This is my 6th year camping at Potrero War and I've always gone the air mattress route for a bed. Frankly, I'm fed up with the leaks, the waking up on the ground in the middle of a deflated mass and the constant rolling into the middle when sharing the bed with someone. Done! No more air mattress!
But what else is there? Tell me, what do you all bring for bedding when you go camping?
I use an air mattress on top of a cot.
I use a queen size Intex air mattress, although I've heard good things about the Coleman, also. I bring my 2in. memory-foam mattress topper from my bed at home, also, and my regular bedding, because it's so much more comfortable than sleeping bags. I always sleep really well in camp.
My fiancee and I were smart enough to find someone who made furniture that is pegged together.
We are able to place an air mattress in the bed frame-highly comfy-
I can find the site again if you want-pm me and we can talk
Coleman queen-sized double-height air mattress. On the bottom, I drop a Mylar "space blanket" so I'm not sleeping on a mass of cold air. On the top, another space blanket (its cold at Sherwood), a sleeping bag unzipped, then a fitted sheet. This way, I have some insulation from the air mattress so I don't sweat, and if it gets cold, heat is retained by the multiple layers.
So far, so good, although I make sure to inflate it to peak with a battery powered compressor, then pump it up some more with a hand pump so it is quite firm.
Well, maybe I'm just a klutz with my air mattress since they seem to be working out for everyone else :D
I was looking around and came across these folding mattresses- interesting and have pretty positive reviews. Might be an option.
(http://www.re-nest.com/uimages/re-nest/tri-fold-memory-foam.jpg)
Thanks for the responses!
I've slept on the folding mattresses while camping back when I was a kid and they were fine, but I can sleep anywhere. I once fell asleep in the back of a van with my butt in a spare tire, my head on a cooler, and my feet on a pile of coats.
No I currently use a coleman air mattress. I had a Cabeleas folding camp bedframe which was a piece of expensive crap. I used it for 2 Pennsic wars and had to throw it away because all the joints broke. While searching the net for something else I found this and I think I will buy one for war this year. After I get home I'll tell you how good or bad it is.
http://www.oversizesolutions.com/Heavy_Duty_Bed_Frames_s/62.htm
Quote from: Alphena Brennafax on February 11, 2011, 09:24:09 PM
Well, maybe I'm just a klutz with my air mattress since they seem to be working out for everyone else :D
I was looking around and came across these folding mattresses- interesting and have pretty positive reviews. Might be an option.
(http://www.re-nest.com/uimages/re-nest/tri-fold-memory-foam.jpg)
Thanks for the responses!
That looks interesting. If you use it on the ground, try an approximately 3/8 thick exercise mat underneath- or one of the military's sleeping pads. The foam could be replaced with a denser foam if desired.
I slept on air mattresses for years. Never again. I'd rather put "my butt in a spare tire, my head on a cooler".
Now I'm using an old chaise lounge pad. It is over 6' long and very firm. Its not foam but fiber of some sort. You don't "bottom out" when you roll over. I wish I'd bought the other one at the garage sale. I going to hate to paying to have a 50 cent item recovered!
Pedlar
I made myself a rope bed and love it. If it's just myself sleeping in it, I'll just take an animal pelt and then some heavy blankets over the ropes. If I'm sharing it, I'll take along a small futon mattress instead. It's very very comfortable and sturdy, too.
The way I designed the frame, since I do a lot of demonstrations in traditional woodworking around the country and have to travel light/compact, it will 'tear down' with 4 wedges and the ropes don't have to be taken off (just loosened). It compacts into a 7' long, 6" wide, 8" tall and weighs about 25 lbs (made of cedar ... also stands up to mud/rain). All one unit ... no loose parts to go missing.
For some events, during the day, I'll leave it open and visible in order to show people an authentic rope bed and use it as a teaching / demo-ing tool. Other events, I'll throw a piece of plywood over it and use it as a tool or sales item platform during the day. Oh, and it's high enough off the ground so that I can store my totes under it.
I'm really very glad I made that thing. It's just incredibly comfortable. A whole lot more than the 2, 2x12's I had been sleeping on during events way back when.
I use the air mattress. Hubby and I bought the two part king from Coleman. It's two twins, one tall twin, or a king when side by side. That way we can sleep together without having the roll to the middle problem! I put a down sleeping bag on top no matter the weather. It provides padding and warmth. Regular sheets on top with a patch quilt if needed. I sleep pretty good. Overall he doesn't care for the air mattress because he tends to bottom out. He also has a cot that works OK. I recently bought a foldable foam "bed" from Costco. I haven't slept on it yet but a woman walking by said she loves hers! A member of my Civil War group made a rope bed and he really loves it. Looks cool, too!
dragongirl: Hope that frame works out- please let us know when you try it.
Woodland Artisan: If only I had the woodworking skills, the money or the car space for a rope bed! Then my War life would be perfect. :D
I'm glad to heard some positive comments on the foldable beds. I think I'm gonna go with it- I found a place that sells them in a full or queen size! I figure the pad plus my feather bed on top and some foam underneath, I should be fairly well off.
Army cot with neoprene pad. Cover that with heavy wool Army blankets to kill the drafts.
I just built a wood bed much like a rope bed, I got the pattern from Panther Primitives, it wasn't hard to build, I did it with a dermal tool and a screwdriver. The hardwear and the wood set me back about $150 dollars. It brakes down small enough to put in the back of the car, the mattress takes up more room then the bed dose. Something you can look into, But if you can't build it they do sell it all ready to go, and in 3 sizes, single, double, and Queen.
I got tired of air mattress that leak, and G.I cots and have moved to a real bed. It has made a real difference.
M'Lady ;D
Quote from: Gauwyn of Bracknell on February 15, 2011, 08:25:58 PM
M'Lady ;D
I was just about to ask if this was a trick question... Gauwyn knows what he's talking about....
At faire: Queen size single high air mattress on the ground with blankets a-plenty!
At Pennsic: Queen size single high air mattress on top of some plywood and 6 6-gallon milk crates. I pack them up nice and small then while I unpack, the milk crates are put at the corners and one extra along each long side. then a couple 2x2's, then 4 pieces of plywood (cut smaller so that they pack easier). I'll throw a couple nails into the plywood to attach to the 2x2's so they don't move around, then a bedskirt (pretty!) and then the air mattress. It's wonderful to be able to sit on the side of the bed in the morning!
Double layered Ozark air-mattress for me, has worked really well so far, though, you end being in a puppy pile if more than one person sleeps on it, though, that's not a bad thing. :P
Quote from: eloquentXI on March 28, 2011, 12:49:25 PM
Double layered Ozark air-mattress for me, has worked really well so far, though, you end being in a puppy pile if more than one person sleeps on it, though, that's not a bad thing. :P
You hush!
Quote from: Woodland Artisan on February 12, 2011, 07:30:45 AM
The way I designed the frame, since I do a lot of demonstrations in traditional woodworking around the country and have to travel light/compact, it will 'tear down' with 4 wedges and the ropes don't have to be taken off (just loosened). It compacts into a 7' long, 6" wide, 8" tall and weighs about 25 lbs (made of cedar ... also stands up to mud/rain). All one unit ... no loose parts to go missing.
Can I get plans for this arrangement (paid or otherwise)? I would like to build this (or two) for usage in further rens I gather at, please.
What Wolfhawker said...
Sorry for the late reply to your request. I was merchanting at the Norman, OK renfaire this weekend and just got back yesterday. If ever people want to get hold of me, go to my profile on this website and email or check my own website.
Anyway, I have the plans around here somewhere for that rope bed. I'll check on that and let you know where to get them in a couple of days. I'll post the picture, or link or something here.
I do all the West coast Wars (Estrella, Potrero, Great Western) and my bed has definitely evolved over the years.
I started with the basic air mattress for faires...by my first Estrella 6 years ago, I made a bed frame for it.
Two years ago, I bought a 15' x 15' canvas tent. My current bed is a frame-work of piping with rope running back and forth...I then have a queen size futon mattress resting on it. The frame-work is then hung from my ridge pole...YES, I have a hanging, swinging, comfortable bed. Above the gopher holes, wet grass, etc... Works great on sloping and uneven terrain as well...always level.
If you're at Potrero next month, come by House Leviathan and I'll show you the set-up I made...Ask for Abbot
I can also be found working in D&B Leather on merchant's row.
Abbot Bubo Spoondiacus
Sorry about the delay and getting those plans up. After doing the Norman show we've been busy building and filling orders for our retailers.
I just quickly threw a page together and put the plans for the rope bed at ...
http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/plans/ (http://www.hiltonhandcraft.com/plans/)
For the renaissance and medieval crowd, I'll be posting plans for a multitude of chairs (such as the Savonarola chairs), wardrobes, carts, more beds, knitting and lace equipment, kitchenware items, farm implements and just so much more from our collections. And that's just the stuff from those time periods! Note: These are own plans and from items we designed (or co-opted from historical pictures/descriptions), make and sell. We don't sell plans for the things we manufacture for our retailers.