Exped sleeping mat and zero moisture allowed in when pumping up

I know it's probably too late, but in my opinion you don't even need all that insulation that the UL if you are going to the rain forest. It's never gets too cold at night unless you are very up in the mountains. However you will be pumping the mattress at night when the air is less warm so I think the amount of water buildup will be minimal. What you can do is to leave the mattress under the sun for a little bit let the air inside warm up and then deflate. Just don't leave it too long in the sun because it's not good for the material. Unfortunately there aren't too many ways around it and honestly I wouldn't worry about it too much. The other option is to buy the Basic UL which does have limited insulation but can be found for half of the price and it's even lighter.

Mik, the instruction sheet states that you can drive out the moisture by running air from a hair dryer set to cool through it. That's what I've been doing, and it's apparently working because the pad hasn't gained any weight since I got it a year ago. Also the company claims that "Exped's proprietary, fabric lamination process creates air tight baffles and prevents moisture build up in the pad from destroying these glues, resulting in no loss of air over time." So I wouldn't worry about moisture trashing the pad.

So basically I can leave the hand pump at home and just breath inflate it for the usual 2 nights we spend out in the wilderness come home hairdryer the moisture out and it will be fine?

Sweet, pump staying home and my kit is even lighter :-).

Thank you.

That's what I've been doing for the past year and the UL7 seems no worse for wear. I had a hard time justifying the weight of the hand pump or pillow pump, but Exped got to me this year with their schnozzle pumpbag. It allows me to eliminate a trash compactor bag from my kit for the same weight(2.3 oz.)and makes inflation very quick and easy. Normally I shy away from gizmos like this, but this one was too clever to resist. I'll report more on it on my blog once I get a chance to use it in this field.

I found a rubber stopper that fit the inflation hole then drilled it out to accept a small tube the hooked a aquarium air pump to it. Kinda high maintance huh.

'I found a rubber stopper that fit the inflation hole then drilled it out to accept a small tube the hooked a aquarium air pump to it. Kinda high maintance huh.'

Not worried about different methods of pumping up but about the moisture getting pumped in weather that is from the moisty breath air or moisty air you are camping in such as a rainforest environment.

Thanks for the response anyway :)

Mark is probably offering another (and interesting) way to dry the pad out unless he has one very long extension cord to carry with him.