This information is aimed at anyone buying a new water bed or replacing an existing waterbed mattress.

Let’s assume you have never owned a water bed before. It is most likely that a friend has suggested it to you because they have heard you moaning about your bad back. So, who can give you impartial advice? High & Dry Manufacturing Ltd have been supplying retailers with individual and dual waterbed mattresses for the past twenty three years and have feedback from thousands of very happy customers.

Starting with your choice of mattress stability. Check out our short youtube video for a little guidance. Ninety percent of our retail customers will choose the super stable waterbed mattress, often referred to as 95% or one second. All these terms relate to the time it takes for the water movement to settle.

Comfort and support are achieved by adjusting the water levels. If the bed is for yourself as an individual then adjusting the water bed mattress to suit is straight forward. Adding water will make the mattress firmer whilst removing water will make it softer.
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NEW ‘No Sweat’ Mattress Protector BANISHES SWEATY DREAMS – SIMPLY! NO sweat – a good night’s sleep just got a lot less sweaty thanks to the folks at High & Dry Waterbeds and Back Care Beds, Portsmouth.

Their latest product – ‘No sweat Mattress Pad’. The anti perspiration mattress protector helps turn a sleeper’s worst nightmare in to a sweat-free experience, night after sweat-free night. Now that has got to be the coolest news for thousands of sweat-plagued sleepers.

Using the latest spacer fabric technology, High and Dry’s innovative new ‘Anti Perspiration Mattress Pad’ aims to enhance the sleep of every owner of a waterbed mattress, adjustable bed mattress and conventional divan mattress– simply and at great value that won’t cause ripples.

Like most effective, science-driven breakthroughs, this one fuses simplicity with industry-leading research and with proven results, you can wave goodbye to uncomfortable tossing and turning caused by sweating in bed. Attractive, 3D-style, spacer fabric is easy to fit and guaranteed to add to your quality of sleep whether you have a temperature-controlled waterbed or an adjustable bed.

Key to the product’s success is the manufacturing process which features vertical strands for optimum loft, and air circulation literally creating an air gap between the mattress surface and your body.

Ventilating air gap

This is particularly helpful with memory foam mattresses which have a reputation for causing sweating. The no sweat mattress protector can be invaluable for a relatively low cost. Just think of the sweat-free ‘Anti Perspiration Pad’ experience as yet another fabulous reason for joining the growing number of satisfied customers who have conventional divan beds, memory foam mattresses or super comfortable waterbeds and adjustable beds.
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A short story cut long!

Should we move the retail of waterbeds and adjustable beds from Southsea high street to our factory in Chichester? 

High & Dry Waterbeds had it’s first waterbed shop in the Tricorn shopping centre, Some of you may remember it. That was in 1989 twenty two years ago. Electric adjustable beds and nursing care beds were introduced shortly after and so High & Dry Waterbeds became High & Dry Manufacturing Ltd.

Rather than throwing money away paying rent, High & Dry Waterbeds purchased a retail shop on Milton Road, Portsmouth. Back Care Beds purchased the shop on Elm Grove, Southsea. At the time both were good thriving high street locations.

It is assumed that we must find a solution to the decline of the high street but maybe it is just evolution. Why is it such a problem that the local butchers close?

Thirteen years ago we took the decision to merge our two shops for a number of reasons. Firstly was a severe lack of parking, and as we were so close to Portsmouth football ground, on a weekend when Pompey were playing at home parking was almost impossible. (more…)

No Sweat Mattress Pad

A common disturbance to a good night sleep is sweating. The cause may be that you have a mattress that does not allow air circulation between yourself and the mattress surface, or that there is no air circulation within the mattress itself. A ‘No Sweat Mattress Pad’ is the best mattress protector to give mattress ventilation. The way the ‘no sweat mattress pad’ works is to simply create an air gap between you and the mattress surface

If it is so wonderful, why did no one think of it before?

Until recent advances in material technology, most mattress protectors were made from a combination of polyester and cotton (poly cotton) with a layer of polyester fiber quilted in between. This serves its purpose quite well as the fiber layer creates an air gap which does reduce the sweat problem. Unfortunately laying on the mattress pad or mattress protector compresses the fiber and so it is no longer a breathable mattress protector. The ‘no sweat mattress pad’ is different and is only made possible through very recent technological advances. This hi-tech material solves the problem of sweating by actually creating an air gap and maintaining an air flow even when you are laying on it.

In these pictures it is possible to see how the air gap in the ‘No Sweat Mattress Pad’ is created by a pile yarn holding the soft top and bottom layers apart

Amazing new no sweat mattress pad to reduce sweating

This pile yarn is controlled during its manufacture to create the perfect hardness, loft and spring characteristics to give the perfect properties for mattress ventilation.

A No Sweat Mattress Pad gives the best mattress ventilation

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Read along side our youtube video Link

1. Apologies for the poor quality of this video, but we have created this video to help our customers to fit a replacement waterbed mattress.

2. This is a particularly good example of a waterbed mattress that needs to be replaced. It is about ten years old and has not had conditioner added regularly. As a result the PVC has become very brittle and actually cracked. The brittling effect of the PVC causes the mattress to tighten up and shrink. This puts a tension in the surface of the waterbed mattress reducing the comfort and support. It is rare that a  mattress would get this bad because most people would have replaced it before it got to this condition as it is no longer giving the superb comfort and support that it did when it was new

3. Having established that the customer needs a replacement waterbed mattress we will need to empty the old one. First thing to do is unplug or disconnect the waterbed heater.
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High & Dry Waterbeds set up in business in 1988 during the reign of Margaret Thatcher, we only intended to sell to established waterbed shops. There were a lot of retailers selling through magazines like Exchange and Mart and other local free magazines. High & Dry made the decision that we would not supply these retailers because we did not want to upset the high street shops and at that time there were quite a few. The British Waterbed association set the requirements for membership. For a short time John Boyton-Salts, director of High & Dry Waterbeds was on the committee.

High & Dry Manufacturing Ltd decided to lease a huge shop to sell directly to the public and double as our trade showroom. By showing a full range of mattresses in a range of hardside and softside waterbeds. We were now both a retailer and manufacturer of waterbeds.

Every waterbed retailer advertised with Yellow Pages. Everybody resented the fact that Yellow pages could charge what they wanted, and did. Since the evolution of the internet I would compare Yellow Pages and Yell to a school bully that has just got beaten up the school geek. (more…)

Question and Answer for waterbed mattresses

Found you on the web. Can you help?

I have a waterbed with softside support for the mattress.  It has thinner foam at the top of the mattress level and thicker at the bottom.  So the waterbed mattress has a larger rectangular area on the top where we lay, and smaller where the waterbed heater goes. It also has maximum restriction or stability, so no waves, so we do not disturb each other.

The waterbed mattress is 10 years old and I need a replacement . Can you supply / make one for that?  It is about 5’3″ wide on the top surface, maybe 4’11″ at heater level.

Thanks Customers name Removed
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High & Dry Waterbeds have been supplying waterbed mattresses to trade and retail customers in the UK since 1988, twenty three years so far. Specialist retailers were our main source of revenue but the internet seems to be changing that. Nearly everyone has access to the internet now days and with a little common sense and a little research consumers are able to cut out the middle man. What we are finding is that trade customers that had a waterbed shop years ago found that profit margins have become far lower than those of conventional pocket spring mattresses. As a specialist shop will only sell enough waterbeds to break even at best, many have opted to quit their shops and set up an online retail business trading from home. And who is to blame them? Here is the problem. Because one retailers photograph of a waterbed mattress is much the same as anyone else’s photograph, the retailer that gets the order is generaly the one with the lowest price.

So how can they sell a waterbed mattress at such a low price? Simple, just sell a cheaper quality.  When they had their shop and relied on customer feedback, they would never have dreamed of selling low cost waterbed mattresses because they relied on customer recommendation. The internet is a fantastic tool, but without doubt it has cheapened many products, not just waterbeds. On the other hand, retailers that charge extortionately high prices simply because they can due to lack of competition and perceived exclusivity will soon be found out.

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Safety liners for waterbeds

As the name suggests, a PVC membrane between the waterbed mattress and the waterbed heater. On average the mattress contains almost half a metric tonne of water. If as a result of age, a manufacturing fault or accidental damage the mattress were to leak. Imagine the damage that amount of water would cause. That is the reason that regardless of which type of waterbed you have, it will always have a safety liner.

There are two basic types of waterbed. Hardside and softside . In the early days, every waterbed had a solid frame which contained the mattress. Showing my age now but I remember installing waterbeds in California in 1986 (Year of the Mexico world cup) and having to nail a plastic extrusion all around the top edge of the hardside frame. Then tuck the vinyl sheet safety liner into the flap in the extrusion. This was ingeniously named the ‘tuck-a-liner’. The disadvantage of this type of hardside safety liner was that it was very time consuming to install. Over a period of time the plastic extrusion would become brittle and crack, nails would work loose, this not ideal when in contact with a waterbed mattress. Since those carefree days of being a bum, I have grown up (a little) and safety liners have improved. The safety liner is welded to incorporate a stiff cardboard edge which stands vertically up to the height of the top of the waterbed mattress. Again ingeniously named the ‘Stand up safety liner’

As you can see from the picture,

Hardside Waterbed safety Liner

the stand up safety liner is generously cut to ensure the welded corners fit snug in to the corners of the waterbed frame. (more…)

A short story cut long.

Should we move the retail of waterbeds and adjustable beds from Portsmouth to Chichester? First a brief outline of the business structure.

High & Dry Waterbeds had it’s first waterbed shop in the Tricorn shopping centre, Some of you may remember it. That was in 1989 twenty two years ago. Electric adjustable beds and nursing care beds were introduced shortly after and so High & Dry Waterbeds became High & Dry Manufacturing Ltd. High & Dry Waterbeds, Back Care Beds and British Care Supplies all became divisions and trading names of High & Dry Manufacturing Ltd.

The manufacture of waterbeds and adjustable beds was in our factory in Chichester, West Sussex.

Rather than throwing money away paying rent, High & Dry Waterbeds purchased a retail shop on Milton Road, Portsmouth. Back Care Beds and British Care Supplies purchased the shop on Elm Grove, Southsea.

Thirteen years ago we took the decision to merge the two shops for a number of reasons. Firstly was a severe lack of parking, and as we were so close to Portsmouth football ground, on a weekend when Portsmouth were playing at home parking was almost impossible. This is not good when customers want to spend time trying all the different waterbeds. Secondly, Portsmouth City Council issued planning permission for all businesses in the Milton area of Portsmouth for change of use. On reflection I would say that this was the point at which I realised that the days of the high street shop were numbered. One by one small lock up shop owners around our waterbed shop bit the bullet and cashed in. The shops that had once been the heart of the local community were replaced with blocks of tiny apartments. Well, each apartment has a young couple, and each has their own car, worsening the parking problems. Call it progress or changing with the times, but the move was very good for us. We converted the shop into four flats which give a nice income.

With the adjustable beds and waterbeds now merged in Elm Grove, Southsea and doing rather well, it was time to purchase the freehold for our manufacturing. After a lot of searching we found the perfect property, in the village of Almodington near Chichester, West Sussex. We promptly gutted and practically rebuilt it. Highly efficient, production times of both waterbeds and adjustable beds reduced significantly. A trade showroom was set up with a range of our most popular waterbeds, adjustable beds and nursing care beds. As sales of both waterbeds and particularly adjustable bed mechanisms increased mainly to trade customers it became necessary to establish our own production in Eastern Europe. This is the result of successive British governments over regulating and over taxing small businesses in the UK. It is also a springboard to enable High & Dry Manufacturing to supply waterbeds and adjustable beds into Germany. Italy, France etc.

So now we have our trade showroom at our Chichester workshop. History is beginning to repeat it’s self. Traffic is becoming a nightmare. If you live outside of Portsmouth, it is just as easier to drive to Chichester to see our range of waterbeds, adjustable beds and nursing care beds.

We have already been offered very good money to sell the freehold waterbed and adjustable bed shop. If we sell the waterbeds and adjustable bed shop now we will be financially very stable with greatly reduced overheads. We have a data base of over eight thousand existing customers. It would be easy to contact them for future business, but what percentage of these customers would not receive the news.

If we do sell now we could lose a lot of business having become the only specialist waterbed and adjustable bed retailer in Portsmouth and Southsea. Despite having been offered very good money to sell, especially in the current financial climate, we have decided not to sell for the time being.

If the situation changes, we will contact all of our customers by post, email and phone.