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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CHEAP ADJUSTABLE BEDS

I will begin with a little warning about the expression ‘You get what you pay for’. This is quite often the case. Example, a cheap 500 piece socket set made in China for £5.00 and twenty litres of diesel. What did you expect when the ratchet slipped on the first nut you tried to undo? However, there are unscrupulous firms that have literally cashed in on this expression. By over inflating their prices to the public and some impressive marketing, customers are led to believe that the more they spend the better the product. An example which is totally unrelated to adjustable beds which hopefully means I am less likely to get in trouble again. Stella beer, the marketing is great, the slogan ‘reassuringly expensive’

But ask any of the lads what pint they really fancy, and it will be one of the normal cheap beers. Sorry, none of the beers are cheep anymore.  The one that will order the Stella is the one trying to impress his mates that he is a connoisseur even if he hates the taste Back to the adjustable beds.
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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. Read the rest of this entry »

Cheap adjustable beds on the internet are exactly what they say except they don’t mention cheap quality. It is possible for an manufacturer to cut out the wholesaler to reduce the price. Retailers are not in the same position, and I won’t say “fortunate position”. Adjustable bed manufacturers supply retailers and work on very small profit margins only to be told that they will not buy from them  if the manufacturer sells direct to the public. The reason is simple, after adding the retail profit margin and accounting for the colossal overheads of a retail shop, there is no way that a retailer can afford to compete with the adjustable bed manufacturer.

So how does a retailer reduce their selling price? Simple, reduce the buying price of the adjustable bed mattress and base. The manufacturer is already supplying at a low profit margin in order to compete, so to reduce the price he must reduce the quality. Something has to give, you can’t get something for nothing. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Low Entry Nursing Care Beds

New regulations for lifting and handling of patients by carers and nurses mean changes to the standard profiling and lifting beds. A conventional electric adjustable bed that is also a height adjustable bed and designed for nursing care generally  has a height of 40cm from the floor to the bed platform. A risk assessment carried out in a care home or nursing home will generally identify a percentage of residents at risk of falling out of these beds. The cot sides that are intended to prevent falls can actually increase the problem. Information from a local county council relating to the use of bed safety rails.     “Bed safety rails should not be prescribed where the bed occupant is likely to

climb over them to get out. This would be seen as restraint as well as increase risk of injury.”

In other words, if the occupant were to wake up confused and disorientated or feel the need to get out of bed, they may panic and try to climb over the cot side.

Their Recommendation,

• Lowering bed height, if bed is adjustable or raised on blocks. Beds

should always be left at lowest setting to reduce risk of injury from falls.

• Putting a crash mat on the floor next to the bed.(consider trip hazard)

Better than this is the use of a low entry nursing care bed. The low entry nursing care bed should generally be used without the bed safety rails or cot sides raised. The Casa Med Classic FS Low http://www.bed-adjustable.co.uk/products/Nursing-Beds-Medical-Care-Mattresses.html is a particularly good looking homely style nursing care bed which looks better with the safety sides in the down position giving the appearance of a conventional bed frame. For a small saving the Casa Med Classic FS Low entry nursing care bed can be supplied without safety rails.

The low entry nursing care beds should also be used in conjunction with a safety mat or crash mat. A risk assessment should always be carried out for the correct safe product application and use.

Safety Mat or Crash Mat

Crash Mat

Casa Med Classic FS Low bed (This is the better one)

High Quality Low Entry Nursing Bed

Casa Med Classic FS Low bed

The new Casa Med Classic FS Low bed has been specifically designed to ensure the bed complies with the medical directive by maximising the safe working height of 63cm and ensuring the lowest possible position of 23cm is achieved. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Choosing the QUALITY of your waterbed mattress

We all know that spring and foam mattresses give a relatively short period of supportive life before they begin to sag. A waterbed mattress however can last much longer, cost much less and give better support.

Standard waterbed mattress range:

*made from thinner vinyl than our deluxe range of waterbed mattresses.

*Cut smaller to reduce material cost.

*Made from a lower cost general purpose vinyl.

*Comes with a standard two year guarantee.

*Life expectancy, four years.

Deluxe waterbed mattress range

*£50 More expensive than our standard range of  mattresses.

*Made from thicker vinyl than our standard range.

*Generously cut to fit, ensuring perfect support.

*Made with vinyl specifically developed for waterbed mattresses.

*Comes with a standard five year guarantee.

*Life expectancy, eight years plus.

Why do we sell two qualities of waterbed mattress? Read the rest of this entry »