By Tony Barthel
Making the bed in the RV usually stinks. You’re on vacation to start with (who wants to make their bed on vacation?) and most RV beds aren’t really in a place where they’re easy to make. At the Quartzsite RV Show we came across the RVSuperbag, which can be described as a fancy sleeping bag that is designed to replace the bedding in your RV. The best part of this system is how easy it is to make the bed – you simply zip up the side.
Now that sounds like a sleeping bag, right? There is a lot to be said for sleeping bags. They’re cozy and they roll up. If you sleep in a single sleeping bag and zip it up, you can refer to yourself as a snore burrito. Okay, maybe that’s not much of an advantage…
The difference between this and your normal sleeping bag is that there are sheets that simply attach to the inside of the bag which can be easily removed and laundered. This is a nice feature and makes this feel much more like your bedding at home.
You don’t have to make the bed with an RVSuperbag
But the best part is making the bed – you basically don’t. You unzip the side of the bag and crawl in.
Many RVs have pocket beds where making the “far side” of the bed is an exercise in contortion. In this case, making the bed is optional and involves pulling a zipper.
I was impressed by the quality of the construction of the RVSuperbag – the zipper and all of the materials seem to be high quality. There are a variety of sizes and styles for the bag itself to match RVs and boats.
For the sheets, there are three choices of thread count: 200, 300 and 725. We got the 300 thread count sheets which are nice. Of course, the higher thread count is more luxurious, if that’s your choice. The sheets are held in place with Velcro strips built into the sheets and the bag itself.
As someone who must do some sort of calisthenics at night, I’ve found that my nocturnal dance party couldn’t dislodge the sheet from the bag. The fasteners are plentiful and well-placed. The whole thing is very comfortable. Both my wife, Peggy, and I like the ease of making the bed in the morning.
What about an RVSuperbag on a Murphy bed?
Our RV has a walk-around queen bed, but it’s also a Murphy bed. So we were curious if the comforter/bag would stay in place when we flipped the bed up. Sure enough – everything stays put with the straps on the bed and it’s ready for the snore-fest when you flip it down.
Another interesting aspect of this bag is that there is a winter and a summer side. The winter side is considerably thicker than the summer side. In the colder months, just flip it over and have the thicker side on top. In summer, reverse for cooler comfort. Someone has thought ahead!
You can zip up the sides at night while you’re snug in bed, or leave them unzipped. I like them zipped and there are zipper pulls both inside and outside the bag. Unlike every other sleeping bag I’ve ever occupied, the zipper didn’t seem intent on catching on the material in the darkness of night when one returns from a trip to the restroom.
Considering the quality of the whole thing, I was happy with my purchase. According to RVSuperbag founder Dennis Lynnaugh, all the RVSuperbags are made here in the USA. He tells me that the people who make these are able to support their families by this work. Even if you don’t sleep well based on the comfort of the RVSuperbag, you’ll at least sleep well knowing you’re supporting your fellow Americans by buying one.
We bought a king-sized bag for our RV queen mattress only to accommodate our extra girth and the whole fit is good.
We use a fitted mattress cover and fitted bottom sheet, then put our quilt in a duvet cover, super easy to make, don’t have to the top sheet or quilt in at all.
$500 for the same high quality sheets we can use on our bed at home and the 250 days we’re sleeping in the 5th wheel while on the road each year. Nope. Besides, making up the bed each morning stretches those sore back muscles and makes for a better day. Better things to do with $500.
We have whats called a TRAVASACK…Very similar to these…& LOVE THEM
Any tricks to washing the sheets with Velcro? I’ve taken to washing each sheet individually (we have 2 twins on king mattress)? Otherwise, we like ours.
Excellent idea, I hate making the bed in the RV it’s also a back killer. Thanks for sharing!!
We use a BETTER BEDDER We find it easy to use and easy to make our bed. http://www.getbetterbedder.com A lot cheaper than a Beddy’s or RV Superbag. I would probably try the RV Superbag if I had an RV like a Class B where you have may have to remove the bedding each day. That would make sense. But we just have a full size queen bed and can buy any type of sheets for it. The trouble with a Beddy’s is that you have to wash the entire thing and preferably in a large washing machine and front loader. I wash my sheets once a week and after a while a Beddy’s would wear out in my opinion. No one wants to wash a bedspread every week. It would wear the bedspread out too fast. Just my humble opinion
If I wanted to sleep in a sleeping bag, I wouldn’t have bought an RV. We took making the bed into consideration when we bought the last two.
Right on!
I bought a king sized RV Superbag last year. The quality I thought was superb. We did look at the Beddy’s systems, but you have to remove the entire system to launder. I prefer just removing the sheets to launder. We really love ours, but I must admit my experience on the phone with the owner wasn’t all that pleasant. He wasn’t particularly friendly, in fact was borderline rude. Bottom line: I do feel this item will serve us well for years to come, so the price and owner attitude was worth it for me.
Tony, your writing style is informative and fun to read !
We had an older Travasac in our camper which we loved. When we bought a trailer with twins, though, and with Travasacs out of business, we found the RV Superbag company and bought two twins. We hated them! The quality was nowhere near that of the Travasacs. The Velcro securing the sheet inside is intermittent, leaving gaps. The materials used are cheap and, after washing, the Velcro came off. We choose a red color which was nice but the interior material was an ugly rust pattern. When I called to ask why (I had assumed that the inside would be a neutral color and yes, maybe I was being picky but paying $800 plus for two glorified sleeping bags will do that to you), the owner was quite nasty on the phone. One of his employees actually got on the phone afterward and apologized for him. At any rate, we ditched these expensive mistakes once we discovered Beddy’s… a different design but less expensive, RV friendly and so much more cozy.
Expensive but worth every penny! It has saved my back from daily {bleeped}.
Is there a temperature rating for the winter side? How well will it work down to, lets say, 35 degrees?
karl
That I don’t know – my perception is that this is more designed to work in an RV which would imply a heated area but there was that one night I ran out of propane and was still snug and warm until I got out of bed. So, I guess it’s not bad.
Back in the day… ironically a company called Travasac developed exactly the same thing!!!! Remember it well…
I still have the one I bought in 2006. I love it.
Great idea but pricey.
I always find in life that I get what I pay for. I’d rather have one good item than have to replace a cheaply-made one over and over.
That’s one of my favorite sayings also, Tony: You get what you pay for. But I add, You don’t get what you don’t pay for. 😉 —Diane at RVtravel.com
I am really surprised you guys are promoting this product. We bought two of them and they were really subpar. The material the company uses on the inside is whatever they can get their hands on (.this is a quote from the owner)
they are totally not worth the money one pays for them. We bought ours in 2018.
I know a few people who have them and have a very different experience, but maybe things have changed since I bought mine. Mine has been really durable and this is the first I’ve read otherwise. But I also always appreciate others’ input.
We had a similar system in our first motorhome where the bed was snug to three walls and almost impossible to put sheets on without screaming inappropriate words. The “sleeping bag” worked great. We now use and store it in our foldout couch as we are lucky enough to now have an almost walk around bed.
This looks awesome. I have a somewhat similar diy setup on my rv bed. The mattress is encased in a duvet cover instead of a fitted sheet. This prevents it from popping off the mattress in the night. Then I have two sleeping bags on top of the bed each opened up and each also encased in their own duvet covers. The zipper isn’t exposed though. But it is soft, comfortable, and easy to make and wash.