B190 Enthusiasts

when my "over the cab" sleeping area is in travel position, I have (2) pads, (1) with a zipper cover over it and the other just the mattress and they don't seem to fill the complete area, front to back. When I pull the bed towards the back , to it's full open position probably about a third of it has no cushion at all. obviously something is missing and have others bought like a futon on something that is more comfortable to sleep on ? Thanks

Hi Choptop,

Our B190 came with two separate foam mattress pads for the loft. The larger of the two foam pads takes up the full available space when the wood loft extension piece is in its collapsed storage position. In this position the second skinnier foam mattress just rest on top of the larger mattress.

When the wood loft extension piece is pulled out towards the back of the van to make the largest bed area possible, the second mattress pad can then be positioned on top of wood loft extension piece in order to fill up the gap. Together those two mattress pads placed side by side form a complete mattress filling all of the available surface area over the cab sleeping area.

You may wish to consider buying another piece of foam so that you no longer have the gap? We replaced both of the original foam pads with new foam when we first bought our B190. My wife sewed custom slip covers for the two new foam mattress pads.

There are lots of places online to order the foam of your choice from. Hope that helps answer your question.

Regards, Kentuckian

Thank you Kentuckian, it is all clear now.

To carry this 1 step farther, I have a bulging disk/sciatic nerve issues , I have tried to sleep on the couch and it is a problem. Has anyone purchased any type of a futon or memory foam or gel or whatever pad, possibly a little more comfortable and more expensive of course, than the foam from 27 years ago that came w/the B and can you put a price on a good nights sleep. Thanks

Choptop wrote:To carry this 1 step farther, I have a bulging disk/sciatic nerve issues , I have tried to sleep on the couch and it is a problem. Has anyone purchased any type of a futon or memory foam or gel or whatever pad, possibly a little more comfortable and more expensive of course, than the foam from 27 years ago that came w/the B and can you put a price on a good nights sleep. Thanks

I used the wonderful search feature and got some idea's.

I have issues with my back also. I use two twin Coleman air mattresses side by side. Put a blanket on the floor first so you don't get wood splinters poking into the air mattress. I get mine online and look for the thinnest ones. I think they are 6" thick. I cover the mattresses with a couple of sleeping bags, then use sheets and another opened up sleeping bag for cover. Air mattresses can be cold sleeping on them. Don't leave them blown up all the way if it can get very warm inside. They will expand and burst. I sometimes leave them blown up while traveling or I deflate them so I can slide the bed in. Its the most comfortable bed I have ever been in and I have tried several different types of mattresses at home. It does take some crawling around up there to get a fitted sheet over the mattresses. Always carry an extra mattress in case you get a leak. Them come in pairs.

sparky wrote:I have issues with my back also. I use two twin Coleman air mattresses side by side. Put a blanket on the floor first so you don't get wood splinters poking into the air mattress. I get mine online and look for the thinnest ones. I think they are 6" thick. I cover the mattresses with a couple of sleeping bags, then use sheets and another opened up sleeping bag for cover. Air mattresses can be cold sleeping on them. Don't leave them blown up all the way if it can get very warm inside. They will expand and burst. I sometimes leave them blown up while traveling or I deflate them so I can slide the bed in. Its the most comfortable bed I have ever been in and I have tried several different types of mattresses at home. It does take some crawling around up there to get a fitted sheet over the mattresses. Always carry an extra mattress in case you get a leak. Them come in pairs.

Thanks, good info Sparky.

When we purchased our RV, one of the first things my wife said was 'good bye' to the mattress, or she wouldn't sleep in it. We researched marine mattresses and decided we wanted a hinged mattress where we could fold it up when we were traveling. We went to a mattress manufacturer in Marysville, WA and told them our story. He kabashed the 'hinged' idea because there was not enough headroom to fold it over. He had us try out different mattresses until we found the density we needed. They built it in two pieces 68" x 52" and 68" x 24" and it is 5" thick. Worked really well this summer! While spendy, in the long run, $700 was well worth it because its a REAL mattress!

Oldbagpipe wrote:When we purchased our RV, one of the first things my wife said was 'good bye' to the mattress, or she wouldn't sleep in it. We researched marine mattresses and decided we wanted a hinged mattress where we could fold it up when we were traveling. We went to a mattress manufacturer in Marysville, WA and told them our story. He kabashed the 'hinged' idea because there was not enough headroom to fold it over. He had us try out different mattresses until we found the density we needed. They built it in two pieces 68" x 52" and 68" x 24" and it is 5" thick. Worked really well this summer! While spendy, in the long run, $700 was well worth it because its a REAL mattress!

I agree that a new mattress was essential from a hygiene standpoint and comfort level. That was one of the first things we did is replace that 25 year old mattress with a sofa bed mattress that had two levels of support. Turn it over and have a more firm surface or the other way just a little more give. Organic cotton product with a nice cover over the mattress. It was made in Greenville, SC.

Oldbagpipe wrote:When we purchased our RV, one of the first things my wife said was 'good bye' to the mattress, or she wouldn't sleep in it. We researched marine mattresses and decided we wanted a hinged mattress where we could fold it up when we were traveling. We went to a mattress manufacturer in Marysville, WA and told them our story. He kabashed the 'hinged' idea because there was not enough headroom to fold it over. He had us try out different mattresses until we found the density we needed. They built it in two pieces 68" x 52" and 68" x 24" and it is 5" thick. Worked really well this summer! While spendy, in the long run, $700 was well worth it because its a REAL mattress!

Do you recall what density that was, I understand most memory foams come in a density of about (3), I read that a density of (5) is the minimum if you have back issues.

I'm headed over the the camper some time later today to get the file for the exhaust modifications. I will pull the mattress information, as well.

Oldbagpipe wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 18, 2017 1:34 pm

I'm headed over the the camper some time later today to get the file for the exhaust modifications. I will pull the mattress information, as well.

As I'm about to try and find a new upper mattress as well, did you ever figure out the mattress information to post?

My apologies, I dropped the ball on this one. Here is a photo of the invoice. I hope I am answering what you are asking. Originally I was going to use a 'folding' mattress, but when I looked at the math, regarding how thick our is, it wouldn't be able to fold. Therefore, we did two pieces. That way, we can pick up the short piece and put it on top, then slide the bed in. It works very well for how we use it.

Oldbagpipe wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:19 pm

My apologies, I dropped the ball on this one. Here is a photo of the invoice. I hope I am answering what you are asking. Originally I was going to use a 'folding' mattress, but when I looked at the math, regarding how thick our is, it wouldn't be able to fold. Therefore, we did two pieces. That way, we can pick up the short piece and put it on top, then slide the bed in. It works very well for how we use it.

How does it sleep? Comfy? And do you have any photos? Like... is it a real spring mattress? I'm super curious and this looks so interesting...

It sleeps very well, I'd say very similar to our bed in the house. We got home last weekend from a busy racing event and after finally unloading everything my wife took a nap back in the camper rather than coming in the house. I'll take some more photos this afternoon. We put it in a mattress sock to protect it so my photos might be impacted, but I'll see what I can do.

Feel free to call the mattress factory listed on the invoice and ask them any questions you have as I don't remember what the codes meant. They are a small business but were very nice to work with. When we went in, they had us both lay on multiple mattresses in order to make sure we found something which provided correct posture and accounted for the significant physical differences in size between us (6'0 235lbs and 5'2" 125lbs).