My old sleeping pad finally gave out last trip, so I tried the foam pad trick everyone mentions

I've been using the same inflatable sleeping pad for about 6 years now. It was one of those no-name ones from a big box store, but it served me fine until last month up in the Smokies. Woke up at 3 AM flat on the ground with that cold seeping right through. I didn't have a patch kit and was ready to just sleep on the tent floor. Then I remembered a guy at a campsite once told me to try a closed cell foam pad underneath instead of buying a whole new system. I had a cheap blue foam pad in my car for sitting on, so I laid it down and put my deflated pad on top. Honestly? It worked way better than I expected. Still had some ground feel, but I wasn't cold and actually got a few hours of sleep. Has anyone else run into this where a patch doesn't stick and you just have to work around it?

2 comments

2 Comments

simontorres18d ago

That foam pad trick saves the trip more often than people give it credit for. A patch job never held on my old pad either, so I just ran the foam underneath for a whole season until I could replace it. Try layering two thin foam pads if you want a little more cushion, that ground feel goes away almost completely.

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skyler_kim1518d ago

Foam underneath" is the move. Way better than messing with patches that just fail anyway.