Your Cut Corner RV Mattress CAN Easily Be Replaced! The Perfect Guide
(Camp Addict does NOT accept payment from any company to review or endorse their products.)
By Kelly Beasley
If there's one thing most RV owners know, it's this:
The stock mattress in a new RV is almost guaranteed to be awful.
Nobody wants to have a fantastic fun-filled day on their RV vacation only to return to the RV and sleep on a bed that suuuuuuuucks.
The good news is that you can replace your cut corner RV mattress (or any shaped mattress) very easily.
The bad news is that it's going to cost a little more (but not much) to get your custom corners cut.
That said, could you make your own?
Can you use a regular camper mattress without a cutout?
Can you use a topper to make your existing travel trailer or motorhome bed much better?
We're going to answer those questions and more so you can get everyone in your RV happy with what you have to sleep on, whether you have RV bunk, a short queen bed, or a cut-corner RV mattress.
Why Replace A Corner Cut RV Mattress?
The #1 business plan of most big stock market traded RV brand names is to make the stockholders happy.
This means that they must 'cut corners' (get it?) wherever they can regarding quality.
Whatever came with your RV is no exception. It's likely a sad excuse for a bed.
This is why so many new owners immediately replace their stock mattress.
Not to mention wanting to replace a well-worn one that came from the previous owners.
Eew.
RV Mattress Sizes Briefly Explained
RV beds come in unlimited shapes and thicknesses.
You may have a full-size cut corner mattress, a king radius mattress, or an RV bunk mattress with a cut corner. There are so many RV bed sizes.
This is partly due to the manufacturer needing to cram the contents of an entire house into the size of a rolling box-shaped vehicle that fits on the highway. They only have so much space to work with, and sometimes that space is a bit odd-shaped.
But there are some 'standard' sizes that have names to them.
RV Mattress Sizes:
- RV Bunk
- RV Full
- RV 3/4
- RV Queen
- RV Short Queen
- Camper King Mattress
- RV Short King
It's best to measure your RV bed and see if it fits any of the dimensions of the named sizes.
Keep in mind one RV mattress maker may have a different opinion on the dimensions than another might.
Measure, and check to make sure whoever you order from fits your mattresses' mold, so you have a perfect fit.
There's more to mattress sizes than meets the eye! In fact, we wrote a whole article on RV mattress sizes, if you want to know more.
Can I Make A Non-Cut Corner Mattress Work?
Say you're on a budget and don't want to spend $300-$1000 on a new cut corner mattress.
Instead, finagle your own custom size and shape.
How?
If you find a good quality but super-affordable all-foam mattress, cut it down to size!
If you get one that's a little too big, you can cut it to fit your irregular-sized RV bed area, and you can also make the corner cut or cuts yourself.
It may not be pretty, but your fitted sheet or other will cover it, so no big deal.
Just remember, many foam mattresses come with an aesthetic and sometimes protective cover. You'll have to cut into the cover, if so.
Keep in mind that once you cut into it, there's no sending it back! (Assuming you are still in a trial sleep test period.)
Can You Make Your Old RV Mattress Work?
So maybe the RV full-size mattress with the cut corner that came with your camper isn't awful, but you want it to be better.
Instead of getting a camper mattress replacement, try using a high-density RV bed topper on top of your existing one.
Pop a topper on top and see how it feels. It will be cheaper and less wasteful than buying an entirely new bed.
You can also easily cut the corner as toppers are made out of foam most of the time. Boom.
Top your mattress with it, and it might feel like new.
Marshall and I did this successfully with our travel trailer mattresses for years.
Mattress Insider sells them for a reasonable price, and they offer RV bed sizes.
An RV short queen topper, for example, will run you about $179 (at time of publishing this article).
Custom Corner Cut RV Mattresses
A notched mattress edge
Some companies make custom camper mattress sizes as well as custom sizes and corner cuts.
This (with some companies) includes angles, notches, and radiuses.
All you need to do is fill out the form on the company website with the correct measurements and corners.
Once finished, click 'add to cart,' pay for it, and wait for it to arrive!
It even comes all shrink-wrapped down into a manageable-sized box!
A short RV queen mattress fresh out of the shipping box, ready to be released. It's fun to watch!
It's pretty incredible when you think about it.
Where Can You Buy Corner Cut RV Mattresses?
Two companies corner the market when it comes to ordering custom-sizes for RVs:
We love Tochta the most, as they do all three corner types, while Mattress Insider only does two of these:
- Angle
- Notch
- Curved
Mattress Insider (MI) only offers angled and curved on their design your own mattress webpage.
You MIGHT be able to get a notch put in one by calling them for a custom order.
Still, both companies have an excellent reputation, a great easy-to-use website, and we know that Tochta's customer support is out of this world.
We aren't familiar with MI's customer support, but we LOVE that they offer live chat! This is something that Tochta lacks.
Customer support is so important, especially in this day and age. More information about both companies is further below.
Photo courtesy of Janine Petit of Girl Camper
What About Cut Corner RV Bunk Mattresses?
Yes, you can even get an RV corner bunk mattress from both of these companies.
Doesn't matter if your RV bed replacement cut corner needs an angle, a radius, or a notch, you can get one made to the exact dimensions that will work with whatever size or shape your bunk bed platform is.
Which Mattress Materials Are The Best?
This is such a subjective matter. There is no 'best' type of mattress to buy.
Everyone has their preference, so this is a matter of figuring out on your own what type of mattress materials you like to sleep on to know what kind of mattress to get.
Remember that finding a company to custom-make an innerspring mattress (as opposed to foam) may be more expensive and difficult to find.
Therefore, you're going to be looking at the all-foam types.
There are many types of foams, and many mattresses are hybrid mattresses built using a few different layers of foam.
The only other input we can give here as far as what is 'best' is to let you know that polyurethane foams are the least dense and shortest lasting of foams.
Latex and memory foam are much better, but poly-foam is often used in some layer of any foam bed.
Mattress Foam Types
Memory Foam
This is a 'hugging' type of material that sometimes sleeps hot.
If you get a memory foam mattress with gel beads, it will be cooler and not so stiff.
Kelly's Tochta Utopia mattress is a gel memory foam, and it's to die for!
Latex
Latex is a high-quality foam made from the sap of rubber trees. It can be natural (more expensive/lasts longer) or synthetic, or a blend of the two.
It is often used as the lower layers of a foam mattress. Two common high-quality types on the market today are Talalay and Dunlop.
Polyurethane Foam (Poly-foam)
This is the cheapest of the foams, as well as the least supportive. It has the most potential for being toxic as it's made from compounds derived from petrochemicals.
It's the least dense of them all, so the durability is lacking (may only last a year), and it decompresses very quickly.
Though it's not a perfect certification for RV mattresses that avoids ALL chemicals, be sure if yours has poly-foam in it that it's certified as CertiPur-US.
Though we've heard that the polyurethane industry founded this certification and so it's not perfect and doesn't protect you from ALL bad chemicals.
Only the worst, we suppose.
Prevent Moisture Under Your Cut Corner RV Mattress
It's not likely that your rig is stored in a climate-controlled space.
Even if it is, there's a chance that moisture might cause mold to form under the mattress where it touches the platform.
Because of this, RVers buy the HyPUR-Flow moisture barrier from Tochta.
HyPUR-Flow moisture barrier from Tochta
Truckers and RVers use this to allow airflow under the mattress and prevent moisture build-up.
It works in all temperatures and comes in any shape you desire.
Be aware that it will elevate your mattress by 1/2 inch.
Anything that allows air to get under your mattress will help prevent mold.
The Two Companies We Recommend Ordering Corner Cut RV Mattresses From
The best two companies to order a corner cut RV mattress from are:
Both companies offer custom sizes as well as custom corner cuts. Sure, there's a little extra cost for the cuts, but it's very reasonable.
Don't forget that Mattress Insider (MI) also sells RV mattress-sized toppers.
Let's look at how easy it is to order custom corner RV mattresses from both companies.
Tochta's Custom Size Mattress Builder With Cut Corners
Tochta's website couldn't be more straightforward. They only offer three products which is a great start.
You won't get analysis paralysis!
There's no huge decisions to make. You either want the best value, the most popular, or the one that is customizable on both sides of the bed (so two people can have their ideal sleeping areas).
No more partner fights about getting a soft or firm bed for the camper.
Tochta's custom mattress order page is shown below. You can visit the page here.
Tochta's page for ordering a custom mattress
Select the mattress model you want, enter the width, length, and thickness, and then click on the corner or corners you need to make dimensions of, and you're done!
You'll see the price changing as you enter your numbers and 'make' the cuts.
Click 'add to cart' and continue with checking out!
Mattress Insider's Custom Mattress Builder With Cut Corners
MI's web-designed mattress builder is almost identical to Tochta's. It also allows you to build a custom corner cut mattress.
The process is almost the same as Tochta.
The order page is shown below and you can visit it here.
Mattress Insider's page for ordering a custom mattress
You're limited on a few things here, though. First, you have 4 products to choose from. Great start.
However, you can only select the thickness of the most luxurious of the four. Also, you cannot get a mattress with a notched corner via this page, but you can with Tochta.
Like Tochta, the price changes as you make changes to the page.
When finished, click 'add to cart' and check out! It will arrive in a few weeks.
Where To Get RV Cut Corner Sheets
Yes, both Tochta and MI sell sheets that have custom corners as well!
Mattress Insider
MI only shows three sheets sizes with a 10" radius on the 'foot' ends of the sheet.
- Queen
- Short queen
- King
Meaning the fitted sheet has 10" radii rounded corners on one end (two corners).
They DO offer full customization of sheets.
However, you must call them to do the full custom ordering for your corner-cut RV mattress sheets.
The order page is shown below and you can visit it here.
Mattress Insider's page for ordering sheets
Tochta Mattresses
The Tochta interface is similar to the MI interface.
However, they offer full customization of sheets needing cut corners.
You choose your color, size, thickness, corners, and finish your order.
Tochta's custom sheet builder page is shown below and you can visit it here.
Tochta's page for ordering custom sheets
What MI Does Better
What Tochta Does Better
What About Alternative Sheet Solutions?
You don't HAVE to have sheets for your RV bed. I (Kelly) ditched my camper bed sheets long ago. It was too hard to put the fitted sheet on.
Instead, I placed a quilt on the bed and used a duvet on top.
I line up the quilt, so it just covers the exposed part of my mattress that is surrounded by three walls, and it looks nice!
You might be able to do something similar, even with your RV mattress corner cut.
Or, if you have the right-sized bed, look at Beddy's or QuickZip to replace your sheets.
A corner-cut mattress may still work OK with one of those solutions.
Quilt on bottom, duvet (yellow) stuffed against the wall. No sheets at all!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Cut An RV Mattress?
Oh, if you want to cut your RV bed yourself, get a long serrated bread knife.
It should do the job. Even better, use an electric one. You can use a electric carving knife as well. Camp Addict co-founder Marshall has used one of these to cut foam for cushions and it should work just fine for a mattress.
Can I Cut The Corner Off A Mattress?
Yes, you can try cutting the corner off to make it an RV mattress with cut corner. This is easiest if it's made only from foam.
You could do the same with an innerspring mattress, but it's going to be more difficult. It will also look damaged, with the open side visible to RV occupants. And the innerspring coils might not want to stay inside the mattress.
You'll probably have a fitted sheet covering it, but still... If you have a used one you want to try, what's the loss?
If you cut the ends off a new mattress, remember you can't return it once you've cut into it.
You may have bought or built a van that needs custom mattress corners.
Conclusion
Replacing a corner-cut mattress in your RV isn't a difficult endeavor. All it takes is knowing where to order it and you must take a few measurements.
There are a few alternatives to ordering a new camper mattress with a cut corner. You can use the existing one with a topper, or you can try using a mattress you already have and cut it to fit. (Works best with all foam mattresses.)
There is more than one option when you have a junky stock bed. Now you know what you need to get and where to get it!
Camp on and be happy!
Author: Kelly Beasley
I dedicated myself to living the full-time RV life for over 6.5 years, immersing myself in the unique quirks and joys of the boondocking lifestyle and gaining a wealth of knowledge and experience along the way. In December 2020, my business partner and I made the transition to part-time RVing, but in January 2023, we hit the road once again, this time in our trusty vans. My mission is to help others embrace the RVing lifestyle with confidence and excitement, armed with the knowledge and resources needed to make the most of their adventures. I believe that the more you know, the more you can truly appreciate and enjoy the freedom and flexibility of the open road.