Thermarest Leak

[jj dont play]

Currently on the AT. Having a weird experience with my thermarest Trekker and was just wondering if anyone had any recommendations. Came off a zero and the first night my Trekker leaks. The last time I used it it was fine and it just sat in a hotel room for a day so I was confused. Covered with soapy water and found nothing. Next night leaks again, I went down to a lake and couldn't find a leak. Leaks again the next night. Then the fourth night it stays inflated all night with no problems! Submerged in a bathtub today and again can't find a leak.
What do ya'll think is up? I thought valve at first so made sure to tighten it completely every night after the first incident. We'll see what it does tonight. Just wondering if anyone had any recommendations since it doesn't seem to be a normal leak that I can just patch.

[Tipi Walter]

I had such a leak on a trip and submerged the valve assembly (fully inflated) into my cook pot full of water and found a tiny bubble leak in the valve itself.

How do you transport your Thermarest while backpacking? Is it inside your pack? On the outside with a stuff sack? On the outside without a stuff sack? Do you lay it on bare ground for a sit pad?

Otherwise these types of slow leaks are frustrating. I would blow it up to bursting and try the water trick one more time---or just send it back and get something new.

I've had all sorts of busted Thermarests over the years and now here's my current technique:
** My go to sleeping pad is a Trail Pro large.
** With me I also carry a Ridgerest Solar ccf pag. This can be used along with my Trail Pro if the pro dies.
** This year I started carrying an emergency NeoAir and the smallest they make. It is never used and carried everywhere. It is tiny but will offer a good comfort pad in tandem with my Solar ccf if the Trail Pro really dies (like a delaminating bladder).

[scrabbler]

Is it leaking to a complete flat? Or just losing some firmness throughout the night? Warm breath will cool down, and cooler air shrinks which can give the appearance that your mat leaked. If thats the case, inflate earlier, and just give it a few puffs before sleeping might help.

[jj dont play]

I store it in the sack it came with in my backpack pretty protected by clothes stuff sack and sleeping bag.

It leaks to pretty close to flat, I'm mostly on the ground when I wake up. Then refill it. The night it didn't leak I had it pretty firm and it remained that firm, didn't seem to even leak slightly.


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[jj dont play]

Also I almost always have tubes under it other than a 1-2 times in shelters when my tubes ground sheet was really dirty and I was lazy so just put it on shelter floor. Been weeks since I last did that though so doubt it happened then.


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[Starchild]

IIRC Thermarest does have a lifetime warranty, might want to check that out.

[jj dont play]

IIRC Thermarest does have a lifetime warranty, might want to check that out.

Yea I am aware it's just the hassle of having it replaced on trail just wanted to make sure someone didn't have a solution. Going to give it a night or two to see what happens then contact them if it leaks again.

Oh and my above post, Tyvek autocorrected to tubes for some reason.


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[Feral Bill]

I had a Thermarest self inflating pad that did this. I suspect DEET degraded the coating, causing the slow, untraceable leak. Could that be the problem?

[Franco]

I would take a real good look at the valve. So try the soapy water thing on the valve . Fully inflate , coat and sit on it.

[martinb]

It's more than likely going to be the valve. If you did the tub method and body leaks would be apparent. Valve leaks are tricky to detect and can depend on a few other factors. Some valves won't start leaking until you are lying on the pad making detection difficult.

[just dad]

You can buy replacement valves, and they are fairly easy to replace. I had one fail a few years back. When you submerge the pad in a bath tub you may need to put a good bit of pressure on the pad to see the leak. Just submerging the pad is often not enough to see a slow leak.

[Franco]

BTW, obviously I was guessing because I had one of my mat with a slow leak, I suspect from delamination, and no matter what I tried I could not find it. However once it started to deflate I was never able to keep it inflated for the full night , unlike the OP with his mat.

[Starchild]

Using the submerging method for a very slow leak under certain circumstance may not work as water pressure can seal a leak, normally by pressing in the material over a area, such as a leak around the valve where it attaches to the mat. The soap method would be better for that.

[Vegan Packer]

Use the soapy water technique on the valve. You may have gotten a few particles of something in there, so that it won't completely close properly.

[saltysack]

I'd just call thermarest...ie cascade designs...they have awesome customer support..I had a leak in a brand new xlite a few days before my JMT trip last year. I called them and told them about my time frame dilemma..they actually sent a new one directly to my hotel in Mammoth and one to my house in Fl to be certain it arrived before my hike..stellar company!


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[Tipi Walter]

A leaking pad can be a big hassle on a backpacking trip obviously as my sleeping comfort level goes to zero and you never know for sure if your Thermarest (or any other inflatable pad) will hold its air thru the night.

Plus, you're usually in the middle of nowhere with no option but to suffer thru several nights flat on the bumpy cold ground. (And a field repair is not so easy). I solved this problem by carrying the smallest lightest NeoAir they make---below---and it's tucked into a forgotten space in my pack and carried for a whole trip. The goal is to never use this pad---as I want my regular Thermarest to stay healthy.

But in case of a blowout I always have this brand new NeoAir (small) to get me thru the rest of a trip without howling like a monkey or cursing my nights.

It's a good system which I recommend for backpackers who don't want to bail out of a trip and don't want to dicker with towns, repairs, emails, phone calls and Thermarest.

[Casey & Gina]

I would blow it up to bursting and try the water trick one more time

Last time I tried blowing something up to "bursting", that's exactly what happened...well more accurately one of the internal baffles failed. Fortunately it was in a store and not something I owned. For full disclosure, it was a Sea-to-Summit pillow.

I will concur though that for finding leaks, you really do have to fill up the mattress as much as you can, and then put weight on it at different points while it's underwater. It can be tricky to find the tiny ones that only leak when weight is put on a specific area. I have one now still leaking very slowly that I don't think I'll be able to find without going to a pool when nobody else is in it...