HymerVan Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 There have been threads before about the Duvalay (a combination of a memory foam mattress and a duvet contained within a custom designed cover a bit like a sleeping bag). These are available in 4.5 or 10.5 tog ratings. We are downsizing to a Panel Van next year (East Neuk Fifer M) and are considering buying these now as they are on a discounted offer. We use the van to some extent all the year round, sometimes but not often in low temperatures. We think that the 4.5 will be warm enough most of the time and the 10.5 too warm most of the time but before committing to purchase the 4.5 we wondered if anyone has used that in cold or very cold conditions. We recollect in a previous post that it has been suggested that one effect of the foam is to reflect heat up and thus to give the effect of a higher tog rating than 4.5. See :- http://www.raskelf.com/Caravans_and_Motorhomes/Memory_Foam_Duvalay We would welcome comments from real world users of this product. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 We have two sets of Duvalay covers and one memory foam each and we use our own 4.5 tog duvets from home. That saves having to wash them whilst away as they are a bit of a handful! If need be we could use heavier or lighter duvets as they are not expensive to buy locally. We also carry a couple of blankets but we have never used them yet - on the other hand we have not camped in very cold climes and we leave the heating on a low setting all night if it's a bit chilly, just in case. When it's very hot at night we take the duvets out and just use the covers. The trouble is that we all have different warmth needs and perceptions of hot and cold so what is good for us may not be good for anyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 I dont know anything about Duvalay, but we used 20tog sleeping bags in our boat in winter, and still use them now in the MH , usually right into May.. Good idea to have "Summer" and "Winter" bedding, in my opinion PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tugga Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 We have been away this weekend in our van and we have 4.5 tog quilts with covers. As we don't have the heating on at night because the fan noise keeps me awake. We found that we got cold and had to put a fleece over us too. If you don't go camping this late, I would think the 4.5 tog quilt will be fine, if you do, I am sure the 4.5 tog quilt will be ok and just take a blanket with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 As others have said it all depends on your comfort levels, and how well you tolerate the cold / heat. So I think it's an impossible question to answer, it is a very personal thing, except to say we use a 2 inch memory foam cut to three quarter body length topper and 4.5 tog duvets, and find that the memory foam does reflect heat back up to you, but we find the cold can still strike through from above, I would imagine that is going to replicate the effect of a Duvalay. I think you would be very very unlikely to find a 4.5 tog itself sufficient all year round, we have a backup of two single 13 tog feather duvets and one or both very often end up on top of us as well in early spring / late autumn. Our PVC is supposed to have good insulation, but it's a glorified tin box at the end of the day. We find it helps to close the cab area off completely in cold conditions, and use an external silver screen, mind you that's a pain when wet. The only exception being when on mains hookup when we have two low wattage oil filled rads on overnight. Even then the big guns come out if very cold, even when we had a so called fully winterized coach-built before our PVC. One thing to be aware of is you cannot pack down a memory foam product like you can a duck down duvet if space is an issue, and that will depend on your van of course,and the gear you carry. Sorry not much help really.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 we bought 2 Duvalays in last years Rakself sale, with 4.5 Tog quilts, we camped in November/December last year and didn't feel the cold at all. We would have bought a set of 10.5 this year if we had needed them, but we don't. We also got a spare set of covers,so we can wash them while away, worked fine. And good value in the sale too. ;-) Ray ps. I agree that they take up quite a bit of room,even with the straps around them, but they 'earn' their place,they are so comfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HymerVan Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 Thanks for valued comments and fully appreciate that perception of cold or heat is subjective. Nonetheless there seems to be a view that 4.5 will not be enough in the cold seasons. Have decided to buy 1 x 4.5 tog Duvalay with 2.5cm foam, spare cover and free storage bag for £111.92 x 2 That seems a reasonable deal if it lives up to its claims. If we need to buy the 10.5 tog Duvalay downie later it is £24.95 and is not discounted at the moment. As Tracker suggests perhaps we can use another downie however our household downies seem to be about 132 cm wide compared with the Duvalay at 66 cm , i.e an "ordinary" Downie is twice as wide. Perhaps an ordinary 4.5 tog Downie folded over will give roughly double its thermal effect. Anyway we will experiment and see how we get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 From memory I think the ones we use are single duvets from the twin guest beds in one of the spare rooms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 I note that Raskelf's website currently offers a '"Two Season" Duvalay with both 4.5-tog and 10.5-tog duvets + a free storage bag, all for £113.52. However, the memory foam is 4cm thick, which should improve comfort but may make storage in a panel-van conversion (PVC) tricky. I tend to agree with 1footinthegrave regarding the tog-value. A 4.5-tog quilt is pretty thin and will, for many people, be inadequate for other than warm weather use (That's why Raskelf refer to the 4.5-tog version as a "Summer Duvalay"). Our coachbuilt Hobby is better insulated than a PVC, but I wouldn't choose to sleep under a 4.5-tog quilt unless it's really warm outside. Normally we carry a 4.5-tog (polyester) and a 9-tog (down) duvet and, in mildish weather, we sleep under the 9-tog quilt and on top of the 4.5-tog one. When it gets hot, we swap top quilt for bottom quilt. In cold weather (like now) we replace the 4.5-tg duvet with a 13-tog (polyester) one, sleeping beneath the 9-tog quilt unless it's really cold when we swap the quilts over. As the Hobby has huge amounts of storage (and I'd rather suffocate than be cold) I also carry the 4.5-tog duvet just in case an Ice Age suddenly arrives when we are travelling. Besides individual preferences (and tolerance) of hotness/coldness while sleeping, there's also the matter of nightwear. Sleeping in Damart thermal pajamas is probably worth a couple of togs, while those of us who prefer "au natural" will need a higher-tog duvet to compensate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Not sure how well the Fifer is insulated but if it's anyware near as good as our Globecar the 4.5 would do me for a large part of year, it's a small van and if well insulated will warm up quickly. Personaly as a matter of course I would have 4.5 + 9 allways in van which should give all year round comfort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HymerVan Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Duvalays ordered on Monday and delivered this morning. Impressed with speed and quality !! AND I did not appreciate that the top side of the Duvet part is approximately double the width of the bottom (memory foam) part. Consequently the top part is about the same size as a normal single duvet. This means that a normal duvet should fit into the pocket allowing us in colder weather to take out the 4.5 tog Duvalay duvet and substitute 10.5 tog "ordinary" single duvets which we already have for a spare room. And of course it also means that Trackers comments make more sense !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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