any use for a trashed exped synmat??

[Jennifer Mitol]

Not sure if this question is better here or in MYOG, but I was wondering if there was any reason to hang on to my completely trashed exped synmat UL 7?

The edge of it was initially caught in the zipper of my duffel bag by the friendly folks at TSA – THANKS guys! – and that created several small holes that I was able to patch somewhat successfully.

Then about halfway through that same JMT trip this year I obviously caught the underside on SOMETHING and literally shredded four 6-inch long tears in the bottom. I have NO idea how this happened…or what caused it…but there is no doubt SOMETHING tore it. I patched it as best I could with everyone's patch kit and a half roll of gorilla tape. It got me through the JMT but it now weighs about 3 pounds (gorilla tape is TOUGH!) and still doesn't hold air more than 20 minutes.

Can anyone think of a use for it? Spare fabric/custom patches? Valves? Insulation inside?? It's garbage as a mattress, but the closet hoarder in me thinks I shouldn't throw it out. Not sure what it could be of use for….

Any ideas?

[Anonymous]

the pad is very loud. like sleeping on tin foil. it does insulate well though

[BlackHatGuy]

cut it down, seal it up, and use it as a dog bed.

[JP]

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[Stephen M]

Hi Jen,

Might be worth calling Exped as they may give
you a decent discount on a new one if you explained
what Charlie did.

[Jennifer Mitol]

nah, this isn't a charlie problem – i must have set my pad on something in the night and as I moved around it slit all these holes in the bottom.

I did contact them about repair and they said it was well past that point….

They've been super good to me in the past (completely replacing the one that the Chuckster destroyed – for free!) so I can't expect my own negligence (too tired to look over where I was setting up, just put it down and went to sleep) to get me a new pad. Although that's a great idea…

I did buy a new one – but I just wondered if the old one was good for anything. Like spare parts, or like doug said making a dog bed out of it (but he won't sleep on that…so maybe someone else would like it for that?)

[David Ure]

I would cut it down, seal it and make an additional backpad frame for a frameless pack…..

[BlackHatGuy]

"i must have set my pad on something in the night and as I moved around it slit all these holes in the bottom."

Wow, it's a good thing you woke up. I have a feeling Freddy Krueger messed up your mat….

[Gary Dunckel]

I have no idea what the inside of that Synmat looks like, but the MYOG in me thinks that the strong gossamer-like shell material might make a sweet, light stuff sack. On the other hand, if the insulation is actually bonded to the inside of the shell material, maybe there's a low-Clo vest or something that you could make from it. A waterproof Charlie vest, perhaps?

And mail the valve to Doug as a surprise Christmas stocking stuffer…

[twig .]

You can reseal synmats without much problem, just cut it to size , scrape back the insulation an inch or so with your fingernail and reseal with the edge of a hot iron on a hard surface – I have curved the cutoff section to match the top end. Sounds like you may get a sit pillow or beer holder out of what is left!!

[Jerry Adams]

open it up, take pictures, post

it would be interesting to see what's inside

[Jennifer Mitol]

Jerry I like your idea…

I'll take some pictures this weekend and have some fun with it. If I was going to throw it out anyway…..

[Derek M.]

Cut off the offending portion, seal it back up with an iron…

Voila: world's most comfortable UL sit pad!

[Author]

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