Choosing a campervan mattress and cushions

A van bed or bench is almost never a standard size, so its cushions are made to measure. Three things decide how they feel and how long they last: the kind of foam, how thick it is and how dense it is. One set of rules covers fire safety, and it is less clear-cut for campervans than people often say.

Start from your layout

The Rig builder lists every bed and seat top in your layout, long side first, in millimetres. Before you order, measure what you actually built, not the drawing. A cushion a few millimetres small still fits inside its cover. One that is too big bulges.

Sleeping and sitting want different foam

To sleep on: reflex foam, a springy open-cell polyurethane, makes the core. A memory foam layer of 25 to 50 mm on top makes it softer. Memory foam works as a topping, not as the whole mattress. On its own it is soft, and it firms up when the van is cold.
To sit on: use firmer, denser foam than the mattress, so you do not sink to the board when two people sit on the front edge.

Thickness

Bed: 100 to 150 mm is usual in a van. Deeper feels better, but every extra 10 mm comes off the headroom over the bed. The Rig builder's headroom figures assume 100 mm.
Seat: 75 to 100 mm. Much under that and you feel the board.

These are the figures foam sellers commonly give. No standard sets them.

Density and firmness

Density, in kg/m³, tells you how long foam will last more than how firm it feels. Firmness is a separate figure: a hardness in newtons, or a seller's word such as "medium firm". As a rough guide from one UK foam seller's own grades, seating foams sell at about 38 to 40 kg/m³, reflex foam at about 40 kg/m³ and memory foam at about 50 kg/m³. Ask whoever makes yours for both figures.

Fire safety: what the UK rules actually say

The rules. The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988, as amended. The latest change came into force on 30 October 2025.
What they cover. Furniture "ordinarily intended for private use in a dwelling", including cushions and mattresses. The regulations say a dwelling includes any caravan but not motor vehicles. So cushions for a towed caravan are covered. A campervan is a motor vehicle, and the text does not settle whether cushions built for one are covered. We have not found official guidance either way.
Who they bind. Businesses that supply the goods. A shop that sells foam knowing it will fill a cushion must supply foam that passes the regulations' ignition test (the trade calls it "Crib 5"; foam sold for it is often called CMHR, combustion-modified high-resilience foam). As we read the regulations, they put no duty on you if you make cushions for your own van. Asking for compliant foam and a fire-resistant cover or interliner is still sensible in a small space with one way out.
Labels. New cushions and upholstered furniture carry a permanent label that starts "CARELESSNESS CAUSES FIRE" and names the maker, the batch, the filling and the cover. Mattresses are exempt from it. The shop "display" label was removed on 30 October 2025.
Vehicle rules. DVLA's guidance on converting a vehicle into a motor caravan sets no rule for foam. The interior-materials fire standard for buses and coaches (UN ECE R118) does not apply to campervans.
What may change. The government consulted from March to June 2026 on replacing these regulations with ones based on a smoulder test. Nothing had been decided or dated when we checked on 3 November 2026.

This is a plain reading of the rules, not legal advice.

Getting it made

For the bed: a made-to-measure mattress. You give the maker the length, width and shape (a rectangle, a corner cut out, a curved end) and choose the depth. The Foam People make caravan and campervan mattresses this way, and toppers to the same size if you want one on top of an existing mattress. You send them a plan with your sizes.

For the seats: a local foam cutter or upholsterer can cut seating foam to size and cover it.

Whoever makes yours, ask which fire test their foam passes.

Get a mattress made to size →

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Sources

Read on 3 November 2026.