes, typically they have to do with cold weather, & moisture forming in & under bunks due to temp differentials caused by cool air. They have a lot of good; suggestions, methods, designs, & products, which aid in assisting with increasing air flow in, around, & underneath of bunks.
Which... I'd imagine would help a bit when it's warm also. It certainly seemed to when I lived aboard anyway.
As bunking on top of a piece of insulation, mounted on an impermeable layer leaves no where for the H2O to go, or fresh air to get in.

I can't say that I'm the biggest advocate of a camping mattress on a boat, as typically they're just a thin piece of closed cell foam. Maybe with a few ridges or bit of texturizing. But in my experience, they don't have much at all, built in, to handle moisture management. So whatever's between you & the mattress gets soaked oh so much quicker than with a better system.