I highly doubt that the extra surface area is worth the poor quality an most likely comfort of the improvised mattress. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t buy into all expensive mattresses being better than cheap ones, however, crappy mattresses do exist, I have experienced plenty, and they still all looked better than this.
Not to criticize, but you sound like a can’t-put-the-Kraft-single-cheese-on-if-it-didn’t-come-out-of-the-package-right person. To each their own. This bed might not look “clean” but it does make sense structurally and the author has a complete working knowledge of how his bed works and can do any repair he wishes. It’s the author thinks it’s good, then he can deal with it.