12 April 18 - Webbed beds? Yes or No?

Bouncy castle Webbed beds on bouncy castles & inflatables... Yes or No?

Bouncy castle webbed beds: This has been a major topic of conversation in the industry for many many years. Some bouncy castle manufacture companies claim that webbed beds on your bouncy castles and inflatables are the best and that other bouncy castle manufacturers who don't web the beds are cowboys.

Others claim that webbing weakens the bed as your effectively piercing the material between 6 & 8 times depending on how the bed is constructed and will not last as long.

The answer is unfortunately that there is no answer and the decision remains solely with you as the client. All we can do as a bouncy castle manufacturer is outline the good & bad points between the methods available and let you decide for yourselves.

I myself own a very very large hire company with over 300 items in my fleet www.fun-bounce.co.uk & when I manufacture bouncy castles & inflatables for myself, I do not manufacture a single item with a webbed bed. Not even in my range of adult inflatables, although I sometimes use the hybrid method, Yet my predecessor owns a small hire company does web his beds so it just goes to show how varied an opinion can be.

But how do I know whether to choose a webbed bed or not?

Well in order to understand the webbed bed argument, you must first understand how the different types of bouncy castle beds are manufactured. We have compiled a number of diagrams below to help you work out which methods you prefer and if your still unsure, please feel free to give us a call, email or visit & we'd be happy to explain in more detail.

Method 1) Non webbed bouncy castle bed manufacture

A non webbed bouncy castle bed is constructed from the inside of the top bouncy beds, down through the inside of the bouncy castle and out at the bottom edges, sewing the internal ties to top & bottom bed panels as you go along. This method of construction ensures that no seams are visible at all on the top bed yet are easy to reach from the inside should there be a problem at a later date.

This construction method also means that the walls can be sewn to the outer bed panels before the beds are assembled meaning only the bare minimum of material passes through the sewing machine at any one time, again making access to ANY part of the inflatable easy to repair at a later date.

This method also ensures that all entry scaring is left underneath the castle & not visible to your customers (See Diagram below) Repairs to non webbed bed bouncy castles and inflatables are very low cost to repair.

In summary: A Non webbed bed bouncy castle will require a full bed re-stitch through natural wear and tear approximately 25% sooner than a bouncy castle that’s manufactured with a webbed bed, However when it does require one the charge for this will be relatively cheap & approximately 300% cheaper than those with a webbed bed.

Malicious or accidental damage can usually be repaired by yourselves on site (providing you have industrial needle & thread, which can usually be provided by your manufacturer either cheap or free of charge) in order to keep your event going. Or the inflatable can be repaired professionally at a low cost.

If you don’t staff your own equipment at all times and you can’t guarantee your equipment is being looked after whilst you’re not present then a Non webbed bed is the answer for you. Also when the time comes in 5 or 6 years for you to sell your equipment on, A small investment in a full bed re-stitch is what buyers like to see in the used market as it gives them the confidence that the inflatable has been looked after.

Method 2) Webbed bouncy castle bed manufacturer

A webbed bouncy castle bed is manufactured in a completely different way to the other 2 methods.

The bouncy castles top bed is constructed from the OUTSIDE of the top bed as well as the inside.

During manufacture of the bouncy castle bed, The whole top bed is sewn together to make what is essentially a large single reinforced sheet. This sheet then has its walls & towers sewn on flat before the rest of the construction begins.

You now have a giant sheet of material containing walls, toys & towers that is un-accessible from the underside that now attaches to the base of the inflatable.

This construction method means that should a top bouncy bed panel become damaged, the only way to access the seams to carry out a proper repair is to reverse the manufacturing process to get back to the flat sheet (Top Bouncy castle bed).

To get back to the flat sheet, the underside of the inflatable must be taken off to the point where the repair is located along with the nearest wall in order to get the damaged area to a position where it can be placed flat under a sewing machine arm. Unpicking the underside of the inflatable and the walls take 6 times longer to open up than the other methods.

This is why many repairs carried out on webbed bed inflatables have been grabbed from the outside or have glued patched applied to the bouncy beds.

In summary: A webbed bed bouncy castle will look better for longer and last 25% longer before it needs a natural repair through fair wear and tear, However when it does need repairing it will be unpredictable and cost approx 350% more to repair. Malicious or accidental damage is very expensive & repairs are often visible.

If you buy new, replace regular & staff all your own equipment, then webbed beds are the answer. If you’re in it for the long game, this is probably not the option for you.

Method 3) Modern Hybrid Webbed bed manufacture (The best of both worlds)

This method is a bit like method 1, However before manufacture of the bouncy castle starts, a thick webbing material is sewn flat to the edges of the bouncy castle bed panels for extra durability. This technique re-enforces the bed panels before they are sewn intro the inflatable and protects the material from De-lamination as the impact shock from users is absorbed by the webbing, not the bed panels.

A modern webbed bouncy castle bed is again constructed from the inside of the top bouncy beds, down through the inside of the bouncy castle and out at the bottom edges, sewing the internal ties to top & bottom bed panels as you go along. This method of construction ensures that no seams are visible at all on the top bed yet are easy to reach from the inside should there be a problem at a later date.

Again, This construction method also means that the walls can be sewn to the outer bed panels before the beds are assembled meaning only the bear minimum of material passes through the sewing machine at any one time, again making access to ANY part of the inflatable easy to repair at a later date.

This method also ensures that all entry scaring from a repair is left underneath the bouncy castle castle & not visible to your customers (See Diagram below) Repairs to non webbed bed bouncy castles and inflatables are very low cost to repair but have the durability of a webbed bed and can offer the best of both worlds.

In summary: A Modern webbed bed is basically a perfect hybrid within the bouncy castle argument. It has ALL of the good points of a webbed bed with only some of the weak points yet also does away with many of the bad points of a webbed bed too.

A hybrid bed will look better for longer. It will last 90% as long as a webbed bed before it needs a natural repair through fair wear & tear but when a repair is needed, it’s the same low price as a non webbed bed to repair. Malicious or accidental damage can usually again be repaired by yourselves on site in order to keep your event going. Or the inflatable can be repaired professionally at a low cost.

The downside is that it’s a little more expensive to manufacture a bouncy castle with a modern webbed bed as it requires twice the volume of webbing and an increase in labour.

This option was our most popular option last year & we hope this option continues through this season too.

Remember, You can’t eradicate the stress & pressure of someone bouncing on a bouncy castle, without removing the person from the bouncy castle entirely. The same stress & pressure is still applied to the same webbed castle, The Webbing merely relocates the problems.

PLEASE NOTE: Betterbounce also reserve the right to chop and change construction techniques from item to item. Some items are more difficult to produce webbed than others and will cause irreparable issues in the future. As such we opted to leave some methods out of production. If this is a problem, Please let us know prior to manufacture.

Hopefully the above information has brought you up to speed on the REAL facts behind the webbed bed argument. Now you are in possession of the facts I do hope you can make an educated decision on your own. Whatever decision you make, we have fully trained staff who are able to manufacture any bed you wish.

Should you still be confused and undecided, Please feel free to get in touch via details below?

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