Mattresses

[Skippy]

Sleeping bags for camping as much as anything else although for several years I've just used blankets . Just the principal is the same , using second hand stuff .The East German sleeping bag is probably more a collectors item to go with all the other East German stuff I collect. Incidentally the sleeping bags were only used by officers and NCO's , enlisted ranks used blankets . Now original NVA blankets are expensive but I'm still looking.

[Weedo]

No problem with using "second hand" sleeping bags here. For years working in emergency services response (Bushfire, flood, etc.) we had teams of 5 people and camp trailers set up ready to go 24/7 365 days a year - when called out the team would grab the first camp trailer available and go. Sleeping bags were used by anyone and everyone; simply dry cleaned on return and put back in the trailers.

[Skippy]

Good to hear it. The whole gist of this thread is how some people turn their noses up at the idea of second hand mattresses ( or bedding in general) yet will happily sleep on hotel beds used by hundreds of people each year.

[ina]

I used to work in a little shop that sold - among other stuff - mattresses. The hotel opposite had to buy new ones quite regularly, because yet another guest, drunk, had peed the bed. I don't know whether all hotels are that conscientious.

[Skippy]

I did a little search to try and find the lifespan of a hotel mattress . I thought I should seeing as I started this thread but can't find a definitive answer but interesting to hear you had regular trade from that hotel.
The average if such a thing exsists seems to be anything from three to five years but could be ten ,
http://www.traveller.com.au/everyone-as ... ses-guv2kt


I did come across this which does make for interesting reading although the main focus is on a more envoiromental mattress.
http://www.greenhotelier.org/our-themes ... -industry/

[Odsox]

These people who find second hand mattresses objectionable, I wonder what they would think of feather mattresses?
I spent the first 8 years of my life sleeping in a feather bed, which was replenished every now and again when a few chicken were slaughtered.
I loved it as you could snuggle down in a hollow with a mound either side.
I got my first spring mattress when we joined the 20th century by moving to a house with electricity.

[ina]

I have a feather duvet - but I can't imagine sleeping on a feather mattress...

I have a natural material mattress, which is way beyond the 20-year span - but I didn't actually use it for most of that time. It's latex and something else - horse hair? Straw? Can't remember. I use three protectors, though, which get washed regularly, so not too much sweat etc should be soaking in. It's terribly heavy, so turning it is a major job.

[Skippy]

Always remember having an eiderdown as a kid , remember it as warm and how every so often one of the feathers would poke its way out and as a kid I'd pull it all the way out. Never had a feather mattress though. The mattress we use at the moment is just a regular modern one. Mother had a memory foam mattress which she found ok at first but after a while the memory meant the "dent" just stayed there and she was sort of stuck in one position. I have a mattress I use for camping ( well as long as I have the van with me) that I made out of three layers of felt carpet underlay sown into a calico cover. Bulky but I have used it in sub zero conditions.