Hello!
I’m not sure if it is right of me to address you about this but perhaps you could help if you don’t mind that is. I am a hiker but I am new to hiking. Now I realize that you are not a hiker yourself but the reason I’m writing to you is that I have a problem with my mattress. You see, I’ve got an Intex inflatable mattress. It’s punctured now by the way but that is beside the point. What matters is that I was literally freezing when sleeping on it. It was like, sucking all the heat away from me. To put it short, I’m not happy with it. I don’t think I would be happy with another air mattress either. There are some supposedly portable mattresses but there’s no way I’m going to carry one of those on foot. Hiking is supposed to be an entertaining activity, not a chore. Can you please recommend something?
DB
Hello! I should hope I can.
First of all, air mattresses are not quite as hopeless as you apparently believe them to be. They are essentially heat sinks, to say nothing of how fast they exchange heat with the air in the room or tent, that much is true. But that particular inconvenience can be easily overcome if you use a thick enough mattress topper in order to isolate your body heat from the mattress. Of course, it doesn’t cancel the fact air mattresses are susceptible to punctures. I doubt you would want your mattress to suddenly become unusable in the middle of a forest, for instance.
The second option is using a futon. Futons, however, are designed for indoors sleeping. They are heavy things, futons, and that’s not something you want to carry on foot. However, some of them are rather lightweight. You can find a modest selection of futons here.
Thirdly, you can forgo mattresses altogether and use a mattress topper instead. That would not be as comfortable as using a mattress or a mattress and a topper, but it would be better than sleeping on the naked ground or an air mattress alone since they bother you so much.
I really hope his was helpful. Good luck and take care!
Mark