cheaper source of hard or soft foam?

[bvanevery]

I have a hatchback with the back laid down flat. I sleep on the diagonal. I have a folded up piece of memory foam, about 3' long, enough for my shoulders and hips. My sleeping bag on top of that counts for a little more padding, not much. It's adequate but I do tend to find it slightly uncomfortable at some point in the night, causing me to wake up and change position. I'm sure I could do better.

Is there some cheaper way to obtain hard or soft foam that I'm not thinking of? I'm just not willing to spend $15 at Walmart for some Ozark Trail ground mat. It's pretty thin, I doubt it's going to do much good, and as a company all their products suck and are non-durable anyways. Similarly those $10..$12 Walmart foams look like a joke. There's gotta be another way.

I did REI inflatable camp beds for several years, but I went through at least 4 of 'em as they'd all develop micro-holes within 6 months. I don't believe in inflatable anything anymore.

I slept on a bag of laundry for awhile. It works ok but is not ideal, and is typically less comfortable + more awkward than my present memory foam arrangement. Comfort depends a lot on what kind of laundry you have. Jeans aren't very comfortable to sleep on, they're kinda hard.

 

[akrvbob]

Cheap is relative, but I have had good luck with going to an upholstery shop and buying pieces of furniture grade foam and having him glue them together. they often have pieces left over from jobs and since you are looking for small pieces you could get lucky! I once was looking for a mattress that was 40x72 and found a guy with enough remnants to put that together. he hot glued it and it never came apart. It was cheap!

Another time I needed a 48x72 inch piece and he had one very close to that I got for $80. Which is good for furniture grade foam. You don't sink down through it and it doesn't develop a curve. I slept on that for 5 years and it was as good as the day I bought it.

Check out all the upholstery shops in your area, you may get lucky.
Bob

 

[my_vantasy]

+1 on the upholstery shop. We bought a full-size bed piece for our RV and it cost around $200. The upholstery shop guy showed us three grades (good quality, better quality, and best quality) and we went with better. It is still very comfortable.

I know someone else who recommends Army-Navy Surplus Stores.

 

[sassypickins]

Maybe pillows or foam seat cushions from a thrift store or estate/garage sale?

 

[PastTense]

Couch cushions from a discarded couch?

 

[James AKA Lynx]

Be weary of used foam. Bugs. I suggest that you $ 100 to 200 for a good Big truck mattress. You could also use carpet foam. Colman makes a nice 1/2 tent pad that is green and does not off gas to much. About $ 20.

You could look into kids mattress that is only foam. But the Colman tent pad is good and you could use 2.

Best, James AKA Lynx

 

[bvanevery]

Hear you on the bugs. Started to take an eggshell foam I found outside of an apartment complex, looked like there was nothing wrong with it. A lady warned me that it was probably abandoned due to bedbugs. I remembered a friend of mine in a complex with a bedbug infestation, it was no joke, so I let the foam lie.

Since I'm in the South, at one point I considered making a mattress out of Spanish Moss. I've actually rolled up a chunk and used it as a pillow sleeping in a park. Natives used it for this kind of purpose as well. However, a friend of mine implored me not to put this stuff in my car, as it is said to contain bugs. I heeded his words. Nowadays though, I do have a large enough pot with me that I could use to boil the stuff first. If I'm somewhere warm enough to perform that operation that has enough moss, maybe I'll do it.