How To Fix A Hole In A Sleeping Pad

If you choose to send your mattress to us, please make sure it’s relatively clean. If that’s your mattress, clean it by inflating it and wiping it down with a mild detergent. Follow-up with a rinse, and let it dry out before shipping it to us. We charge a flat-rate fee of $20 to repair a mattress. If you have tried everything, or your mattress damage is significantly more than you want to take on, you may send your mattress to us for repair. If the problem is covered under our Limited Lifetime Warranty, we’ll repair or replace your mattress at our discretion.

You can usually rule out the top as the location but not always, and you may have to refill your bottle a few times until you find the leak. I’ve had to use this method before, and while not ideal, it works. As much as you may enjoy “roughing it,” sleeping on rocky, uneven ground is unlikely to be your favorite pastime.

A tough climb up to Indian Pass on the Continental Divide provided some pretty spectacular views. This was one of my favorite shots from the hike. Apply some glue to the shiny side of your patch, and make sure it goes all the way to the edges. Use a marker to place a small dot on top of the hole . It is necessary to find the cause for the leakage whether it is small or large, also you have to detect the exact location of the problem. I used super glue and it worked great the first night but after that it seemed to crack.

I linked one above, but there are so many options for multitools, so carry whatever one you like or already have. Ironing is a solution thatshould be done with a lot of cautionelse it will give permanent damage to your sleeping pad. Look for small bubbles forming on the pad indicating the location of the hole. Hey older hikers, I’m Dan Cousins, the Geez behind Old Geezer Hiking. Having started hiking and backpacking in my twenties, the call of the beautiful outdoors and adventure still beckons me. Follow the procedures outlined above in this post to securely repair the cut or rip by using a patch.

Sleeping Pad Repair

A self inflating sleeping pad consists of a foam core inside a durable shell. When its valve is opened, the mattress fills with air. Finding the location of the leak is probably going to be the hardest issue you face while trying to fix your sleeping pad. This is where your water, soap, sponge, and marker are going to come into play. Pour the mixture of water and soap solution over the inflated pad if you observe any bubbles, then you can find the leakage hole easily. Also, you don’t mention that Cascade Designs has a thermal glue in their repair kit.

I’ve found two Ridgerests provide adequate insulation and comfort for me during January / February. They are light & trouble free, but bulky no doubt. Remove the patch after 3 or 4 days and the Seam Grip should have permanently sealed the hole underneath. Cut a patch that extends past the edges of the tear or hole. For larger tears and holes leave a larger overhang to give the patch better grip. Apply a thin layer of Aquaseal FD over the leak, extending at least 0.5” in all directions of the hole.

How Do You Fix A Hole In A Sleeping  Pad

Once the pad is dry, apply the glue over the hole. Allow the pad to dry in an upright position, giving it extra drying time due to the pressure on the valve. Similar to the liquid adhesive method is the self-adhesive, or peel-and-stick, patch method. The patch should extend 1/2 inch beyond the tear or hole in all directions. Cut the patch in a circular shape; avoiding corners will help keep the patch from coming off. Lastly, you’ll need a multitool with scissors to cut the tenacious tape.

Most of the sleeping pads come with the repair kit and try to take with you while using this pad. Usually, the kits are light-weight and require very less storage space. It includes liquid adhesive, duct tape, self-adhering patches etc. Retailers typically sell inflatable backpacking sleeping pads with a patch repair kit and stuff sack included. Therefore, if a leak occurs you do not have to search for the proper material to patch it. A similar solution exists if you have no place to dunk your pad.

Restoring Worn Heels

So before you do anything, look up your piece of gear and see if the original manufacturer has any tips. The good news is that a small hole doesn’t spell the end of any piece of gear. Most holes can be patched pretty easily with the right knowledge and equipment.

Sent to the t-rest with a $25.00 deposit and it came back with 6 patches and still leaking. Take your sponge and slowly wipe soapy water onto the pad. You should begin to see tiny bubbles appear on the surface of the pad where the leak is. Get out a patch that’s roughly one inch larger than the whole, and lay it down, careful to make sure your patch doesn’t overlap any baffles or seams. If it does, it will have trouble sticking.

If the valve has any holes, then use repair adhesive to fill the hole or wrap the duct tape around the valve. The most repair kit contains replacement valves try to use it when you can’t repair the old value. Like the Air Mattress Repair instructions, locate the leak first with soapy water, deflate sleeping pad, and clean the repair area with isopropyl alcohol.

Find the specific spot by using the sponge to splash the identified area with soapy water. The puncture will produce many bubbles on the soapy water. Prepare a water bath full of slightly soapy water, a flat working area and a sponge. A crack in the valve or the sealant immediately around it would be the easiest defect to spot. If only I had known then what I knew now.

For larger tears, you may be able to use several patches together, or try self-adhering Tenacious Tape, which comes in a roll. Duct tape will get the job done, but should be considered a last resort, since it will leave a reside on your air mattress after you remove it at home. 👉 In my camping repairing kit, I always have someadhesive patches They are excellent for emergency repairing your sleeping bag, pad, tent and so on. An ideal time in the backcountry is one in which the only challenges you face are to the heart rate and a mind expanding with the wonder of nature. But there’s no need for despair if you get an unwelcome surprise in the form of a sleeping-pad leak. Just a little extra preparation with repair kits and glue will ensure that roughing it doesn’t have to be too rough.

I always carry a repair kit when I go backpacking. I went over every square inch of my sleeping pad and could not locate the hole. Without knowing where the hole was I could not patch it. Remove the sticks, stones or other items from the ground because it creates pressure on the sleeping pad which leads to the development of holes. If the patch in the repair kit is small then there would be tears in the sleeping pad, combine the required patches together to block the leakage.