Camping Air Mattress Tips For Comfort
You do without the comforts and conveniences of home when you’re out comping. Still, when it comes to sleeping in the outdoors, a good camping air mattress is essential. It ensures you get a good night’s sleep instead of waking up in the morning with an achy back and sore muscles. The camping air mattress you bring with you on your camping trip depends on how big a tent you have, as well as how many people are going to share the mattress. There are single mattresses and queen and king size mattresses you can choose from.
Most of the single camping air mattresses are just one-chamber mattresses. This type of air mattress allows you to sleep a few inches from the ground. However, since this type of air mattress is one-chamber, just one hole in it will render it useless; you’ll find yourself sleeping on the ground, with only the thin, deflated mattress separating you from the hard, bumpy ground. Look for a camping air mattress that has multiple chambers, as such a mattress will remain inflated even if one part of it has a hole.
Make sure you plan how you’re going to inflate your camping air mattress. There are campsites with air compressors while others don’t. It can be a challenge to lug a large camping air mattress to the campsite’s air compressor, pump it up and then drag it back to where you’re camped. In this case, a foot pump may be a good thing to bring with you. There are small foot pumps that won’t take up much space in your backpack. Besides, manually pumping air in with a foot pump is much better than blowing into the air mattress for hours.
A foot pump isn’t your only option. There are tire inflators that plug into the 12-volt plug in most vehicles. You can use a tire inflator to inflate your camping air mattress in just a few minutes. If you have a large camping air mattress, there are 120-volt pumps available. If the campsite has electricity, you can plug this air pump in and quickly inflate your air mattress.
Clear the area of rocks and other sharp objects that might puncture your air mattress. Find a level ground to lay your camping air mattress on. Even if you’re sleeping on a camping air mattress, you could still have an uncomfortable night if the mattress is on uneven ground. Also, don’t set your air mattress directly on plastic as the mattress will simply slide on the plastic. You can place cloth or non-slippery material between the plastic and the air mattress if you want to give your mattress added protection from the ground.
Go with a camping air mattress that is coated with flannel or cloth material on one side. This will make it even more comfortable for you to lie down on the mattress. Don’t lay directly on the mattress, unless you want to be cold or have sore muscles the next day. Instead, set your sleeping bag atop the mattress and sleep in it, or cover the mattress with thick blankets.