Slippin' n slidin'

[saxonaxe]

After the catastrophic but quite funny failure of yet another item of expensive kit on a trip to Norfolk back in the Summer, I returned to tried and trusted cheap but highly functional kit for sleeping on. I had a brief affair with one of those thermal insulated air mats, a ThermaRest? or something like that anyway, over £100 and apparently highly rated..Mmmm? I wonder how many nights a year the people doing the rating actually used it? Anyway, after less than a year the glued internal seams failed in spite of my stowing it flat etc: between usages. It looked like a mishapen space Monster, a great bubble in the middle with flat edges all round..:D
Back to the kip mat and military quality uninsulated air bed. This combination works for me just fine but needs tweaking to stop nightime wrestling sessions when the air bed wanders off the kip mat..:p..So I thought I'd post my solution which solves all the problems..

http://i.imgur.com/zwf8Mfxl.jpg

Thermal backed kip mat and 25mm elastic from the sewing shop (sorry Sir, we only have white) plus the mighty Gorilla Tape..Inflate bed, lay on kip mat, mark and cut small slots in mat...

http://i.imgur.com/mD3F9Wul.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/JnlrWN1l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/F4WC9p6l.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/szdrnHbl.jpg

The system works fine and the mat, bed and elastic are lighter than the duff, expensive bed anyway...:D

[Thumbcrusher]

T^:happy-clapping:

[Pootle]

Good stuff. do you use it with the kip mat down to protect the air bed? I find air beds v. cold without some form of insulation on top of them.

[saxonaxe]

I use the foil backed kip mat under the air bed as in my experience the foil backing certainly reflects (or prevents loss of) body heat, while the uninsulated air bed on it's own does not. I know comfort is a very personal thing but I only semi inflate the air bed as otherwise I feel as if I'm sleeping on a 'bouncy castle', so the combination of mat and bed make a good mattress with the bonus that should anything manage to pierce the tent floor the mat also protects the air bed.

[Pootle]

Yeah I always under inflate an air bed. but not too much as I only use one when camping with my partner and if it's too soft we end up rolling into the centre!
I usually put a thick wool blanket on top of the mattress for insulation.