Inflatable Sleeping Pad Sleepers – Tips?

[Steve Collins]

@Elliott I should have taken more pictures but for the price I picked up pad I just decided to wing it. I also added loops to attach a pillow to and ordered clips to clip my EE quilt directly to the pad.

I’ll be happy to post more details when I finish it up, but for now I’m headed to the woods.

Steve

PS – if you live near Chicago happy to do one for you but it was surprisingly easy once I figured it out.

[Eliot]

I’d love to see more photos when you get a chance. How long is it, and what are you using for the rest of your body? Definitely report back with how it works out. Have fun!

 

[Steve Collins]

@Elliott – it is torso length for me so that when I’m on my side one of my knees is on it. I was just going to throw my pack under my legs.

This is definitely for 3 season use. I typically use a long wide insulated with a CCF 1/8” pad for anything 35F and below.

Steve

[Steve Collins]

^ I say typically because I am using this pad this weekend and it looks to be around 15F at night with a bit of snow. So we’ll see how it does!

[Eliot]

@chicagomoose, did you make it out alive? Or was it so comfortable that you’re still sleeping?? How’d it work?

[Steve Collins]

Haha. Yeah, guess I should have responded that I’m alive.

It was cold, dropped to the single digits with a decent amount of wind and a couple inches of snow.  Overall I was cold, mainly because of the lightweight quilt I ended up bringing, but it was not unbearable.

I’ve been out a few times since in similar weather (less wind but more snow) and with the same exact system but a quilt that was a few oz heavier I was toasty

 

[Eliot]

Awesome that it worked out. You said it was more for 3-season use, so that’s promising!

[Kathy H]

@chicagomoose  – I am late to the party here, but really intrigued with your mod to the SLX.  I now need a much thicker air pad, (older now) and need the wide because I am a side sleeper, but don’t need the length, and was wondering if it was possible to cut it down.

Any tips you can give me before I take the plunge and possibly destroy my $200 pad?  I’ve done it with a NeoAir Xtherm, and had no problem, but you insinuated that it was a bit tricky.  Any tips you could provide would be hugely appreciated!

[Steve Collins]

Sorry for the delayed response. I’ve been traveling for work but I can post pics of the cross section of the pad once you cut it and how I had to work around the weld spots.

I would suggest you cut it long. Practice on the scraps.

[obx hiker]

Can’t wait to see those pictures! Think this iron/sealing technique would work on a seam separation on one of those Kookabay pads Bender used to make?  I’d love to get that pad back into the line-up .

[Ryan Jordan]

David Thomas wrote: “Or, if you’re carrying any extra body weight, you could lose that and see if it helps the sleep apnea.”

Only 10 lb of weight loss completely eliminated bad sleep for me.

In addition, I’ve moved to a full length pad and a decent pillow that allows me to side-sleep comfortable.

Stomach-sleeping on any kind of pad causes problems with my lower back – from an ’05 back injury where I broke my sacrum skateboarding. Ugh.

Now, if I do stomach sleep, I have to put my pillow under my chest to relieve lower back strain.

It’s an individual experiment, and it all requires some time.

Be wary of anyone who has “prescriptions for your problems.”

[Steve Collins]

Here are some pictures.  They may be difficult to see but I numbered specific sections for this discussion.

1. Off Seam Weld: Just for notation, these do not play a part in re-sealing the pad
2. On Seam Weld: Critical point, try to cut about a 1/2′ below the bottom of these to give your self some material to work with, not I did not do this on this piece of scrap.  Again it is helpful to slice off a few strips at the bottom to test with before cutting to your ideal length.  Remember to add a few inches to the length of your cut so after it is inflated you end up with the correct length.
3. Baffle: Trim back about a 1/2″ of this material from each
4. Insulation: Trim back 1/4-1/2″ of this material from the seam.  You will need to scrape all of the glue from both sides as it contains tiny filaments of insulation and prevents a solid re-seal.
5. Interior Seam Baffle Welds: These take a little time.  You will need to trim the baffle material as close as possible to the weld without nicking the weld so there is enough of the white side showing to seal around the welds.

Good luck!

[Kathy H]

This is unbelievably helpful!  Thank you so much for taking the time to post this.  It makes much more sense to me now.

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