The Best Truck Bed Mattress for Truck Camping
Are you sick of waking up sore and tired while truck camping or car camping? We were! And we knew we needed to upgrade our truck bed mattress to something more substantial - especially if we were going to make long-term overland travel work for our family!
During our early camping trips, we stared into the back of the truck trying to come up with a design that would land us with both a comfortable and multi-purpose truck bed mattress, because the sleeping platform does become your living room in poor weather.
If you’re trying to come up with a great truck bed mattress to outfit your truck camping, car camping, or SUV camping setup, we have found your solution!
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It’s the Milliard Tri Fold Mattress*, and it has TOTALLY changed our truck bed camping experience!
What makes this the perfect truck bed mattress, SUV MATTRESS, OR CAR CAMPING MATTRESS?
It’s SUPER Comfortable!
Comfort (or lack of) is a huge factor when selecting the best truck bed mattress, suv mattress, or car camping mattress, especially if you have any plans for longer term travel or road trips in your future.
Personally, multiple nights on a thin pad just doesn’t cut it!
Milliard’s 6” tri fold mattress* is made with 4.5 inches of foam, topped with 1.5 inches of premium memory foam.
You’ll feel like you’re sleeping in your own bed at home! Seriously. It is the most comfortable camping mattress we’ve ever slept on, whether we’re on our sides, backs, or stomachs.
However, with this mattress being 6” thick, you do have to sacrifice that extra head room. Milliard does offer a 4” tri fold foam mattress* that would give some additional head space. Their 4” version does not include that extra layer of memory foam - its comprised totally of foam and has a firmer feel as compared to the 6”.
One of our subscribers did purchase the 4” version and they really love it, and if we were purchasing a truck camping mattress again, we might give this thinner option a closer look, as every little bit of head room counts in a diy truck bed camper!
(Another way we stay comfortable while sleeping is by using our vent fan - check out our detailed vent fan installation guide here if you’re curious!)
It’s a Tri Fold Camping Mattress, So It Maximizes Space in Your Truck Bed, SUV, or Car Camping Setup!
This is the best part!
When working with a minimal amount of indoor living space like you find in a truck bed camper, car, or SUV, this folding mattress really shines!
All truck camping and car camping setups are different, but for us, being able to quickly fold the mattress section nearest the tailgate up keeps the mattress cleaner as we use the truck and camping kitchen area throughout the day.
This also creates a comfy indoor lounge area, and exposes a section of the platform that our kiddo can use as a play area on a rainy day.
The tri fold mattress allows you to transform your bedroom into a cozy living room while camping!
This Truck Bed Mattress is Portable!
If you don’t plan to travel in your car or truck camper full time, having a truck bed mattress that is easily removable and portable is important.
This mattress can easily come inside, giving it time to air out while offering an additional sleeping spot for guests.
And because it’s a foldable mattress and weighs only 35 pounds, it's easy to manage solo if needed. Though it is a bit awkward due to it’s bulky shape.
They do make carrying bags with handles* for certain sizes and thicknesses of the Milliard mattress, so if you have a difficult time moving the thing around you might see if they offer one that fits your mattress.
It’s the Perfect Size Truck Bed Mattress, with Great Options for SUV and Car Camping Setups Too
When considering a foldable mattress for your truck camping or car camping setup, don’t forget to consider that it would ideally fold up while in place in your vehicle!
We found that the full size at 52” wide can just slide into the truck bed and be folded up when laying flat on the sleeping platform, without becoming wedged underneath the bed rails.
And we use the little bit of dead space on each side of the mattress (under the bed rails) as part of our “closet”, to keep our clothes sorted and organized in our duffel bags.
(Milliard does make this mattress in 3 sizes (twin, full, queen), and the twin may be great for solo traveling or truck camping)
The mattress was about 3” too long for the truck bed sleeping platform, but thankfully, we knew that wasn’t a big deal because memory foam is easy to modify (and we share how we did it here).
Another thing to take into consideration is the vertical space that is required to fold each section of foam.
You don’t want to have to pull the mattress out each time you want to fold part of it up because of lack of clearance. We didn’t think of this, but got lucky and it folds PERFECTLY in our little truck camper!
This Truck Bed Mattress is Easy to Clean
Things can get dirty pretty quick when you’re truck camping, hiking, traveling, and exploring, and possibly not showering quite as frequently as you would prefer.
So the ability to easily keep a camping mattress or truck bed mattress clean is important!
The Milliard tri fold mattress has a thin non-removable cover sewn around the foam to protect it. On top of that, it also has a fitted soft cover with an anti-slip bottom which is zippered around the foam and can be easily removed and thrown in the washing machine.
We do recommend adding a sheet on top of all of that for a little added protection and then sleeping in a sleeping bag on top of that.
So! If you’re on the lookout for the perfect truck bed mattress or camping mattress for your SUV, car, truck camper, or campervan, definitely check out the Milliard tri fold foam mattress*!
We are really happy with it, and having a comfortable, foldable, portable, and modifiable truck bed mattress for these types of spaces is a serious win!
We hope this helps you in your search for the perfect truck bed mattress for your truck, car, or SUV, and please let us know in the comments section if you have any questions.
As always, thanks for reading! And for more information about our DIY truck bed camper or our truck camping family adventures, please subscribe below.
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How To Make Roll-Up Camper Shell Curtains
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