Vacuum packing Duvalays

Due to shortage of storage space in our Symbol I was worried about buying Duvalays. I couldn't  find any info on the web as to whether it was possible to place them in vacuum bags and reduce the packing size considerably. 
I have now had a reply from Duvalay  and they have stated quote :-Thank you for your enquiry. The Duvalay sleeping system can be vacuum packed for storage without any interference to the memory foam.

 
If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.
 
Kind regards,
I will defintely be buying them now. We always take a rechargable hand held dyson with us when we go away so putting them back in the vacuum bags won't be a problem. Or we could use the space bags that can be rolled flat with the one way air vents.

Can you be bothered with all that faffing around twice a day!! 

You might be interested to hear of Quilter's ultimate solution to the problem. (Apologies if it's not Quilter.) She just leaves them out on the side benches, which makes them more comfortable to sit on while solving the storage problem.

I don't know the Symbol, but I think you have one side bench, so at least it might halve the storage problem for you.

Just a thought that might help. 

Regarding the vacuum bags, they do leak eventually. Don't do as I once did, store the van bedding in vacuum bags, then place them in divan bed drawers. I came to reach them out after six months and the drawers proved impossible to pull open. It took me a whole day taking our bed apart to free the drawers...
Al.

bikeralw wrote:Regarding the vacuum bags, they do leak eventually. Don't do as I once did, store the van bedding in vacuum bags, then place them in divan bed drawers. I came to reach them out after six months and the drawers proved impossible to pull open. It took me a whole day taking our bed apart to free the drawers...
Al.

Good tip for anyone with drawers. We don't have drawers in our Symbol so it won't be a problem. I don,t intend leaving them in the MH anyway so we should be OK. Placing them back in a storage bag also won,t take long so I'm not bothered about that, should only take as long as putting them in the Duvalay storage bag.

I should've made clear, in my case the vacuum bags with our van bedding were not stored in the van. The divan bed with built-in drawers is in our house!
Al.

Make you own "Duvalays".

I wanted to buy two to replace  sleeping bags which we have used for 40 years (not the same bags though!). We saw them at that well known establishment at Newark and my wife was not impressed. "I can make them but of better quality".

We had a couple of duvet covers so bought two more to give us a change. Bought 4 single sheets and foam on the internet to make the base and two sets of the double duvets from John Lewis of the type that you can popper together to get 3 different TOG ratings. You can buy a zip making kit to make very long zips to go down the side of the bags for the foam.

Make a bag from the single sheets and zip to put the foam in. Stitch the duvet covers to the bag at one side . Insert foam into bag. Insert duvets into cover. Lo and behold a "Patalay" as I call it - wife is Pat - and all for less than the cost of one basic Duvalay.

Straps were made to go round the rolled up bedding with velcro to fasten. Bags to put the rolled up bedding in were also made.

The bedding goes in the offside bench seat. At night the bedding is rolled out and bed made in a couple of minutes. Takes a bit longer to put away in the morning but no longer than 5 minutes I would say.

Best thing we have done for the van I think. It does help to have handy a handy wife though!

Plus you can make them to any length Peter.

We looked at them (briefly) but I'm quite tall and the whole thing stopped at nipple level so there was no way I could be cosy in one. I phoned and asked if they could supply a longer one, but they were not interested.

It did us a favour however, as we realised we are actually quite comfortable with king size duvets on the double bed. We carry a 4.5 tog and a 9 tog, so we have both those ratings, plus 13.5 tog if it's perishing and the heater fuse has blown . . . again!!

Very little hassle as they store in the overcab locker, and the slowest part of going to bed is spreading out the under sheet! Luckily we find the van bed quite comfortable, otherwise we would have done exactly the same as Peter. 

Indeed, Dave.

Our van has seats of different lengths so we have different length pieces of foam in sheet bags to fit. We are both quite "compact" so in our case we did not have to worry about our height.

I made our own duvalay look alikes too as we dislike polyester bedding. I used 2 single duvet covers per set. This is an improvement on the bought version as the extra width of the bottom duvet cover ( with foam topper in ) can be tucked under the bench seat cushion so preventing  wrinkling as well as protecting the sides of the bench cushion. 

Has the OP tried vacuum- packing them I wonder ? We use both roll- up bags in the van ( spare bedclothes and change of season clothing) and hoover- evacuating at home and I am not convinced we could physically manage a memory foam mattress topper.

Rolled into a throw or bolster cushion cover,  like a cucumber, they make good back cushions for bench seats.

( Isn’t memory foam closed cell  foam ? Can you remove air from it ? )