Velcro to secure sleeping pad

[Don Burton]

Has anyone used Velcro to secure their sleeping pad to their shelter floor or ground sheet? I'm thinking of placing 2 short strips of female (soft side) Velcro to my shelter floor. About 3 inches in length. Then placing 2 similar side pieces of make Velcro to the bottom of my sleeping pad (neoair xlite). This would be the self adhesive type of Velcro.

I have already put a few "dots" of silicon on my pad to prevent it from sliding but it doesn't seem to work well enough. If I'm camped on a slight slope I always seem to wake in the middle of the night with my feet/sleeping bag jammed against my shelter wall.

[David Thomas]

That might work well for slight slopes. Velcro on the edges of inflatable sleeping pads works really well to keep two of them together when sharing a tent as a couple.

[Sam Riggle]

I cut out a 12"x6" piece of that tacky non slip matting stuff made for lining drawers and cabinets. It weighs less than 2oz and when centered under the pad, works very well too keep it from sliding.

May be a bit less trouble than Velcro.

[Franco Darioli]

Don,
not clear if you already have striped/dotted the tent floor as well but if you already have done that I would too suggest you try the anti-slip mats first.

[Rob P]

Sam,

Where do you get that stuff….Bed Bath and Beyond maybe?

[Kenneth Jacobs]

I'm already carrying 1/2 a TaR Z-Seat as my sit pad and back pad on my pack…why not slap it under your sleeping mat at your hips or shoulders, I say, I say, I say! Triple use. Done.

…I'm of the belief that Velcro has no place in backpacking. Eventually falls apart with enough pulls (loops fray all over and fuzzy up), hook side feels awful against chapped hands and snags on all sorts of gear (gloves, shirt sleeves, socks, etc.)

HTH

KJ

[Don Burton]

Great ideas. No, I haven't put silicon on the tent floor, just the pad. I will try that first, then Sam mat idea if I'm still sliding.

[michael levi]

Silicone on you air pad makes more sense than the floor.

The reason is when it's on your mat you are always using % 100 of the silicone grip in the best spot. On the tent floor it will move 1 inch from the ideal spot and you might only be using % 25 because of the placement and the air pad baffles going up and down.Effectivley cutting contact by % 50 twice.

On a cuben floor I would use 2 stick on loops and tie a bungee across the pad.

A good option is to carry a 3 to 4 ounce 1/8 foam pad. They have lots of benefits including grip.

[Tom D.]

"Where do you get that stuff….Bed Bath and Beyond maybe?"

---

I see it in most all Dollar stores (99 Cents Only, Dollar Tree, etc.), as well as Walmart, Target, etc. I've seen people use it to line wheelchair seats to make it easier for an elderly person to stay upright without their bottom sliding forward on the seat.

I have some at home but never thought of trying it in my bivy. Good idea.

[Sam Riggle]

I think you can get it at most stores that have kitchen supplies. Also try Wally World. It works remarkably well. For me at least.

[Roger Caffin]

I put thin stripes of silicone down the length of the mat, and thin stripes of silicon across the groundsheet. +10 g ?
We rarely slide.

Cheers

[Bob Moulder]

silicone dots

Probably worth a shot, but it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the tent floor to make sure it doesn't slide along with your Neoair and put stress on the seams between the floor and walls of the shelter. I've experienced the Cuben floor of my Duplex sliding significantly on fairly dry grass, and on snow as well. Puts a scary amount of tension on the netting in the corners.

FWIW, I did some swatch tests with SilNet and SeamGrip some time back and found that SilNet (silicone based) was best for silnylon but SeamGrip was better for everything else I tried it with, including Cuben. SeamGrip takes a lot longer to cure and sticks to itself the first several uses, but in the long run it stays put much better.

[Lisa B]

That's what I feel like between my ZPacks sleeping bag, my 3/4 neo air, the cuben floor, and even my inflatable medical pillow inside the inside-out cuben stuff sack pillow case. Nothing wants to stay put and things keep popping out off over under, you name it. I end up sprawled out half on half off with limbs spread including throwing a leg out of the unzipped sleeping bag just trying to hold everything down! Granted, I do toss and turn a lot when I sleep.

Looking at some of these ideas and trying to decipher the best plan. I don't understand this one in terms of what it is and how it works: "On a cuben floor I would use 2 stick on loops and tie a bungee across the pad"??? Hmm, I don't think I slep in the same spot every time depending on the ground under me, the rain direction, etc.

I have the seam grip. Considering what to do with it. Thinking of only putting it on the pad. Probably both sides since I can't stay on top of it in my sleeping bag either. Dots, circles, stripes? If putting it on the cuben floor too, what happens over time as far as dirt being stuck to it?

I also bought the 1/8" solid (no holes) foam drawer liner from Walmart and cut about a 12×18 square out of it. I think I got the solid vs holey version thinking that I might have more of a dual purpose for it. Perhaps as a sit pad or knee pad, but I have never used it that way yet. Curious, what's the difference between closed cell vs open cell. Will this thing just soak up water if I carry it on the outside of my pack in the rain? Anyway I thnk I used it one night between my sleeping bag and my neo air. It marginally helped, but I toss and turn a lot and it was another thing to keep track of during the night.

I think I'm determined to figure out how to make it work without adding weight. Thus the image of the backpacker with limbs sprawled everywhere trying to hold it all down underneath them!

The inflatable medical pillow doesn't really work in the Zpacks pillow stuff sack either. I am trying to use this super light weight pillow because I am only carrying clothes I can wear all at once if necessary so I potentially won't have any extra to use as a pillow. The medical pillow inflates/deflates easily with a straw. There are a couple problems. It doesn't stay in the stuff sack and I he cuben side of the stuff sack doesn't stay on top of my neo air, hence it's honored place in the greased pig sleep system. I wish the Velcro worked inside out too to seal the top of the sack. There are loops so I put a mini carabiner thru both loops on the end. Problem is, I really haven't found a way to make it a comfortable pillow to sleep on. I think it's not squishy enough and my head keeps rolling off no matter how little I inflate it. Anyway I don't want to hijack this thread to talk about ultralight pillows, but like I said, it's all part of my greased pig sleep system!

I want to know what really works for people! I think the neo air xlite is really too small and slippery for someone that is a side sleeper that tosses and turns but I don't want you carry anything heavier and I need the cushioning.

[Yoyo]

I have never tried velcro directly on the floor but am tempted to try it. I would suspect that it would work better on a cuben tent floor / groundsheet than silnylon. A silnylon floor with a slick pad like the Exped UL7 is just asking for a slip n slide experience.

The solution that I've been using is to use a GG 1/8" thinlight pad and attach it to your inflatable pad using velcro. This works quite well. You can cut the pad up depending on how much additional warmth you need. It also prevents your inflatable pad from getting punctures. For attaching your pillow, you should use Tenacious Tape and hole punch holes, using a bit of shockcord and cord locks to attach it to loops sewn into the corners of your pillow. I need to post a video on all this…

[Bob Moulder]

I want to know what really works for people! I think the neo air xlite is really too small and slippery for someone that is a side sleeper that tosses and turns but I don't want you carry anything heavier and I need the cushioning.

I'm also a tosser-turner and might wake up on my back, either side or belly, and also found that the Neoair xlite torso just didn't work for me… always squirting out from under me, or something dangling off somewhere.

What works for me: Neoair Trekker torso/wide version (47" x 25") and Exped UL pillow, size medium, secured to the air mat with a modified elastic strap that EE uses with their quilts. At night, pack goes under the legs with my CCF sit pad on top of the pack. If the weather is colder I'll use the pad straps on the EE quilt, but this time of the year it's warm so I don't use any straps with the quilt. Although the Trekker weighs 13oz vs 8oz for the xlite, the extra weight is worth it IMO for a good night's sleep.

I also applied a few stripes of SeamGrip to the bottom of the Trekker and it stays in place.

[Sam Riggle]

Mr. Moulder, I now see what you mean when you say the small XLite squirts out from under you. As long as I don't thrash around in my sleep like I normally do, it's great, but once the thrashing commences, the pad pops out from underneath me. And I'm a very narrow person too boot. Really wish there was a torso wide XLite!

[Don Burton]

Wow, I didn't know so many people slid like me. Again, a bunch of great ideas. I like Roger's idea of cross beading the seam grip.

Also, there is a type of Velcro where the hook/hard side/male is different than the original more common type. It doesn't scratch you and is lower profile. It works with the traditional female/loop side. Unfortunately, it will still snag of synthetic fabrics of garments like fleece or wicking tees.

[Franco Darioli]

I made a video clip 4 years ago showing how striping both the floor and the mat with silicone works .
Here it is :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPYPN3CeQCI
Doing them crosswise as suggested by Roger gives the best chance of a good grip without having to fully coat either mat or floor.

[Sam Riggle]

But wouldn't trail dust and other detritus stick to all the silicone blobs? My guess would ne not enough to matter since Roger still uses it. Maybe depends on the silicone?

[Franco Darioli]

Dust can stick a bit but you can wipe it off with a wet cloth.
(not so easy to do with Velcro…)

[Roger Caffin]

I find a 1/8″ CCF mat under the airmat to be an excellent solution.
Apart from the small extra bit of insulation, it adds considerably to the life of the airmat – and the combination does not slide around.

Cheers

[Author]

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