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  • I want to sleep better.

    I am looking for some suggestions. The truth is that I am not as young as I used to be and sleeping on the ground (or just carpet in my pickup bed) is getting to hard. I wake up in the middle of the night hurting so I turn over only to wake up a couple hours later hurting in the new position needing to roll over again....and I just don't bounce back in the morning the way I used to either.


    I am looking for some sort of mat, cot, pad, hammock, etc. that will make it more comfortable at night. Warmth isn't really a consideration as I don't get cold with the nothing I use right now.


    Since I usually go with my dog that has, on occasion, talon like claws I want something that isn't prone to puncturing. I would like something that is big enough for one but I can add a second one if my wife wants to come with me.


    Other than that I am open to just about any suggestion.
    “I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.”
    – E. B. White

  • #2
    Re: I want to sleep better.

    I use a cot with an expedition megamat on the back of my truck. Great sleep.
    Nights camped in 2019: 24
    Nights camped in 2018: 24

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    • #3
      Re: I want to sleep better.

      Getting older is easy (although painful) just wait around...
      ...Still using the Coleman (I believe, comfortsmart) cot with springs around the edge, with both the standard Coleman pad and the egg crate hospital pad (~ 4" -5" of foam total).
      It has eliminated hurtful sleeping for me (works better than the bed at home)... However, it does not pack small or light; next trip I am going to try eliminating the standard pad and fold up the hospital pad in it's place, for more efficient packing.

      Click image for larger version

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      Enjoy!
      Last edited by Happy Joe; 11-06-2017, 08:17 AM.
      2006 Jeep Rubicon, TJ; 4.11 gears, 31" tires, 4:1 transfer case, lockers in both axles
      For DD & "civilized" camping; 2003 Ford explorer sport, 4wd; ARB & torsen diffs, 4.10 gears, 32" MTs.
      Ground tents work best for me, so far.
      Experience along with properly set up 4WD will get you to & through places (on existing, approved 4WD trails) that 4WD, alone, can't get to.

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      • #4
        Re: I want to sleep better.

        Who doesn't!!! I've been an insomniac since forever. As someone who tosses and turns, I'm really interested in a wide sleeping area. I use the Coleman Packaway cot with an egg crate foam pad when I car camp and a Moon Lense cot with a self-inflating, insulated pad when motorcycle camping. You can get two of the Colemans and put a Queen air mattress over them for when the wife comes. The Moon Lense cot, while very affordable, has not proven to be as sturdy and I don't recommend it for two adults, even if each person is supposed to "stay on your side" because that never happens. I don't need the pads for comfort with either cot and have napped quite successfully without pads when testing out each cot -- and so have the cats. I use them because I tend to get cold and the pads help with that. Also, an honest to goodness pillow. I use a Thermarest.

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        • #5
          Re: I want to sleep better.

          The higher-end MegaMat and ThermaRest self-inflating pads are the way to go if a standard CampRest ThermaRest isn't comfortable enough for you.
          “People have such a love for the truth that when they happen to love something else, they want it to be the truth; and because they do not wish to be proven wrong, they refuse to be shown their mistake. And so, they end up hating the truth for the sake of the object which they have come to love instead of the truth.”
          ―Augustine of Hippo, Fifth Century A.D.

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          • #6
            Re: I want to sleep better.

            Kohls has the ir 1" big one memory foam topper on sale a lot for $ 29.99 any size.

            I bought 2 and addedthem to my mattress in the clipper. I no longer hit the wood base. Very comfortable and the dogs don't hurt it at all.

            For $29.99 each, you could get 2-4 king size ones and cut them down to fit your truck bed. That's 2-4" for $60 - $120. Can't get a thicker single one for that price.
            “One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that, in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.” - James D. Watson

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            • #7
              Re: I want to sleep better.

              I'd be one of the first to say to get a Therm-a-rest or other sort of comfortable inflatable pad...but...

              In your situation, your location and with a dog you have concerns about puncturing an inflatable pad, I would go with some sort of egg crate or memory foam pad (like TT above-cut to size). Easy to roll up for the load out in the truck bed, arrive...unload other items...set up your tarp tent over the truckbed and unroll the foam. Ready. I'd recommend adding a fitted sheet for comfort and to keep the foam pad clean (you can just wash your sheet after each trip). Especially good having with a dog.

              To make it either one or two person...cut one full size pad (fit to your truck bed dimensions) into two parts. Buy a second pad that is full size. If it's just you, bring just the two half sections and double up em for comfort (and more storage space). You and wife?...take the two halves and the full sized section. Put the half sections on the bottom and put the full pad sized pad on top...no middle gap to fall into.

              Cheap. Effective. I think you'll sleep better than laying on carpet (man, my body would ache the next morning...).
              Last edited by a65hoosier; 11-07-2017, 05:26 PM.
              2020: 7 nights 2019: 5 nights 2018: 20 nights 2017: 19 nights 2016: 20 nights
              Spring->Fall: Marmots: Limestone 6P and 4P, Stormlight 3P, Tungsten 3P; SlumberJack Trail Tent 6P, BA Yahmonite 5P
              Fall->Spring: Cabelas Instinct Alaskan Guide 8P, Field & Stream Cloudpeak 4P, Eastern Mountain Products Torrent 3P
              Every season: Kelty Noah's Tarps- 20, 16, 12; REI Camp Tarp 16; BA Three Forks Shelter

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              • #8
                Re: I want to sleep better.

                Thanks everyone. I am going to check out your suggestions but I am mostly intrigued by Toedtoes memory foam idea. Especially since many of you have some sort of foam pad in your suggestions.
                “I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.”
                – E. B. White

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                • #9
                  Re: I want to sleep better.

                  How about stringing a hammock above the truck bed? I have a pole frame that pulls apart. It is heavy, but you have a truck. Or, you could insert poles into the holes in the top of the truck bed body.
                  My family has enjoyed the ENO or ENO-style. Young adults have ENO, I have the cheaper ENO-style.
                  Your dog can sleep under or beside you in the truck bed.

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                  • #10
                    Re: I want to sleep better.

                    James, I am in the same boat. Well, I WAS. After laying in my son's Warbonnet Blackbird I was convinced to give hammock camping a try. I have never, NEVER, slept better. I use an inexpensive Grand Trunk hammock. The caveat is, two cannot comfortably sleep in the same space. The dog would have to have a mat or something underneath you on the ground. In one fell swoop I have eliminated the tent, sleeping pad/cot/air mattress, etc. It's very nice to spend all of 2 minutes setting up camp and enjoying the rest of my stay without pressure points or creaking joints from sleeping on the ground. Oh yeah, uneven/rocky/wet ground? No worries!
                    2018: Any way the wind blows; doesn't really matter to me....Too Meee....

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