Looking for that perfect campervan mattress to throw on your bed frame? A high quality foam mattress is firm, lightweight, and easy to cut to fit whatever size your camper bed is. So it’s no wonder foam mattresses, like the ones sold from Linenspa, are becoming a popular option in the DIY campervan conversion community.
And trust us, we know. After 2+ years of sleeping on our own campervan’s foam mattress, we’re believers!
In this post, we want to talk about what is the best campervan mattress for van conversions and why we love our mattress from LINENSPA.
So if you’re ready, let’s get to it!
LINENSPA 5" Mattress
- High-quality foam mattress
- Lightweight & portable
- Gel-infused top layer for support
- Easy to cut for DIY projects
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Campervan Mattress Post Contents
What Makes An Ideal Campervan Mattress
Surprise! Not every mattress you come across is ideal to be put into a campervan. Whether it’s weight, cost, or dimensional considerations, there are a number of factors that go into being crowned ‘the best mattress for van life’.
1. Maximum Comfort | Shouldn’t getting great sleep be on the top of any mattress shopper’s priority list? This is just as true whether you sleep in a home or in a camper.
2. Mattress Weight | The lighter your mattress, the less overall weight your camper is. This is ideal when thinking about gas efficiency and stress on your camper’s suspension system. Not to mention a heavy mattress can be difficult to move around if you need grab something from under the bed frame.
3. Easy To Cut = DIY Friendly | If you’re building your own camper, chances are you’ll need to cut your mattress to fit your custom bed frame. Get a mattress material that’s easy to cut.
4. Cost Effective | Building a campervan isn’t cheap and not everyone has the money to spend on a $1,000 high-end mattress. Get a mattress that gives you the best ‘bang for your buck’.
Best Camper Van Mattress: LINENSPA Mattress Review
After the very first night in our camper, we woke up and swore we would NEVER ever sleep in a tent again! In fact, we were laughing because we couldn’t believe just how comfortable it could be to actually sleep in a van.
100% true story.
And two years later, we STILL get the best sleep of our lives on our LINENSPA foam mattress.
“So, what makes this foam mattress so great?”
1. Perfect Mattress For DIY Campervan Conversions
The LINENSPA foam mattress is perfect for DIY campervan conversions.
With the right tools, the foam mattress is easy to cut and shape to easily fit the dimensions of your camper’s bed frame.
And chances are, your bed frame isn’t going to fit a standard mattress. So your mattress will need to be cut down to size.
Not only that, but if you plan to build a convertible bed, like us, you can easily cut the foam mattress into several smaller cushion-sized pieces. Therefore, you can have a work/dinning area during the day and a sleeping area at night.
And because the mattress is 100% foam, you don’t have to worry about cutting into metal springs or having loose inner material falling out.
Recommended Tools: Don’t be like us when we first tried to cut our foam mattress with a serrated knife. It doesn’t get great results. Instead, get a low-cost electric carving knife.
2. The LINENSPA Mattress Is Lightweight
Because the mattress is made of nothing but foam, you know you’re getting one of the most lightweight materials used in mattresses today.
Aside from improved drive control and gas efficiency, having a lightweight mattress makes it easier to clean your van and to rearrange the van’s interior.
In our campervan, we have a convertible bed that converts into a lounge area during the day. That means we cut our original foam mattress into seven smaller individual cushions.
And whether we’re in the act of making our bed every evening, de-dusting our van, or simply needing to access our under-bed storage area, we’re constantly moving our cushions around.
So we’ve definitely appreciated our cushions being so lightweight and portable.
We couldn’t imagine doing all that with heavier latex mattresses.
3. The Comfort Of Memory Foam
Have you ever laid down on memory foam before?
After our first night, we’ll never go back to a conventional spring mattress!
Our back feels better and we wake up without any of the usual aches and pains.
Plus, unlike a spring mattress, a foam mattress limits motion transfer. This means less chance to get woken up when your partner moves around at night.
4. Comes In Multiple Thickness Options
Every camper van build is different, And different builds require mattresses of different thicknesses.
Luckily with LINENSPA, there are three different mattress thicknesses to choose from:
For our camper van build, we went with the 5” thick foam mattress and felt that 5 inches provided the best overall thickness for both sleeping and sitting comfort.
Because we have a convertible bed, we’re always sitting on our mattress cushions during the day. We think 5″ is just the right thickness to be able to sit on a mattress without your bum reaching the wooden bed frame.
5. Surprisingly Affordable
Our king size 5-inch foam mattress cost $200. And while our campervan’s mattress isn’t the cheapest option on the market, we think that this price is very acceptable considering how much time our bodies will be spending on our mattress.
LINENSPA 5" Mattress
- High-quality foam mattress
- Lightweight & portable
- Gel-infused top layer for support
- Easy to cut for DIY projects
How To Cut A Foam Mattress For DIY Campervan Conversions
For DIY campers, you’ll likely need to cut your foam mattress to size. In our case, our van’s bed frame isn’t a perfect rectangle, but a unique tetris-shaped hexagon.
Tools Needed To Cut A Foam Mattress
Electric Carving Knife
- Makes great perpendicular cuts
- Cutting is quick & easy
- Easy to handle
- Useful during Thanksgiving 🙂
We’re not fans of purchasing a niche tool just for a single job, but after making several ugly cuts with our bread knife, we reluctantly purchased this electric carving knife.
And we’re glad we did.
If you’re on a serious budget, a serrated bread knife is also effective. But you’ll likely end up with jagged edges instead of making nice, smooth cuts.
It’s also difficult to make 90-degree cuts into the mattress because keeping the knife perfectly perpendicular with the mattress’ surface is also quite challenging.
If you can spare the $20, picking up an electric knife is really worth it.
Foam Cutting Tips
Cutting a foam mattress isn’t rocket science, but going slow and being meticulous goes a long way to getting great and accurate results.
When you’re ready to cut your van’s mattress, head over to our other post, How To Build A Camper Van Bed, to learn more.
How To Care For A Foam Mattress
A foam mattress is largely maintenance free, but foam is still a delicate material and things can go bad when the mattress is cared for improperly.
There are several things we wished we knew about it’s maintenance when we first got our camper van’s mattress.
Wait until the mattress fully expands
Once your foam mattress is delivered, you’ll realize that it’s been vacuum sealed and tightly rolled for shipping purposes.
It’s quite amazing just how much they’re able to compress the mattress!
Therefore, when you first receive the mattress, it’s a good idea to immediately open the package up and allow the foam to expand back to its normal shape.
This can take anywhere between 24-48 hours to fully expand.
Also, it’s important not to lay on it or begin cutting into the mattress before it has a chance to fully expand.
The manufacturer has a great post about why you should wait 24-48 hours before using your mattress.
How To Clean A Foam Mattress
If you happen to stain your mattress, don’t use any chemical solvents or liquid to clean the stain. That’s because memory foam is a sensitive material and harsh stain removers can lead to a breakdown in the material.
If there are any stains or odors, your best bet is to sprinkle baking soda on the site and allow the powder to absorb any liquid and smells from the mattress. For more information on how to clean your foam mattress, check out this guide from MemoryFoamDoctor.com
Best Pillows For Van Life
A comfortable pillow is an unassuming essential for getting the perfect night’s sleep in a camper van.
And for us, we don’t sleep on anything else but a memory foam pillow with neck support. Sleeping on our pillows lets us sleep on our backs or on our sides without scrunching our necks in awkward positions and angles.
We couldn’t recommend any other type of pillow.
Memory Foam Pillow
- Memory Form
- Cervical Shape for neck support
- Height Adjustable
- The Ideal for Every Sleepers
Conclusion: Best All Around Campervan Mattress
Thank you for reading and making it all the way to the end of our post! We hope we’ve convinced you that the LINENSPA Foam Mattress is the best campervan mattress.
Especially when converting your own camper.
We’ve been sleeping soundly in our van since day 1 and we’re confident you will, too.
If you enjoyed reading this review, or if you think we left anything out, please let us know in the comments below.
LINENSPA 5" Mattress
- High-quality foam mattress
- Lightweight & portable
- Gel-infused top layer for support
- Easy to cut for DIY projects
