Making Mattresses for a Pop-Up Camper
Brooke didn’t come with anything comfy - no cushions, no mattresses. I knew this had to be one of the first things I remedied…she was nearly good enough as is to go camping right away, except for somewhere to sleep! Here’s how I “built” my own mattresses for $77 each!
Bunk nearest the dinette area.
Bunk nearest the kitchenette.
I first did the measuring, and then headed to my local RV recycle shop to see if they had any mattresses in stock. Unfortunately, they did not, but they did have enough foam for me to make the cushions for the seating, and thus the third bed (once the table was created and could lay down between the two benches). So I began working on the cushions first - once they were done, I laid down on them (gotta test it out!) and discovered that the 3” high density foam was pretty comfortable, so I set to work locating foam to make mattresses.
Some blogs suggested purchasing a foam mattress topper and cutting it to size, but I balked at purchasing these at $120-$150 each. I then called the local foam place which sells bulk foam and told them my measurements, and they wanted $180 (each!!!!) for these! Yikes!
Time to get creative. My local WalMart had 2 foam blocks in stock (24” x 36”) that were 3” high density foam for $16.97 each. I bought both, brought them home, laid them out and thought this would do. I then took those two and my extra foam pieces from the cushion build and put them in the mattress spot like a jigsaw puzzle. I had enough scraps of foam along with those two pieces to make one full mattress. So I ordered four more blocks from WalMart and some foam adhesive. I didn’t want to use just any old spray adhesive since I knew some of them melted foam, so I purchased specially-made adhesive to join the pieces together.
I didn’t get pictures of the 4 blocks together (they fit quite nicely and only had a little bit of cutting to do!), but here’s a shot of the mishmash of the extras. The spray foam adhesive went on easily and was tacky and ready to stick together within seconds.
Each side that needs to be stuck to another piece is sprayed with the adhesive and then after 15-20 seconds, when the glue is tacky, you simply push the pieces together. They bond quickly and once bonded, they cannot be separated, so make sure you don’t have any misalignments before assembling foam pieces! I didn’t really have to glue them together as the frame of the bed kept the pieces tight, but I wanted the security.
I was planning on putting sheets over the mattresses, but wanted to give them a “cover” of sorts that was more permanent. My mom, bless her heart, keeps everything. She had these sheets that she thought were “RV sheets” or something because they had a weird flap underneath. She had kept them for years - “just in case”. She gave them to me to use. I hated taking them, because then I’m just reinforcing the idea that it’s a good idea to keep things “just in case” since they got used…eventually… ;)
The foam adhesive was put to work again. I sprayed the “top” of the foam mattress so that I could be sure to have a smooth top to the sheet (especially since, after all that, the RV sheets really didn’t fit well, but hey, it was free fabric!). I only sprayed the adhesive on the corners and edges - there was no need to spray it all over! Once it was secure on the top, I flipped over my mattress and then glued the edges down, saving the weird extra flap for last as a security.
On the second mattress, the RV sheet my mom gave me had weird patterns on it that would show up through the sheet, so I decided not to use it. I used the flat sheet instead that came with my fitted sheets. I kind of wish I had used the flat one on the other mattress as well, but oh well!
Finally, the actual sheets. Before purchasing them, I tried out extras I had at home - a twin sheet was too small, but a full was too large, so I opted to just get a full fitted sheet and then used sheet straps to pull the edges tight. The mattresses fit perfectly into their little frames and I don’t feel the seams of the pieces when laying on it!
When all was said and done, the two mattresses were created for $153 total. That’s $76.50 each! Sure beats $125-$180!
(6) 24”x36”x3” high density foam - $17 each ($102)
Spray Foam Adhesive - $28
(2) full sheets (came with flats as well, one of which I used to glue to the mattress) - $8 each ($16)
(2) sheet straps (packs of 4) - $3.50 each ($7)
If I had purchased all new foam pieces instead of using my extra scraps, it would have only cost $187 for two.
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