We have decided it’s time to upgrade the mattresses in our trailer. When we first purchased the trailer two years ago, we did put a mattress topper underneath the mattress that came with the trailer on the main bed. We have decided to change up what we use on our main bed, and we have also decided it’s time to upgrade the bunk mattresses. So I’ll explain why we changed up the main bed and then what we did to improve the bunk mattresses.
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Original Fix for the Main Bed
So the original solution that we had for the main bed up front is we put a three inch mattress topper underneath the original mattress to give it a little bit extra cushion, and that was two years ago that we did that. Now, I still think that that is working great. I don’t have any problems with it, but I sleep on my back. My husband sleeps on his side and he was ready for us to do something else with this area. So we thought let’s get a different mattress solution for the main bed here, and then we could take that three inch topper that we had purchased for this and split it up to use on the bunks.
The Problem with the Bunk Mattresses
We have a four-year-old and an eight-year-old. The mattress on the bunk for the eight-year-old was starting to feel thin. He wasn’t complaining about it, but it seemed like he was probably having a similar experience to what we had with the mattress when we first got it. It starts to get to the point where you could feel the plywood underneath. He wasn’t complaining about it, but it seemed like he needed a little bit more cushion on his mattress.
And then our four-year-old is still light enough that the original mattress was fine, but we thought, well, if we’re switching up the bunks, we might as well just do it for both of them and then we’re good down the road.
So first I’ll talk about what we did to change up the mattress up front, and then I’ll go over what we did with the bunks.
Replacing the Mattress on the Front Bed
For the main mattress, we decided to upgrade to a Full XL 10 inch mattress. So instead of using the topper with the original mattress on top, we got rid of both of those and now we’re just using an actual mattress. Now there’s more support, it’s more comfortable, and it fits the area perfectly. The front bed in the Jay Feather Micro 171bh is the size of a Full XL. It’s the length of a queen but the width of a full, also known as Full XL. And, luckily we were able to get that same size mattress.
This is the mattress we got for the main bed in our trailer:
So the size is perfect. The weight is a little bit heavier than our original solution. The topper was about 15 pounds, and the original mattress is really light. The mattress that we have on here now is 40 pounds. So it is heavier, but not enough that it’s a concern. And so far it seems really comfortable.
It shipped compressed in a box that was pretty easy to carry into the trailer. Then we just rolled it onto the bed and took the plastic off of it, and then it started to expand. After about an hour, it looked and felt like a regular mattress.
Replacing the Bunk Mattresses
Now what we did for the bunks was we took that original mattress topper that we had for our bed up front and we cut it in half.
So we first measured where the halfway mark was and we used a sharpie and then a piece of wood as a ruler and drew that out. And then we had to take a couple of inches off of the length at the end. So we just measured out with Sharpie exactly where we needed to cut, and then we had to figure out how to cut it.
So we tried a couple of different things. We tried using an exact-o knife, we tried using some garden shears and some different tools that we already had around the house. They all kind of worked, but none of them were really all that easy to use to cut the memory foam.
What we ended up doing was using some basic kitchen scissors. It was nothing special, and it did take a few minutes to do, but it wasn’t too bad and it cut through it pretty easy. It seemed like it was going to be the cleanest cut without tearing it.
So once we got it cut, the edges did not look great, but it was functional. Now, we wanted to hide the edges that were a little bit uneven, but we also were concerned about how it would fit in the bunk. We wanted to use the topper to put underneath the original mattress just like what we had done on our main bed originally, but we were worried that it would be too tall. We didn’t want the mattresses to start slipping off of the bunk.
So what we did was we got a zippered fitted sheet. So we took the topper and then we took the original mattress and we stuffed both of those into the zippered fitted sheet. It wasn’t the easiest thing to put the fitted sheet over both of those items, but with two people, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. And we don’t plan to take it in and out of the fitted sheet, we’re using the sheet basically as the mattress cover. We’re just using it to make it seem like these two items are one cohesive mattress piece.
So once we got it into that zippered sheet, we just put it back onto the bunk beds and it fit perfect, no problem. Then we just made the bed like normal. So we still put a fitted sheet on top of this and then the regular sheets and blankets and made the bed like normal.
With the mattress topper underneath the original mattress, the entire mattress is a little bit taller, and so it does take away from the headroom a little bit. But both of our kids agreed that was no problem for them. The little bit of headroom that you lose seemed worth it for the extra support that they had in the mattress. Plus, they’re normally not sitting up in bed. Normally when they’re in bed, they’re going to lay down and go to bed. So it wasn’t really a big deal for them, but it’s something to think about that the more support that you’re adding to the mattress, the less headroom that they have in an already kind of small area.
Both of our kids decided this was definitely well worth it, and they are very excited to sleep in their new extra padded bunk beds.
Here are the items we used to upgrade the trailer bunk mattresses:
Summary
So that’s what we did to help make everybody a little bit more comfortable. We did a regular mattress up front, and then we took our mattress topper and split it between the two bunks. So everybody got a bit of an upgrade and everybody seems pretty happy with it.
