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Mattresses are essential aboard, but sometimes bring more trouble than comfort. I have five, plus a dozen cushions, and they regularly give me a headache.
First, they’re so soft your fingers almost meet when you squeeze them, yet so bulky that transport becomes an epic. Seats down, car packed to the roof: a mattress-mobile. Around €40 in fuel and a whole day.
Second, the covers ‘made by Erik’s girlfriend’. The previous owner said she’d sewn them recently. But the emerald corduroy was so thin it split at the seams within months. It now looks as though it’s weathered several storms.
An unexpected answer to the first problem: vacuum storage bags. Four large 80 × 120cm bags for €18. Folded a mattress in half, packed it, connected the vacuum cleaner and hissed the air out. Four to six times smaller, fitting comfortably under my arm. I plan more bags, a dedicated €10 vacuum pump and silica gel, so bedding can stay aboard through winter without mould worries.
For the covers: make them or buy ready-made? Initially, I fancied a second-hand sewing machine, fabric and zips, and a winter of sewing. From Grigory and ChatGPT, I learnt the fabric should resist moisture, UV and bacteria. Suitable material was expensive, from €20 a metre. Eventually found €10 material at esvo. Even then, thirty to fifty metres would be a sizeable bill.
Then I stumbled on ready-made stretch covers at temu.com — an AliExpress-style site — for €7. Ordered a couple of sizes to try. They worked! Freshened the mattresses nicely. Not a perfect fit everywhere, but elastic or a little stitching would fix that.
Now the mattresses look respectable, and storage and transport no longer need be a headache — or necessary at all. Two simple, inexpensive solutions saved time, money and nerves.
#maintenance
First, they’re so soft your fingers almost meet when you squeeze them, yet so bulky that transport becomes an epic. Seats down, car packed to the roof: a mattress-mobile. Around €40 in fuel and a whole day.
Second, the covers ‘made by Erik’s girlfriend’. The previous owner said she’d sewn them recently. But the emerald corduroy was so thin it split at the seams within months. It now looks as though it’s weathered several storms.
An unexpected answer to the first problem: vacuum storage bags. Four large 80 × 120cm bags for €18. Folded a mattress in half, packed it, connected the vacuum cleaner and hissed the air out. Four to six times smaller, fitting comfortably under my arm. I plan more bags, a dedicated €10 vacuum pump and silica gel, so bedding can stay aboard through winter without mould worries.
For the covers: make them or buy ready-made? Initially, I fancied a second-hand sewing machine, fabric and zips, and a winter of sewing. From Grigory and ChatGPT, I learnt the fabric should resist moisture, UV and bacteria. Suitable material was expensive, from €20 a metre. Eventually found €10 material at esvo. Even then, thirty to fifty metres would be a sizeable bill.
Then I stumbled on ready-made stretch covers at temu.com — an AliExpress-style site — for €7. Ordered a couple of sizes to try. They worked! Freshened the mattresses nicely. Not a perfect fit everywhere, but elastic or a little stitching would fix that.
Now the mattresses look respectable, and storage and transport no longer need be a headache — or necessary at all. Two simple, inexpensive solutions saved time, money and nerves.
#maintenance
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