Duvalay "VW Campervan Pop Top Mattress Topper" - safe to leave up top?

[Chriskend]

Or use a mini pump to suck the air out?

I can highly recommend the vango tempest, sucks the life out of any sim and superb at getting the awning up in a jiffy, no more sweaty pumping. Blows the poptop sim up in one min, so no hanging around waiting.

 

[Eric1]

Final update. As I live near the Duvalay office, I drove there to return my topper. I demonstrated the problem to them, and they have now modified the description on their website.

To their great credit,, they not only accepted my return, they gave me in exchange 2 bundle packs of 56 x 5cm gold toppers with zipped sheets, pillowcases and carry bags. Extremely generous and a wonderful example of great customer service. And some further good news, these toppers can replace the VW mattress, are more comfortable, and the pop top does close!

 

[Gliderbee California 6.1]

I installed the Iso Top Mark V now, and the self inflating matress is an Easy Camp, about 2cm high. I laid down on the matress to push as much air as possible out of it, and closed the valves then.

The roof closes nicely. I didn't try with my sleeping bag yet, will do soon.

On second thoughts, maybe I should leave the valves of the matress open, so that the roof can compress it when lowering. That's probably a better idea.

This weekend, I tried with my sleeping bag on op of the Easy camp matress, and it worked fine. I have to be careful at putting the sleeping bag nicely in the middle, with the sides as close to the middle as possible, and it seems a good idea to put it in the lower part of the tent: there's less tent tissue to fold in there, hence more room for the sleeping bag.
Mind you, this is my top sleeping bag with down (Marmot Never Winter) that packs quite small: I have another one (synthetic filling) that takes more room; I still have to try with that one.

 

[Huddy]

Duvalay say this topper, being only 2.5cm thick, can safely be left in the pop top when it is closed. However, they do not say whether this is on top of the VW original pop top mattress, or in place of it. If it can be left up top on top of the original mattress, at "only" £163 it looks ideal for both comfort and ease of use. But if it replaces the original mattress I think it will be too thin for me by itself.

Does anyone have any experience using this?

Just tried it yesterday on T7 Ocean. Roof will go down & system reports roof in final position. However, the roof pops up slightly at the back leaving a gap between the seal. In theory you could leave it there but it is straining the roof & not watertight. Best to to fold in 3 on to back shelf of downstairs bed. Prefer this to rolling - lot quicker - approx 4.5” thick in 3 fold.

 

[Huddy]

Final update. As I live near the Duvalay office, I drove there to return my topper. I demonstrated the problem to them, and they have now modified the description on their website.

To their great credit,, they not only accepted my return, they gave me in exchange 2 bundle packs of 56 x 5cm gold toppers with zipped sheets, pillowcases and carry bags. Extremely generous and a wonderful example of great customer service. And some further good news, these toppers can replace the VW mattress, are more comfortable, and the pop top does close!

Hi Eric
Quick question as I know a 2.5cm does not work on top of existing mattress for closing , does the 5cm version work just due to it can compress more ?
Looking at always to minimalise - sleeping bags/ mattresses always take up a lot of room.

 

[Eric1]

Hi Eric
Quick question as I know a 2.5cm does not work on top of existing mattress for closing , does the 5cm version work just due to it can compress more ?
Looking at always to minimalise - sleeping bags/ mattresses always take up a lot of room.

When I replaced the original 2.5cm with the new 5cm duvalay it worked the first time, but not the second. The rear of the roof did not descend fully. So placement of the mattress is critical

 

[Gliderbee California 6.1]

Final update. As I live near the Duvalay office, I drove there to return my topper. I demonstrated the problem to them, and they have now modified the description on their website.

To their great credit,, they not only accepted my return, they gave me in exchange 2 bundle packs of 56 x 5cm gold toppers with zipped sheets, pillowcases and carry bags. Extremely generous and a wonderful example of great customer service. And some further good news, these toppers can replace the VW mattress, are more comfortable, and the pop top does close!

Since I'm always looking for improvement: which topper is this exactly you are talking about ?
I now use an inflatable Easy Camp mattress, about 2.5cm thick, directly on the "springs", in place of the VW mattress, and that works quite well, but there is always room for improvement ..