Talkback: Tuesday Tip - Self-Inflating Mats Made Simple - Article talkback

Peter Clinch

08/05/2012 at 12:26

"We’d always carry self-inflating mats inside your pack or inside a very tough stuff bag simply to reduce the chances of a puncture."

I think there's actually a fair chance the inside of a camping pack will have more sharp objects (combined with pressure from restricted space and stuffing) then the open air, so unless you take your pack off and set it down with a startling lack of care, or you're doing scrambles or fighting your way through gorse thickets (none actually that common backpacking) then this is a bit of a non-point.

Mine usually travels inside but that's mostly to save it getting rained on, and thus needing a wipe before it goes in the tent. It's gone on the outside a lot over the 20+ years I've had one and never got a puncture there.

Pete.

Edited: 08/05/2012 at 12:27

Jon Doran

08/05/2012 at 13:00

Having recently watched a group of DoE youngsters hurl their packs brutally onto rocky ground, I'm not sure it's that much of a non-point. But you're spot on about jagged things inside packs as well. I guess it depends on how mindful you are generally tbf.

OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com

Zuma

08/05/2012 at 13:01

The only gribe I had with carrying those things were delaminations. Punctures? Never had them not whil carrying in or out bag. I always used original supplied bag or just a strap

Roos Eisma 2

08/05/2012 at 13:23

I have had one puncture, camping (on an official camp site) where they had just cut the hawthorn hedges. Went right through the groundsheet and the Thermarest.

That was the start of a rather miserable cycling holiday

Peter Clinch

08/05/2012 at 13:31

The puncture repair on my old Long Standard was from a spark off a camp fire when using it in chair mode. So worth being mindful of that.

Pete.

Spiritburner

08/05/2012 at 14:24

My first 'abuse' on OM was drawn out after I suggested it was OTT protecting tent poles carried outside the rucsac with a length of drain-pipe or somesuch. As a result I will no longer be surprised at the lengths some folk will go to, although if they act like the DofE'ers above maybe such measures are needed!

Hawthorn is wicked stuff - we have a lot around us & costs us several punctures on bike & wheelbarrow tyres every year.

Zuma

08/05/2012 at 15:04

Hawthorne is terrible I had five punctures in one day in the wheels of our cart.... Never had it that bad.... When pitching a tent I always scout the ground for (sharp) objects, even in dark.

speed

08/05/2012 at 17:52

another option especially with mats such as the Neo-Air and Exped down is to have them on the outside rolled up inside a regular closed cell foam mat, and both inside a waterproof bag/sack.

The advantage is this protects the mat while walking and at night you have a foam mat under your mat or under the groundsheet to protect the inflatable form puncture.

Lastly if you buy a cheap foam mat you can cut it in half use half as described above and other half as a sit mat ( this helps keep weight down as the mat is then dual use), then put them together for full lenght protection at night, and if you still somehow decide you really must pitch your tent on that bed of nails to puncture your inflatable one night, you still have some cushoining for the rest of your trip from the foam mat.

captain paranoia

08/05/2012 at 18:52

> Having recently watched a group of DoE youngsters hurl their packs brutally onto rocky ground, I'm not sure it's that much of a non-point

I've also seen DofE youngsters ramming tent poles into an already bursting-at-seams rucksack... Lined with a bin bag, of course. I hate to think what would happen on a wet, three-day expedition...

> Hawthorne is terrible I had five punctures in one day in the wheels of our cart...

Had the same experience when MTBing along a path that had just been cut; punctures all round...

My worst experience of punctures was pitching a tent on a dead bracken field (our tent was moved by the Corfu camping site owner, as we'd inadvertently pitched it outside the invisible boundary of his site). The cheap woven PE groundsheet was riddled with holes...

captain paranoia

08/05/2012 at 18:55

One other advantage of putting a mat inside a rucksack is that you can put it down the back, and use it to cushion against lumpy (but not sharp...) things.

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Talkback: Tuesday Tip - Self-Inflating Mats Made Simple

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