Air leaks in Downmats

[tom lakner]

I’ve got an Exped Downmat 9DLX that is maybe 10 years old . It has been used maybe 5 nights in a tent but has this VERY slow leak that I’m unable to find. I’ve had it in a lake ,in a tub and also bathed it in Bubble Soap but cannot find the leak. It will lose about two bag fulls of air over 24 hrs.
Any hints out there on how to find that so & so leak?
Thanks in advance.
TomL

[Jacob D]

Tom, I had a Neoair that was leaking and it took me a while to find the leak. What it turned out to be was either a defect in the material, or possibly just strange pre-mature wearing out. I had it in the tub several times and couldn’t find any bubbles… until I looked very closely. Between every baffle there were very tiny bubbles accumulating on the surface of the material, but not bubbling off. The air was diffusing out at a very slow rate, but all over the pad. This was pretty hard to notice, but I wiped away the micro bubbles with my fingers, and sure enough about a minute later more formed.

Therm-A-Rest replaced it, they called it defective. No problems with the new one since that.

It’s possible you have something similar going on… otherwise put some steady pressure on it in the tub and keep hunting…

[Author]

Posts