mending self inflating mats

[mercalia]

Lidl has at the moment large various tubes of glue at £2. It seems the one sold as plastic glue works (well) for my old cheap Ultrasport one that was leaking at the valve base and other wise throwaway. The trouble with the repair kits u buy is that they don't give u enough glue so u tend to be sparing in application so the repair don't take?

[profpointy]

i think I used a bostik type glue last time, having, like yourself, run out of the proper stuff. I know bostik make all sorts of things now, but the old bostik was a semi-trasparent acetone-smelling stuff. I "cured" the fix by placing a.pan of boiling water on top of patch as instructions said. Some patches have been good for years

[rualexander]

Fixed a thermarest with a bike puncture repair patch and rubber solution once, it lasted quite a long time.

[Barrenfluffit]

In general for repairs you need to use the right glue chemically. Puncture repairs are usually about bonding rubber to rubber so it would depend on the surface of the mat. My problem was locating the slow puncture; even taking it in the swimming pool didn't help.

[DarkNewt]

second for the puncture repair kit, I use the pre-glued ones on my thermarest still going strong! Also I have repaired with a pot of glue and tent repair patches. The glue came from a repair kit for folding car roofs, amazing stuff, a friend used and swears by gorilla glue with just about anything that is an airtight material.

[Aushiker]

My problem was locating the slow puncture; even taking it in the swimming pool didn't help.

I have documented my approach to finding and fixing a slow puncture in my Exped Synmat UL 7S in my blog post. The key was a warm to hot bath. That is a temperature you can still put your hand in the water without rushing to emergency

[Aushiker]

On the subject of glues, Exped, at least in the past recommend McNett SeamGrip. I would assume that similar products from other manufacturers would do the trick as well.

[andrew_s]

My Themarest XTherm came with Tear-Aid patches
The Tenacious Tape may well work too.

[mercalia]

I have never had much luck in mending cheap self-inflate mats - Got 2 that seem just prone to leaking rather than puncture. seal one leak stress it then another one found

[pjclinch]

I've used the "official" T-Rest repair kit twice, success both times. First one was a very small leak and, as suggested, it didn't need a patch, just a pool of the Goop (I think it's SeamGrip) over the problem area. The second one was a red-hoy spark out of a fire and that was bigger so I used a patch.

IIRC the second hole needed a second kit as the Goop had set itself solid in the tube between the uses. That was a bit of a pain, but 2 fixes in 25 years it's not really at the level where I'm bothered.

SeamGrip is available on its own. It ain't cheap, but it does seem to work.

Pete.

[Norman H]

Aushiker wrote:

On the subject of glues, Exped, at least in the past recommend McNett SeamGrip. I would assume that similar products from other manufacturers would do the trick as well.

Seam Grip may well be similar to Aquasure, also by McNett.

I've used it for all manner of repairs. I've recommended it before on here and I've a mind to try it to repair deep cuts to tyres. It's very tough and I believe it's a polyurethane rubber. It's quite viscous and for most repairs a patch is not needed. The downside is that it's expensive and has limited shelf life once opened. Best stored in the freezer.

[syklist]

+1 for seam sealer.

We've used it to fill pin hole damage in Thermarests and groundsheets, as well as sealing seams on tents and kiddie trailers. We used it to fix small areas of damage on both flysheets and inner tents netting. Useful to have a small tube on tour but make sure you get fast drying seam sealer. I think most will now go off in 2 hours but some of the older stuff we bought needed 24 hours.

Seam sealer does not work with Ortlieb bags. You need the Ortlieb repair set for that (or the right glue and patches from other sources).

[Gattonero]

FWIW, slightly off-topic, but it may help someone.
I've mended an hydration bladder (Hydrapak) with a Lezyne self-glueing patch and worked very well after 12hr cure

[DarkNewt]

+1 for seam sealer.

We've used it to fill pin hole damage in Thermarests and groundsheets, as well as sealing seams on tents and kiddie trailers. We used it to fix small areas of damage on both flysheets and inner tents netting. Useful to have a small tube on tour but make sure you get fast drying seam sealer. I think most will now go off in 2 hours but some of the older stuff we bought needed 24 hours.

Seam sealer does not work with Ortlieb bags. You need the Ortlieb repair set for that (or the right glue and patches from other sources).

Hiya, re: the ortlieb repair - I had some glue and patch material from a vinyl car roof and that has been a permanent fix to my ortlieb for about a year still watertight (couldn't resist just tested it again) Just in case someone has some lying around!

[MrsHJ]

+1 for the bike puncture kit

only real solution when you find yourself flat on the ground on a tour.