Just found this thread today. It brought back some bad memories that I thought I had forgotten!
History (skip this part if you get bored easily
)
On our way to Alaska in '02 we bought a SN queen mattress. Just the mattress and two (non digital/non wireless) controllers. Very soon we started having what we called a sloping problem. SN sent use the saw tooth foam as a solution that helped... for a while! That winter in Baja, we bought a 4"x5"x7' chunk of sturdier foam and cut to fit. That helped... for a while! Back in the US, we bought a 1" egg shell foam pad and placed two pieces inside over the air bags. That helped... for a while. Later we tried "one piece" of the egg shell. That helped...(all together now) for a while!
As you can see, I am stubborn and cheap! More on the cheap part later!
The above was about a four year time line while we were full timing. In Jan. of '06, we gave up full timing and moved into our double wide (and we even removed the wheels)
There we tried a very firm mattress, that is what I like. That lasted about a year. Too firm for her. So we ordered 3" memory foam pad as a topper. That made it too soft for me and she was complaining of back pain in the AM's. I was complaining of being too hot, as I would sink into the pad and would wrap around me. So, nothing but air would do. Now what to do.
Solution (fix the design flaw)
We ordered a generic, two chamber, queen sized mattress, near half the price (this is the cheap part mentioned earlier) of the SN, and it came with digital wired remotes. During the assembly part I noticed that the side foam "beams" were connected via a full length of sheet material like you would see beneath a couch, or, something. Header and footer were the same. There was no sloping problem.
So... I had a roll of weed stop, or what ever it is called, in the garage and got a bright idea.
Why can't I do the same thing for the SN in the RV. So, a can of spray adhesive and a little time later, I had secured the sides together along with the header to footer!
Problem solved! The sides were not containing the air chambers well enough an was letting them spread out and sink in the middle. We have since place a one piece 1" memory foam pad inside the mattress, over the air bags, and it works great. No sloping, sides are firmer, and the bed feels as solid as as non air bed. I can even sit on the side of the bed without hitting the plywood shelf.
In the double wide, she sets at 55, I set at 85! I assume it's would be about the same in the RV where we adjust to our comfort level. And we both get a good night sleep!
And, if you are not too bored yet!
When the generic air mattress arrived and I had it set up, the pump failed
! Rather than take it down and set the other back up and wait a few days for the replacement pump, I went to the RV, took that mattress apart and placed the air bags from the SN into the generic mattress. (The plumbing was different and could not connect the SN pump to the new air bags
) Anyway, the SN air bags worked just great in the new housing
, so I knew they were not the problem. It had to be the frame work that housed the air bags!
Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!
H