Sleeping pad repair

UV wader repair polyurethane glue. It’s like aquaseal, but instantly cures when exposed to direct sunlight, or more slowly in cloudy conditions. Patches are temporary at best. You need glue. For tears, if you can get a patch to back the hole, then apply a bead of glue along the tear. The glue will be stronger than the surrounding fabric.

b) why the black vs. clear Tenacious Tape didn’t work the same

I do not know why, but I had a similar experience. My son got a nice REI light down jacket 9 years ago, when he was there. Being the age he was, he tore holes on that jacket all over the place. Patched it with black tenacious tape and after three years of laundering and heavy use, not one came off.

Then, 6 years ago, when he was six, we got him the same exact jacket in the next size, same color. But mom, tired of the black patches on the green shell, wanted me to find a matching tape. I couldn’t, so I just bought clear. The two years that my son wore that jacket, we noticed that the clear patches seemed to develop cracks and also keeled off the fabric. Several had to be redone. This never happened with the black tape, even though we had more patches on the first jacket and heavier use, more launderings.

So I do not know if current clear tape is the same as 6 years ago, but at the time there was a stark difference in performance, both with regard to the stickiness of the glue and the durability of the fabric.

To me, it seemed as if the black had more flex and conformed better to the shell.

Time for a warranty claim?

The tenacious tape colored patches are quite a bit more flexible and softer and stick better and longer. The clear does work fairly well  but the colored are better yet.

This is their company info. Nylon would seem more flexible than vinyl. What is the difference between nylon and ripstop?
“Use the nylon fabric (black, red and colors), ripstop fabric (green and gray), and clear vinyl for nearly invisible repairs”

Do they put a UV accelerator in the Loon UV wader PU glue?

Other PU glues include McNett Seam Grip and Shoo Goo.  I bet those would work just as good except for the curing time.

Once you open a McNett Seam Grip (and I assume other PU glues) it hardens within a few months.  If you store it in the freezer it will be good for several years.  In my experience.

So, if you store a tube of PU glue in your pack, I think you’d only get one use out of it.  Maybe better to get a small tube.

Did you clean the offending areas with alcohol pads?

I don’t have any particular insight into field repairs, but I have never had an issue with replacement under warranty when sending sleeping pads back to Big Agnes or Therm-a-Rest (and I’ve sent at least two back to each manufacturer in the last decade).

The only other piece of “advice” I can give is to consider bringing a 3/4 length closed-cell foam pad as a back-up/sit pad/additional insulation/puncture protection. This isn’t as important on one or two-night trips, but anything longer than that and I usually have a 3/4 length CCF pad with me. It can make the difference between having to bail on a trip, getting miserable nights of cold/hard sleep if bailing isn’t an option, or being warm enough and reasonably comfortable enough to continue a trip. It also helps prevent punctures in the first place when used under the pad (although it is generally accepted that it will feel warmer/you will actually be warmer if it is placed on top, but I don’t do this except when camping on snow because puncture prevention is my main priority for this item). I also use mine to sit/stretch out on when taking breaks, for light yoga/stretching at camp, laying on to stargaze, turning a rocky and slanted summit into a laid back padded lounge chair through various contortions, etc. One additional tip is to be sure to make sure you keep the same side down on the ground every time and check it for pine needles, cacti spikes, etc. that it might pick up when lounging around on it before you put it in your shelter and put your sleeping pad on it. I’ve had a few close calls in that regard.

While some ultralighters (typically those who are more focused on having an impressive spreadsheet than on actually spending time outside and being prepared for contingencies) might scoff at this, I stand by it. And I’ve loaned my CCF pad to a friend whose inflatable pad failed in the middle of a three-night trip. Instead of us bailing, we continued thanks to having this useful “back up” piece of gear, whereas we probably would’ve cut the trip short otherwise.

My experience is consistent with yours. Careful field repairs that I’ve made with the Thermarest glue-dot system have lasted for years, basically permanent fixes. I’ve been able to make temporary repairs with various types of tape that got me through a trip, but they were rarely perfect.

The biggest problem for me is finding slow leaks while in the field.

I’ve field repaired leaking inflatable sleeping pads many times in the past—just did one recently on a leaking Trail Pro pad with a pin hole leak by overinflating and submerging in a creek. I always carry either McNett’s Seam Grip or Silnet on every trip.  You have to first determine the pad’s shell fabric as to which sealer you will use.  The patches do very little except as a confidence booster—it’s the sealer which performs the job.  On this leak I used Seam Grip because the shell is not silnylon—