There are not a lot of local memory foam distributors around – which limits our options here in Kingston. I would be concerned that a custom sized mattress would be more expensive than simply purchasing a slightly larger mattress and cutting it down.

There are a few options – you could purchase a 54″ wide mattress, but there are limited uses for a 6″ strip of memory foam. A 76″ wide mattress would leave a 28″ by 80″ piece (assuming standard king sized) which could be cut evenly into four 28″ by 20″ pieces which could be used as pillows (standard queen pillows are 30″ by 20″). This is assuming you want pillows however, and that the thickness of the topper is appropriate!

This all depends on your costs – but I don’t think that a custom approach would be ideal, unless you get a great deal on it.

Great website. I too live in Kingston and I thought I should seek your advice. I recently borrowed my mom’s tent trailer and let me tell you that the mattress in it is less than comfortable. Since my mom uses it for 2 month in Florida in the winter, I thought I should do her (and myself) a favour and buy a memory foam mattress topper.

The dimension of the beds in the tent trailer are 48″ wide and most of the mattresses out there are either 39″, 54″, 60″ or 76″. I could got either a bit short or a bit long but I would much prefer to have the exact size so that there is no problems when forlding it. Do you think it would be best to get a 54″ wide and cut it down or should I make research to find a custom sized one? Budget is an issue as you can imagine.

Thank you in advance.

Sébastien

I am of the opinion that this “airflow layer” (a layer of lower density or convoluted foam below the memory foam layer) is a lot of marketing hype with very little real benefit attached. Major issues:

1. How exactly is airflow supposed to occur? While the “airflow layer” may be lower density or convoluted foam which intuitively “should” allow more air through, this is all cosmetic – there is no convincing mechanism where sustained airflow through the layer could be obtained.

2. Even if some airflow did occur, it wouldn’t do much. Foam is a good insulator, and it is unlikely that a small amount of ambient air circulating at the bottom of the memory foam layer would result in perceptible heat transfer from the other side of the memory foam layer that you’re sleeping on.

In short, I think that any product with an “airflow layer” should be looked at very skeptically if not avoided outright as the marketing guys appear to have won over the engineers. A moisture wicking cover (made of CoolMax or similar) is a more reasonable approach.

I’m guessing the “guy in Montreal” is Essentia – a great manufacturer, you can check out a review I did of one of their pillows here.

Memory foam is polyurethane foam with certain additives. It’s manufactured using a step-growth polymerization process. In short – not something you can do easily at home!