Tent mattress recommendations??

Looking for a full size for me and wifey.

 

I put the full size 2in memory foam one from Walmart in my tent. It's perfect.

 

I went through a few air mattresses before I arrived at the combo I use now. First, go with at least a queen size mattress if its going to be two people. If its going to be just one person, go with a queen size mattress! (Ask me how I know.) Believe it or not, it will fit in most dome tents. You'll want a thin one if it's a dome tent. If a higher ceiling tent, then get one that is no less than 18 inches tall, and if possible, get a 20" or a 22" tall one. Makes it much easier to get out of bed in the morning and more like home. This is very important: DO NOT get an air mattress that has longitudinal "tubes". Rather, get the waffle-style top surface. ONLY the waffle-top kind. Also, make sure that it has a flocked top of some sort. This will help hold your bed linens and they won't slide off as easy. Buy two air mattresses. Don't find out you should have a spare on hand at 2am like I did. GET A FLAT MATTRESS, meaning, DO NOT GET ONE WITH A RAISED "PILLOW" across the top.

We are just getting started. Next, go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and buy you a 3-inch memory foam mattress topper, one with a zip-off cover. Spend some money here. Get that 20% off coupon from their website and get you a good one. This goes on top of the air mattress, and the flocked air mattress top clings to the memory foam mattress topper cover. It won't walk from beneath you during the night.

Next, bed linens. I have an old queen-size TravaSak "sleeping bag" with T300 percale sheets that Velcro inside it. These are hard to find, but if you know anyone who full-timed in their camper or motorhome chances are they have an old one you could purchase from them. These were the bee's knees back in the 80's and 90's and anyone who ever tried to make a bed in a motorhome quickly converted to these for convenience. So ask your grandparents and their friends. They sold the motorhome, but they kept this. They probably have one in their attic. There are other queen-size sleeping bags out there, but get one with the sheets that Velcro inside. Much more comfortable.

We drive ourselves hard doing what we do outdoors. After a shower all I want to do is pile into this maximum comfort, not some lumpy sleep reality. The sheets inside the bag really help out here. God knows I did lumpy, "make-do" sleeping arrangements for forty years, and the system I described above is the culmination of everything I have learned. It is more comfortable than my Tempur-Pedic mattress at home. As comfortable as this is, I now sleep in a hammock outside if it is cool, (quicker to set up, just as comfortable) and let my friend's wives sleep in this, especially if the thought of camping puts them off. ALL OF THEM have risen the next morning and start their day with something akin to, "Oh MY God RAY! That's the best night's sleep I have had in a long time." They get their coffee, they go back in the tent and they go back to bed! They all say that the air mattress/memory foam pad combined with the TravaSak is much more comfortable than what they sleep on at home. It changes attitudes about camping for the outdoor-squeamish. My fishing buddy's wife lays in there and laughs out loud, giggling out, "This is SO AWESOME!!!" Of course, the air conditioner doesn't hurt, or the wall-to-wall carpet...

One last thing...air mattresses can be cold. (That A/C will drive it down to 58 in there in the early morning hours, even in the summer.) I can snuggle-bunny real good at 58. Love it like that. Sleep GOOD at 58. The memory foam helps keep the cold from creeping under you. However, if you are going lower than that, say, below freezing there is one other trick I learned. Get a queen-size electric blanket. Put it on the floor of the tent above the carpet and UNDER the air mattress. It will warm the air in the air mattress and you can be toasty down into the teens. Again, ask me how I know.

Here is a picture of the set-up, just the corner of the air mattress and you can see the TravaSak. That's one of the sheets on top of the TravaSak. You can see the white velcro on the tan sheet. That's carpet on the tent floor. I don't glamp, but I make sure I am comfortable.

 

Regular ground tent

 

It can be any of them, but this is the one I use. It's a Coleman instant-up 9' x12' 8-man tent. They sell them cheap at WalMart. Get the 13' x 13' Coleman canopy to go over it too. Puts the rain dripline outside and off the tent. Keeps the sun off the tent too so that A/C can cool it in the daytime heat. That's a 12,000Btu A/C, and without the canopy over the tent the tent would not cool during the day under direct sunlight. 12K wouldn't keep up without the canopy.

If you haven't tried an instant-up tent, you owe it to yourself to buy one and give it a try. Goes up in less than a minute, down and stored in three.

 

That hit me in the feels.

Full respect bro.

 

We go over night to the beach alot. Dont need anything fancy.

 

Ok, that is almost glamping....I like it!

 

It's glamping as a good 'ol country boy can get. Without the Kardashians.

 

What kind of mattress is that

 

When I took my wife camping for her first time I got this bed for the ground tent so she'd enjoy it and want to go camp more. Works great and she loves camping now.

Coleman 2000020270 Cot Queen

$194 Coleman Queen-Size Airbed Cot Combination, Folding Air Mattress with Steel Frame & Side Table, Battery Pump Included

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AU6AVLW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_kqPiDbQ88MCBG

 

A cheap Intex, from where else...Walmart. It's an 18" one. Get the 22 inch! It's still a LONG WAY UP from that 18 inch mattress in the morning. Yeah buddy...that Coleman air mattress is nice! My buddy and his wife sleep on one at deer camp and they love it.

 

Oh and what kind of power setup you got?

 

Shore power in a campsite on that camping trip. I'll use a Honda EU2000 generator outside a pay campsite. It won't run that 12K A/C though: start-up load is too big. It will run an 8000Btu A/C, but consumes all its gas before dawn. I run a 6000Btu and it will run at a lower rpm and load and can run all night. I actually like the Honda better than the power spikes of the electricity in the parks. Not good for the laptop. The Honda's sine-wave inverter technology is perfect for it.

 

Well damn Amazon has the Coleman 8 tent for 110. According to camelcamelcamel that's just about as cheap as it gets.

 

Oh hell yeah! BUY IT! I paid $163 for mine. Listen, Coleman is awesome. (Not as awesome as back in the day when they owned themselves, but still they are awesome.) You break one of those frame arms, they send you another tent, free of charge, freight paid. I broke one of those scissors on the easy-up canopy: they sent me another canopy! I later found that you can buy replacement arms on the net. Ordered one for $5 on Amazon, fixed it. Coleman doesn't stock or sell parts for tents and canopies. That's why they replace instead! Just call and ask to buy replacement parts, and they default to sending you a new whatever. Your receipt is your keys to the Coleman kingdom. Keep it. They will want you to email a copy to them. As soon as the get it they ship.

That tent has one of the best tubs on it of any tent I own. Water tight. Still, you will need to order seam sealer, because no tent is completely seam sealed anymore. I don't care what the advert says.

 

We use an Exped Megamat and have been really happy with it. It’s not cheap and it’s pretty big packed, but it is super comfortable and it’s really warm.

 

Must be hot in Texas. I've never heard of someone running a generator to power AC to cool a tent.

I hate hearing generators when I'm camping.

 

Trust me, it would be a very welcoming sound hearing a generator tent camping here in Texas. It was 95 degrees here in Dallas today. I am with you on the generator thing though, and wouldn't use one unless I had to.

 

Expensive but super comfortable, Exped Megamat.