By Chuck Woodbury
EDITOR
I found this question on social media. I want to pull my hair out when I read something like this. Here is the question posed by a newbie RVer: “We just bought our first travel trailer and spent our first night… the bed is horrible. It’s a queen and I have to replace it before we go back out. Suggestions?”
Many people suggested ways to modify the bed, including adding two or three inches of foam on the top. Others suggested she get a new mattress.
But what drives me batty when I read this is “Why didn’t the new RVer try out the bed before buying the trailer?” I’ll take a wild guess and suggest that the trailer was a cheap one, the kind Camping World sells day in and day out. And one thing about cheap trailers is they have cheap beds. They have cheap “EVERTHING.”
I learned firsthand about this 10 years ago. The state of Idaho invited me on a press trip. Each of the participants was given a 28-foot entry level Jayco Class C motorhome.
The first night I learned what a cheap RV bed is like. In this case, it was like sleeping on box springs without a mattress on top. It was terrible. I mean TERRIBLE. The fact that people buy these entry-level RVs is testimony to the fact that a lot of people take a quick look at an RV’s interior and think it looks pretty and then fall for a salesman’s pitch that it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. And then they spend the next 20 years paying it off, even though the rig will fall apart after ten years and be a large piece of lawn art after that.
Oh, you should have heard the water pump on that Jayco! It sounded like 10 garbage disposals all turned on at once. It was so loud it would wake the dead. Not really, but you get the idea.
So this woman who bought the trailer without trying out the bed was just not smart. I am very sad to report that this happens every day, all day long…
Here’s the deal: When you buy an RV, you need to check out everything, and then hire someone to check out the things that are hidden away that only a pro knows where to look.
What a lame response to a reasonable question, really lame. I have owned many Toys I guess is the proper word, from Campers to Boats, none of these came with what I would call a decent bed. The fact is finding a decent bed is a difficult proposition even for your home bed.
None of the Toys I ever owned had a bed I liked sleeping on, they would be replaced as soon as I could in some instances they had to be made to order for a specific application, this option runs into several thousand dollars, how bad so you want a good night’s sleep and what value do you place on it?
To those folks who bought a trailer with a shitty bed, it’s more the norm than you think, maybe once you step up to the BIG buck rigs otherwise go shop find the bed of your dreams and be happy.
This is just dumb. A decent mattress is a few hundred dollars. The mattress in an rv should have no bearing on a purchase decision. If you’re willing to spend extra on your monthly payments just for a more comfortable mattress that you’ll probably need to replace in a couple years. Then you’re the sucker that fell for the sales pitch. Not the couple who happened to find one thing they didn’t like and asked for advice on replacing it.
We purchased a GREAT camper from Lance. unfortunately, even though it was a name brand mattress and a full size queen, it was not a very comfortable sleep. We did lay on it before buying so we knew we would be replacing it. BUT we did not buy a cheap, lower end camper. The bed just didn’t fit our needs. We knew we would be using the camper as a HOME so why not have a mattress that is as comfortable as the one in the house. Getting the ‘old’ new one out was a job. The new mattress is 8″ thick (lost a wee bit of height in the bed area). It’s a Tuff N Thread. One of those that come in a box. We made sure the bed would be going in the right direction before we let it loose, it fits beautifully. I swear I’d now rather sleep in the camper than in the house. Don’t judge people by what they can afford, rather give them the help they ask for or quietly pass the question on to us.
We had a horrible mattress in our 30 foot Class C so we replaced it with a $200 8 inch latex foam mattress we bought on Amazon that was very comfortable.
Perhaps instead of slamming someone who may not have a budget for a high end RV, you could give some useful advice on their bed problem!
Very good answer.
The answer is there, waiting for you when you finally wake up and READ.