Coleman Raised Quickbed Large Airbed

...one we bought was a Coleman raised quick bed large single mattress. It was reduced from £42.99 to £34.99 but dad needed to buy a pump to get it to inflate, and this set him back another £12.99. Dad was quite pleased with his purchase, but he still moaned that he knew the holiday would cost him "a bloody fortune". We lugged the mattress back to the caravan after we'd wandered round the local town for a bit and took in some sights, and nan ...
.../> Once back at our luxurious abode, dad set to work on inflating the mattress. I was impressed with the pump and the speed with which it made the mattress inflate. However, I don't think any of us were quite prepared for the actual size of the mattress, once fully inflated. Dad had set to work inflating it at the side of the caravan, on the grass. Within about fifteen minutes, we were presented with the most enormous mattress - far bigger than ... more

We've all just returned rather worse for wear, from our annual family holiday. It was an insane, irritating, unbelievable, maddening, yet hilarious week spent in a tiny caravan with my mum, dad, brother, nan and her dog…… and I am SO pleased it's over and I am back in my own bed and the comfort of my own bedroom!

This year, in his ultimate wisdom, dad decided we would spend seven days in the Scottish Highlands - Fort William, to be exact. He said he's been himself as a boy and that we'd all have a whale of time and have some real 'family bonding' time - I didn't think he was being so literal at the time, mind you. Seven hours and thirty five minutes sitting in the back of the car with my brother and my nan, complaining all the way there, was enough to make me decide that next year I'm just going off somewhere hot and less fraught, with my mates. I lost count of the number of times we had to stop for nan (and the dog) to wee, and each time she seemed to take an age to get back into the car. Every time we drove by a service station she moaned at mum that she 'needed to go' …. Consequently, our journey took much longer than it needed to and we were all really tired and fed up by the time we eventually arrived.

Finally, we reached our destination, only to find out that the 6-berth caravan dad had booked, was in fact a five berth one. Nan had a real go at dad, and told him he'd "messed up as usual". Then there was a fight over who got to sleep where. There were two double beds and one single one. No-one wanted the single one as it was desperately uncomfortable and nan said it smelled "funny" and felt damp. Ugh!! Dad shouted that he'd have to sleep on the floor - he did!! The argument went on a bit longer as me and my brother argued over who would have to share a bed with nan - he lost and I got to sleep with mum!

The following day dad said his back and shoulders hurt him so bad that he was going to buy a camping mattress to sleep on as he couldn't stand another six nights of torture on the floor(he does exaggerate). That morning we all traipsed out in the car again for another hour, to find a camping shop. It wasn't very big and there wasn't great deal to choose from in the way of mattresses, but we found one we liked the look of, and the picture on the box made it look like it would be very comfortable once it was inflated.

The particular one we bought was a Coleman raised quick bed large single mattress. It was reduced from £42.99 to £34.99 but dad needed to buy a pump to get it to inflate, and this set him back another £12.99. Dad was quite pleased with his purchase, but he still moaned that he knew the holiday would cost him "a bloody fortune". We lugged the mattress back to the caravan after we'd wandered round the local town for a bit and took in some sights, and nan bought some ornaments and a postcard for Ruby.

Once back at our luxurious abode, dad set to work on inflating the mattress. I was impressed with the pump and the speed with which it made the mattress inflate. However, I don't think any of us were quite prepared for the actual size of the mattress, once fully inflated. Dad had set to work inflating it at the side of the caravan, on the grass. Within about fifteen minutes, we were presented with the most enormous mattress - far bigger than I'd imaged. So big, in fact, that once fully inflated, there was just no way we could get it through the caravan door! The actual dimensions of this particular airbed are 114cm x 213cm x 47cm and it is described as being "very comfortable and easy to mount". They didn't, however, say anything about getting it through a caravan door! Once inflated, this little monster was going nowhere. Dad and my brother tried for ages, squeezing it at different angle to get it through the door, but it just wouldn't budge. By this time, it was getting dusk and dad was in a vile mood. Mum suggested cold beer and both him, my brother and myself sat down on the mattress outside and swigged from our bottles. Nan just looked on and moaned again (it's what she does best).

Dad deflated the mattress and we brought it into the caravan to set about pumping it up again inside. The caravan was so small and narrow and the mattress was so enormous, we could all see it was going to be hard work trying to get it to lay down flat in the little narrow gap we had between the cupboards on either side of the caravan. We couldn't get it to lie flat, however, hard we all tried. Once fully inflated, if we stood on one side of the mattress, then other side shot up the side of the cupboards under the sink. I have to admit, though that to lie on this mattress, it did feel incredibly comfortable and bouncy. It was just SO deep, you practically had to crawl up the sides to get on top of it. It is described as a luxury mattress, which is "double high". It also has two sealing points and a double lock valve, to make it extra safe and not liable to expire during the night. It comes with a two year guarantee and its own repair kit and although it is so incredibly large, it is surprisingly light - 5.1kg.

That night my brother volunteered to sleep on the mattress, dad slept with mum and I got stuck with nan. The trouble with sleeping with nan is that she sleeps with her dog. So that night there were the three of us in bed. I didn't get much sleep as I'm not used to sharing my bed with anyone, never mind a dog!! The following night it was my turn to sleep on the mattress and it was bliss. It was firm, but so comfortable and I had a great night's sleep. The only (slight) downside to this mattress is the squeaky noises it makes every time you turn over / around during the night. Maybe it was just because it was new, I don't know. Also, it smelled pretty bad of rubber and it kind of caught on the back of your throat after a while. I think this could have been due to the fact that it was new and that we were all packed in like sardines in a very confined place and probably generating a lot of body heat.

All in all a good, comfy mattress and at a good price. Very comfortable, easy to inflate, a little noisy, very large, and I almost forgot to mention, it comes with its own handy carrying bag. So once it's deflated you can just roll it up and store it away until you need it the following year!! Probably better used in a (much) larger caravan, though!! 

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