You are here:Home > Bedding > Bed Toppers - Twin XL Twin XL Bed Toppers are supplies for college that really bring comfort to your dorm bedding. Bed toppers provide the cushioning and comfort that dorm beds will need. These dorm essentials are the difference between your university provided mattress being so-so and being amazingly comfortable. DormCo always offers you a variety of styles for the college supplies you need, right down to our Twin XL Dorm Bedding Toppers. You're sure to find the perfect Twin XL Dorm Bedding Topper that will fit your needs. You will find the standard Egg Crate options and Upgraded Egg Crate options as well as a stunning selection of Memory Foam, Featherbeds, and even bed toppers that cool you as you sleep!One of the most important aspects of truck camping is being comfortable while sleeping. I highly recommend not neglecting this aspect. I’ve used a variety of setups over the years, both camping solo and camping as a couple. In this article we’ll discuss what has worked well and not so well for me over the years.
One of the biggest mistakes that I made when I got started with truck camping was neglecting my sleeping setup. I set out from the PNW in the dead of winter and passed through Idaho and Utah (read: *really* cold in January). I had a litle 20″ wide inflatable backpacking air mattress and a memory foam pillow… Fun fact: memory foam turns hard as a rock in the cold. I survived those early days but quickly realized that my sleep setup was not ideal… The pillow turned out to be fine, so long as the weather was above freezing. But the skinny little pad was not ideal for truck camping. I’m a backpacker and alpine climber at heart so I felt like I could get by with what I had and what I’m used to–just roughing it if you will. But for week after week of truck camping I figured there had to be a better way. And let’s face it, I’ve got a truck, I’m not carrying these gear on my back up a mountain, so size and weight isn’t the biggest concern (though it should be considered).
After a month or so on the road I quickly turned to REI and picked up the Therm-a-Rest Neoair Dream Mattress, a 25″ inflatable mattress with a thin foam topper and a nice fabric cover that zips on and off. This mattress was a huge step up from the simple backpacker’s air mattress that I was using. The chief benefit of the NeoAir Dream is the slightly wider size (5 more inches may not sound like much, but it makes a huge difference), the fabric topper (when sleeping in the heat I find the plastic-y material to be very uncomfortable), and the relatively small size (you could let the air out and roll it up into the size of a sleeping bag). As a solo truck camper, I found the NeoAir Dream to be the perfect air mattress. Later on, I would be joined by Andrea as we set out across the American West and into Mexico. Unfortunately the 25″ wide NeoAir mattress would not work for the both of us. Why oh why Therm-a-Rest don’t you make an extra wide twin size version?
During our first trial run truck camping trips around the Pacific Northwest we just decided to use my two backpacker NeoAir mattresses (the All-Season and X-Lite) which are both 20″ wide. They were the perfect size for my truck bed and they wedged together nice and snug with no gaps. During the cold weather camping they served just fine for the both of us. Though it did become somewhat tiring blowing up and rolling up the airmats every day. I also worried that the ultralight backpacker material would spring a leak with such frequent use, or get a splinter or something from the wood. It never happened, but I worried about it. Ultimately, for the hassle of blowing them up and storing them, the concerns about durability, and the aforementioned plastic-y problem, I began looking for other options. My truck bed has a space of approximately 39″ between the wheel wells when sleeping in Base Camp Mode, and there are surprisingly very few options out there with that size.
I would have loved the Therm-a-Rest Dream at those dimensions, but sadly that does not exist. All the cheap-o Coleman mattresses which are twin-bed size are also ridiculously thick (6″ or 8″ thick) which is a no-go when you use the backshelf approach in Base Camp Mode. What is the difference between a 3″ thick air mattress and a 6″ thick air mattress, Coleman? Nothing in terms of comfort, just more material and time to blow up. The only ready made solution I could find that would meet my requirements was the Teton Sports Camp Cot XXL foam mattress. It’s a 3″ thick foam mattress with a fabric topper. The dimensions are perfect width-wise, but it is slightly over 6′ long which is longer than my truck bed. The pad is pretty comfortable though a little thin because it is meant to be used as a topper while sleeping on a coat and not meant to be used as a standalone pad. But the biggest downside, of course, is the massive size even when rolled up. It takes up a lot of room in the back of the truck.
One major plus is that you don’t have to worry about punctures, ever. It can take a lot of abuse. It’s nice that it has the removable fabric topper, but it is quite difficult to take off and put back on since they put the opening along the narrow end of the sleeping pad. All-in-all the Teton Sports Cot Pad is an affordable and viable option for those looking to maximize their sleeping space and don’t want to worry about the potential problems of an air mattress that can spring a leak. I’d still say that the perfect truck camping sleeping pad doesn’t exist. Ideally I’d like to see a cross between the Teton Sports pad and the NeoAir Dream. Perhaps something with the heavy duty blue foam pad on the bottom, a thin inflatable air mattress, and a super soft foam topper. It would be the size of a twin bed (39″ wide by 6′ long) and include an easily removable and washable fabric topper like that which is currently on the NeoAir Dream.What do you use while truck camping?
Sound off in the comments below…If you’re interested in truck camping, be sure to check out my #1 best selling Amazon book Big Travel, Small Budget which includes a chapter on overlanding and truck camping. Join the private Facebook group Pickup Truck Camping to ask questions and share your insights. We are now over 800 members! Ryan is an author, adventurer, and wanderer. Originally from Seattle, he headed to Washington DC where he spent five years working for Congress before heeding the call of the wild. He set out living in his pickup truck and road tripping across the American West. Since then he backpacked through Colombia, drove across all of Central America, and also wrote a best selling book: Big Travel, Small Budget. Follow along on Instagram or read more. December 2016 Monthly Income Report Congress Poses the Biggest Danger to the Environment, Not Donald Trump Travel Coffee – How to Make Great Coffee While Traveling the World November 2016 Income Report