Caravan, Motorhome and Campervan Mattresses

Vehicle beds are built to fit whatever space was left after the kitchen and the washroom. They are rarely a standard size, frequently not square, and the mattress usually has to work around a wheel arch, a locker lid or a bulkhead.

Measure the base, and measure it in three places

Take the width at the head, the middle and the foot, and the length down both sides. In a van these three numbers are often different, because the body of the vehicle tapers. If they differ by more than about a centimetre, tell us all of them — that is a tapered mattress, not a rectangle.

Photograph the base with a tape measure lying on it. A picture of the actual space answers questions we would otherwise have to ask you.

The things that catch people out

• Wheel arches. A cut-out along one edge, not a corner cut. Give us how far in and how far along.
• Locker lids. If the bed base lifts for storage, the mattress has to lift with it or fold. Say so — a hinged two-piece build is straightforward, a solid one is not.
• Fixed rear beds. Usually tapered, usually with radiused outer corners following the body.
• Pop-top roof beds. Depth is everything. The roof has to close on it. Measure the clearance with the roof down.
• Rock and roll beds. The mattress folds into a seat, so it is built in sections. Give us the fold lines.

Depth: less than you would use at home

In a house the constraint is the bed frame. In a vehicle it is headroom, roof clearance and payload. Most van and caravan mattresses land between 10 and 15 cm. Our SlimFit build at 16 cm is the shallowest standard mattress we make, and custom builds start at 10 cm.

Weight matters too, and it is worth saying plainly: latex is the most comfortable thin build but it is also the heaviest. On a payload-limited van, foam is the sensible answer.

Condensation is the real enemy

This is the part specific to vehicles. A mattress on a solid plywood base, in a metal box, with two people breathing in it overnight, will collect moisture on its underside. In a house that dries out; in a van in winter it does not, and you get black mould on the base of the mattress within a season.

Three things fix it, in order of effectiveness:

1. A ventilated underlay — a spacer mat that lifts the mattress a few millimetres off the board so air moves under it.
2. Drilling or slotting the bed base, if the build allows.
3. Standing the mattress on its side whenever the van is parked up for a few days.

Natural fillings and latex handle it better than memory foam, because they are more open and move moisture rather than holding it.

Common questions

Can you make a mattress that folds?

Yes, in sections with a shared cover. Tell us where the folds go and which way it has to bend.

Is a caravan mattress fire tested?

Ours carry the same BS 7177 Low Hazard certification and Schedule 7 label as our domestic mattresses.

What about a boat?

Same job, more taper and worse ventilation. See boat and yacht mattresses.

Start with how to measure, then price it on the configurator.