been a long time since i camped in a tent and sleeping bag. my question is can a 63 year old guy be comfortable sleeping on an air mattress in a sleeping bag in a tent? last time i did this i was in my late 30's without an air mattress. i couldn't do that now.
camping
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EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I've never enjoyed sleeping on an air mattress. To me, they make me cold and uncomfortable. I like a sleeping pad a lot more. Foam is my favorite, either a nice thick pad if don't have to carry it miles, or a lightweight one that I roll up when backpacking. You can also just make a pallet of folded blankets to sleep on and be comfortable.
Do you have a quality sleeping bag? Good and bad and night and day from each other in how comfortable you will be and how warm you stay. If you are not backpacking, then go for comfort and size. I've also found the ratings on them for how cold they are good for is very misleading. Whatever they say that they are good for, subtract 20 from that number and you'll be fine.
Eddie
Do you have a quality sleeping bag? Good and bad and night and day from each other in how comfortable you will be and how warm you stay. If you are not backpacking, then go for comfort and size. I've also found the ratings on them for how cold they are good for is very misleading. Whatever they say that they are good for, subtract 20 from that number and you'll be fine.
Eddie
2LaneCruzer
Epic Contributor
I hope your joints are all in good shape; no old injuries or arthritis...I have trouble sleeping on a king sized mattress.
jonnyc1999
Silver Member
I second what Eddie said. We camp a few times every year, and tried an air mattress out last year. It was cold underneath us, and left my 'ol lady rolling towards me all night long. It also supported me in all the wrong places, because I felt like crap in the morning. We did much better when we bundled up a bunch of comforters under us, and even better than that with foam pads. Air mattresses are cheap enough to try but I wouldn't recommend them. Next camping trip we're going to try cots with a foam pad!
vabiker23518
Gold Member
I'm just now 60; wife and I bike/camp on rail trails a bit. The self inflating pads (they only are about 2" wide) are the best for us as they don't take much room or weight much. Still, don't get a lot of comfortable sleep on them.
My answer to your question would be no. The self inflating mattresses are pretty good, much better than an air mattress, but you'll know you slept on one in the morning. You didn't say whether you'd be packing in or just driving up to a campsite, but if your driving, or the hike isn't far, a good cot with one of the self inflatoring mats will do wonders for quality of sleep.
If you do decide to get a cot, check around and see if you can find a GI issue, not hard to do at all if you're anywhere close to a military base, just check the pawn shops out.
If you do decide to get a cot, check around and see if you can find a GI issue, not hard to do at all if you're anywhere close to a military base, just check the pawn shops out.
RobertN
Super Member
I still do a lot of camping with our Scout Troop. When we are car camping, I have a twin size air mattress, with a big rectangular Coleman sleeping bag on top. then I put the sleeping bag I use on top of that. That fits in the two person tent I usually use.
Just an air matress is not very good; they do not offer any insulation.
If I am in a big tent, then a large cot and large mattress is the only way to go. Lots of them out there; Cabel'as has a good selection
Cabela's Deluxe Camp Beds : Cabela's
Cabela's Outfitter XL Cot & XL Cot with Pivot Arm : Cabela's
Just an air matress is not very good; they do not offer any insulation.
If I am in a big tent, then a large cot and large mattress is the only way to go. Lots of them out there; Cabel'as has a good selection
Cabela's Deluxe Camp Beds : Cabela's
Cabela's Outfitter XL Cot & XL Cot with Pivot Arm : Cabela's
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We have two air beds from Coleman. They are very firm and comfortable. Our summer tent is large and fits a king and queen at the same time. I sleep like a baby in there.
I think it depends on the mattress and the season. In spring, summer and fall they are great. They get you off the ground. In cooler weather, put a blanket or quilt on top of it and then your sleeping bag and you're good to go. They make battery inflators. We have a 120v AC unit that we can run off of the car inverter. Or a manual pump works well, too. However, nice air beds are H-E-A-V-Y. The queen mattress is about 12 pounds and the king even heavier. Then ad in the weight of an inflator.
So the question is... are you going "camping" as in drive to a campground, set up a tent next to your car and sleep in a tent? If that's the case, air beds work great.
Or, are you going "real camping" where you have to carry everything in on your back, there's no power and you could die if you mess up? Then the sleeping pads are better. :laughing:
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One more note about air beds... we used to use ours as a guest bed or when the kids had sleep overs. They work great.... until the cat walks over them!
:smiley_aafz:
:laughing:
:smiley_aafz:
:laughing:
yes. this would be setting up next to the vehicle. i guess another alternative is to get a cap for the pickup and put a mattress in the bed ;-). and then get a good sleeping bag. not sure i'm going to be making this trip but trying to think it through. i'm not a big fan of hotels. i would be travelling from va to ca with no timetable and probably taking a southern route to keep warm. i'm divorcing and if i can't keep the farm i want to leave this area. one of my sons lives in oakland. no family around here.
Egon
Epic Contributor
P/U with a shell, chaise lounge, mattress, good sleeping bag not down, porta poti, koolatron and a small stove for cooking and your good to go. Might even think about a proper type heater.:thumbsup:
Keeps you off the ground, good weather protection, and amenities are a positive for the older folks.
Keeps you off the ground, good weather protection, and amenities are a positive for the older folks.
N80
Super Member
I love the outdoors. Most happy outdoors. But there are two things I really like about a house: the bed and the toilet. I can get by okay without the toilet but do not sleep well on pads, inflatables or cots.
But here is a little secret that makes sleeping in a tent a little better: Ambien.
But here is a little secret that makes sleeping in a tent a little better: Ambien.
dmccarty
Super Star Member
Getting a cap for the PU bed is a good idea. I car camped for a while back in the 90s and having to setup/take down the tent in the rain was a PITA. When I was a kid, my dad had a full size Cherokee's that we could setup to sleep in. He did a great job with the design and build. We could setup the Jeep for sleeping in 15-30 minutes and if we needed to, we could just hop in the Jeep and drive if the weather was bad. I really missed that setup in the 90's. I thought about getting a bed cap but I was not doing enough car camping to justify the money.
There are PU bed tents out there but I think the cap would be a better buy.
Today, I would go with foam mattresses of some kind but my dad and I used air mattresses and we were comfortable. OTH, we had some friends that slept on the floor of a station wagon once and they froze. The air mattresses might not have the best insulation but a strip of carpet on metal is worse. For a PU bed, I would look at some of the rigid foam to put down under the mattress if you were going to be out in the cold. I slept a few nights with the weather in the 20-30s on a self inflating air mattress. It was only an inch or so thick but it worked. Not real comfy for the back but I was warm. Another problem with air mattresses is you tend to roll of the danged things.
With a bed cap, rigid insulation, and a foam mattress, you can handle some cold temperatures. In the morning, you can unzip the bag to air it out, and just get in the truck and drive. One thing I wanted to do when I was in college was to head west for a summer. I wanted to trade in the car for a PU and just drive around out west seeing the sights. I got to busy with life and never made the trip. Now, I will have to be retired to do what I wanted to do when I was 20.
The setup my dad made was pretty slick. He had made three boxes that fit into the cargo area. One box went from one side of the Jeep to the other. The other two boxes were half the size of the big box. The two boxes sat between the tail gate and the big box. The big box was between the two little boxes and the second row seats. The lid on the big box opened UP and it contained things alike a heater, lantern, towing chain, axe, shovel, etc. The two little boxes had lids that opened down. The two little boxes had shelves for food, Coleman fuel, a Colman stove, pans, silverware, etc. We could just open the lids to the little boxes to access the contents. The lids acted like a little table. Worked great.
The second row seat we would fold down and put in a short saw horse. A fitted piece of plywood would sit over the three boxes and we would slide the plywood so that it would rest on the saw horse and the edge of the long box. My dad cut the threads and head off of four long bolts which fitted into holes in the plywood, saw horse and long box. The pins would keep the plywood from moving around and they were flush with the surface so they would not snag the mattresses. Really a great design we used for years.
If you are going to be camping out of the truck of a length of time a similar setup could be helpful.
Later,
Dan
Boondox
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I use an Exped 7 insulated air mattress. Have set up on snow a couple of times and had no problems with cold. The Exped 9 is even better insulated. I tend to sleep on my side and have always had issues with pressure points on foam or self-inflating Thermarest pads. Not so with the Exped.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
What part of Oakland does he live in? Montclair and the hills are nice, but the vast majority of the city is a **** hole that is best avoided 24/7.
Crime rate in Oakland, California (CA): murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto thefts, arson, law enforcement employees, police officers statistics
If you are not familiar with the Bay Area, be very cautious and do not trust anybody there. EVER!!!!!
Eddie
buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
I'm not young anymore, but I still camp out on the ground occasionally with the scouts. I take a sleeping pad, thin one if backpacking, maybe 1" thick if car camping. I have different sleeping bags, depending on the temps and if backpacking. I use a piece of tyvek as a ground cloth. it's noisy until it gets broken in, then it is great, very light and durable. If it's just one night and cool, I don't even use a tent, just groundcloth, pad, sleeping bag. I use a tent mainly to keep the bugs off in summer. For one night, I can sleep about anywhere.
For family camping, I used to use an air mattress, but too much work for one night. course, last year I broke down and got a camper, but we will still do some tent camping.
For family camping, I used to use an air mattress, but too much work for one night. course, last year I broke down and got a camper, but we will still do some tent camping.
JD 4520
Platinum Member
My inlaws tent camped with us until they were 75. My wife wants to take her father camping with us next summer and he is 87 now. We'll shall see.
We also camp with our friends that are 67 & 69 and they aren't skinny either. My wife and I are early 50's. we enjoy camping.
thanks for all the camping tips. right now it looks like i'm going to end up staying on the farm which is what i really wanted. my son (who's 29 going on 17)hasn't had any crime problems living in oakland but he has nothing much worth stealing.
dave1949
Super Star Member
That's good news. Tent camping across the country would be an adventure though.
If things change, this is a great time of year to pick up a used, small pull-type camper. You get a bed, cooking facilities, toilet and bathing facilities, heat, etc. A rainy, chilly day or night in a pickup with a cap, is not fun. Some of the additional costs would be offset by being able to do your own cooking and a lot less camping equipment to buy. The additional comfort would be worth something.
i was thinking of doing this and may still do it to use when i want to travel but also to be used as housing for an intern on my farm.
