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From: wjr@x.UUCP (Bill Richard)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: HELP! Need info on foam pads (camping)
Message-ID: <553@x.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 31-Aug-85 23:42:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: x.553
Posted: Sat Aug 31 23:42:59 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 2-Sep-85 09:01:37 EDT
References: <526@ihu1e.UUCP>
Reply-To: wjr@x.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE)
Distribution: net
Organization: Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA
Lines: 50
Keywords: foam pads, soggy, protected, Colin Fletcher
Summary: something old, something new

I am STella Calvert, a guest on wjr's account at decvax!frog.  I get mail via
his account, and flames via /dev/blackhole.

In article <526@ihu1e.UUCP> ttb@ihu1e.UUCP (Thomas T. Butler) writes:
>I am looking for information on foam pads for use in camping
>(under sleeping bags).  Both my wife and I love camping, but
>our bones need more protection than they used to.  I have
>heard that there have been new innovations in pad design, but
>I don't know where to start.  Any comments/suggestions/information
>would be greatly appreciated.

Find a copy of _The Complete Walker_ (third edition preferred) by Colin 
Fletcher for a lot more info than I am willing to enter tonight.  But here 
are a few ideas, from my experience and his book.

Air mattresses are very comfortable until they develop leaks -- then they are
very useless.  The worst kind of leaking air mattress is the one with a slow
leak that lets you get 90% asleep before you bottom out on the sharpest thing
within ten miles of your campsite.

Open cell foam pads are almost as comfortable as waterbeds, but intractably
bulky.  You can squeeze the air out  (for about two seconds) but as soon as 
you let go, it unfolds and sucks the air back in.  (Put that on your frame 
and schlep it! Pfui!)  If they get soggy, they can take a couple days to 
dry, and meanwhile weigh more than twice their dry weight.  But when I was 
living in a lean-to, the open-cell pad was great insulation and fairly 
comfortable.  Even damp they provide reasonable insulation, but oh, that
soggy weight!

Closed cell foam pads are water resistant, durable, and usually not really
thick enough to protect you from a lumpy campsite.  But I used one for several
thousand miles of hitchhiking, and was reasonably happy after the second night
on any trip.  And you'll never be comfortable your first night away from home
-- or at least I never am.

These are products I've used, but Fletcher mentions one I intend to try 
because it sounds fantastic. Cascade Designs of Seattle has taken an open-cell
foam pad and enclosed it in a water resistant shell with an inflation valve.
When it rains, the pad stays dry (and therefore light).  When you brute-force
the air out and shut the valve, the pad stays empty and can be easily stuffed.
That's my choice the next time, especially since, now that I'm a car-camper,
the extra weight isn't as important.

But try to find the book, and read it -- even the parts you don't need will be
fascinating.  I have bought the last two editions, and recommend it heartily.
Try your library if you don't want to buy till you've sampled (but I betcha a
tent peg you go out and buy it afterwards.)

				STella Calvert
				(guest on ...!decvax!frog!wjr)

		Every man and every woman is a star.