Soft, cheap foam mattress for a Featherweight's vacation bed

[Featherweight]

Hi Phoenix,
I’m a super skinny guy, (120lbs 5’11" with wide shoulders); who is a side and back sleeper. I prefer to sleep mostly on my side, but have found that most mattresses don’t have enough give or sink to allow my bony frame to lay comfortably on my side, so I end up on my back.

I am looking for a queen mattress for my vacation cabin. It will only be used for a few months each year, so with my featherweight status I don’t think durability is a major issue. Heat is also not a concern for me, but neither is having fancy memory foam.

I need to order a mattress online, and since its for a vacation cabin, I have to keep it under $350. I know this rules out pretty much everything that meets your standards, so I’ve been wading through all the foam beds on Amazon & Wayfair, but few give any details about ILD or density; and most of the “extra plush” ones either have a lot of complaints that they are not really soft, or are total crap… and half of them say “medium firm” elsewhere in the advertising. The last mattress I got was an 11" medium memory foam mattress from Lucid, and it did not have anywhere near enough give to let me sleep on my side, so I sold it to a heavier friend.

Do you have any suggestions as to a foam bed that is under $350, not total crap, and is actually soft? It will go on a solid top platform bed (my custom design with a hydraulic lift top and storage underneath).

If there is no such thing, would I be better off building my own? I was looking at Albanyfoam and A1foam, and considering just getting a few sheets of polyfoam to make my own softy. My thought was to just go with a 3" layer of Everlon (1.8lb) medium soft (28ild) with 4" of Everlon soft (18ILd) on top… or the Albanyfoam equivalent. I feel like this would give me the give/sink I need, and I could still add a topper later if needed. Does that sound like a better way to go given my tiny BMI? It’s definitely as cheap as the cheapest on Amazon, and I’d at least know what it’s made of.
Also, if someone a bit heavier (160-200lbs) used it, would they bottom out on it? It’s mostly for me, but someone else might Goldilocks on it.

[phoenix]

Hi Featherweight,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum!

I need to order a mattress online, and since its for a vacation cabin, I have to keep it under $350. I know this rules out pretty much everything that meets your standards

Surprising to some people, there are some excellent values out there with lower priced mattresses, and some compare with models costing much more. Post #4 here and the posts it links to also include many of the better lower budget online options I’m aware of as well. Some of those models will offer comforts that are popular with side sleepers.

If there is no such thing, would I be better off building my own? I was looking at Albanyfoam and A1foam, and considering just getting a few sheets of polyfoam to make my own softy. My thought was to just go with a 3" layer of Everlon (1.8lb) medium soft (28ild) with 4" of Everlon soft (18ILd) on top… or the Albanyfoam equivalent. I feel like this would give me the give/sink I need, and I could still add a topper later if needed. Does that sound like a better way to go given my tiny BMI? It’s definitely as cheap as the cheapest on Amazon, and I’d at least know what it’s made of.

I’d tell you to take a look at some of the options I linked to above. Unless you are very knowledgeable about foams and mattress construction (which would be very few people), even a “cheap” DIY mattress can turn out to be much more expensive in the long run if your design doesn’t turn out as well as you had hoped.

Phoenix