Beds Hot and Cold weather

wow. Some great info in such a short period of time. Thanks everyone.
Currently, I do not own an RV at all. Just in the looking stages right now. Don't want to haul around something too big with wind drag, weight, etc.

My Apache served me well from 1975 until 1995 when I sold it for $300 less than I paid for it. So for 20 years, it only cost me $300 to have it. What a deal.

I do not want a canvas trailer but I do want a pop-up and Trailmanor fits the bill quite nicely. You could feel the cold coming thru the bed matress on the apache in cold weather. Seems like the Trailmanor has the same problem. Just thought they might have insulated the underside but I guess not.

I will probably buy sometime early next year and believe it will be the 3124KB. For those who use a heating pad of some sort, do you place it under or on top of the matress?

Thanks everyone for all your help.

The platform that the mattress lies on is made of the same 1” thick insulated foam material that the walls and roof of the TM is made of. We use a 2” memory foam pad on top of our TM mattress. The coldest night we had was 27 below, not something I’d recommend for fun but, there was no problem with cold coming up through the mattress.

Ed

[countrygirl]

I read on here at one time that someone placed the silver bubble insulation under the mattrees for additional insulation. I do not remember how this worked out for them. I may look for the info though.


Before we bought the mattress warmer on really cold nights where we camped up north the flannel sheels were cool to the touch.

We have not had an issue of the bed being uncomfortable due to cold coming up from the bed platform. You do however need to be aware that on cold nights moisture from your body will go through the mattress and condense on the bed platform. This will not impact your trip, however I recommend removing the mattress once you return home and allowing the bottom to dry thoroughly before reinstalling in your TM to prevent mildew..

What may not be obvious in this thread is that some of us never have access to shore power, meaning we can not use ceramic heaters and electric blankets, while others spend most if not all of the time in RV parks where they have access to shore power.

I have no other viable choice but to use the propane furnace.

We have no problem with just the TM mattress pad plus our TravaSaks.

If I were going somewhere even colder I think the bubble wrap under the mattres would be something I would consider. I'm certain it would help and be very easy to do. I don't like the idea of the backpacking pads on top of the mattress, as I roll around a lot. I have several because I also do some backpacking. I suppose they could be placed under the mattress, but I think that might make it lumpy.

I also have several Space Blankets. That might be helpful under the mattress, but I have also never tried that. By allowing the Space Blanket to wrap up the wall around the mattress on the three exterior sides that might also block a bit of minor draft.

The one thing that, clearly, helps the most is too make sure that there are no drafts. I fixed the one behind the wardrobe. The door has been a bit of a problem for me, especially at the bottom. But replacing all of the foam and adjusting the bottom seal has eliminated the need to place a towel on the floor to block the draft at the door bottom.


I think it would do rather well, but there would be some adjustments to make beyond the way the factory ships it.

We have a heated mattress pad which works very well with our AeroBed (assuming 110v availability). We also love the Travesak, which we always use 'Winter' side down. Since the winter side has a bit more insulation, it goes under us. We can always put more stuff on top. And maybe most important, wear socks to bed!

We camped last Feb. at the Sturgeon Bay state park. Warm as toast with sleeping bags and ceramic rotating heater. Furnace is too loud. Electric heaters are quiet whispers.

We have two interlocking 1/2" closed cell foam camping mats which lie under the mattress on our TM all year long - they do not interfere with closing the unit and provide insulation. Because I have a bad hip we also have two camp model (2") self inflating Therm-A-Rest pads to provide a little more cushion. They fit between the closed cell foam and the TM mattress. The unit won't close with them in place but when you open the valve they fold in half and make a safe nest for our LCD-DVD when traveling. For us this makes for very comfortable nights. - camp2canoe

Having upgraded from a pop-up to our TM we know exactly the issue you are referring to.
In the pop-up I ended up lining the plywood base under the mattress with a thin layer of insulating 'underlayment' left over from a hardwood flooring project, which helped. However, we have camped in colder weather with the TM and so far have felt no need to make any modifications to it.
While there is some cold working through as is inevitable when there is nothing but air underneath you, the platform under the bed in a TM is actually filled with a foam core insulator, unlike the plain plywood base in a pop-up. The difference in insulating properties is substantial.

As I mentioned before we have the electric mattress pad for when it is cold and it goes on top of the mattress. When in cold climate we have always stayed in a campground with electricity. I'm not sure that the mattress pad is entirely necessary except to keep the DW happy. She likes to get into a warm bed.