Quote - Never thought of  "life expectancy" for a waterbed. Same one for 18 years and no leaks. Wait, were the leaks from cats on the bed??? We finally gave it up because we wanted to change a bedroom.

The life expectancy is the warranty period. The mattress was under warranty for 10 years.  After 10 years the vinyl tends to wear thin and seams tend to separate.

I've had problems with the corner seams splitting.  Oddly enough my cats while allowed on the water bed, have never punctured it with their claws.

This is the third mattress that I've had. The first was a free flow. The second was top of the line waveless. That mattress was punctured badly by some movers in 1996 when they didn't box it and instead just sat it on the wheel well inside the truck. Of course it slipped off and got caught on all kinds of spiky things and ripped in a couple dozen places.  It was only 2 years old, so I forced them to replace it (they didn't want to). I got another equivalent.  But I'm worried about that well patched corner seam.

I'll chuck the mattress and sell the frame. It's solid oak so I'll be able to get at least $100.00 for the frame itself.  Someone could use it as a regular bed by putting a mattress inside it instead of a bladder.  I personally want a normal bed that I can move around.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi