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Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 8:21 pm
by hikerduane
On the Lost Coast trip, another in our group had one also, I think he was in the south bound group. His experience was the same as mine. I did a test a week ago, using a board and a couple boxes of paperbacks. I let the air in the pad stabilize, then topped it off before putting the books on. Within a few hours the boxes were listing, but I thought nothing of it at the time and when I took the boxes off the next day, the pad was soft, but I was only able to roll it up less then two rows/cells out of the 27 that are on my small pad. A slow leak I would say. I got mine through a small retailer and he had it in, in just a few days. Maybe it came so fast because there was more of a demand for the regular.

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 6:52 am
by hikerduane
Well, I checked for the tiny leak in my small last night. Pop! I filled up my bathtub and had to push the pad under the water of course, not that easy of a task. I was finally able to see the leak, went to get a pen to mark the spot, could not get it to show when I returned. I went and got a short board, pushed down on the pad, working from one end to the other and repeated with the other side. On the reverse side, I could hear the slight pssst, but when I flipped the pad back over, could not locate it, even where I knew it should be. Repeat, same results. Finally, I stood on the board, seems lots of pressure was needed to create the leak. With the suspected side with the pin hole facing down, I could hear it again, so by lifting the pad from the end slowly, I was able to see the stream of bubbles coming out. While grabbing my pen and pulling the pad up to see where the hole was so I could mark it, all of a sudden I heard a gurgling noise, big burst of bubbles, what the heck? It took a couple seconds to realize that I had not hit the drain and water was draining out, I had burst my pad. Bummer. I found a 3/8" tear, "v" shaped tear about half an inch from one side. $119, this ain't good!

From what I can gather, if a leak ever develops on the trail, it is going to be a beach to find the leak and repair it. I had the pad inflated as much as I get it, had to then create a lot of pressure to replicate the leak. On the up side, the tiny leak I had, still enabled me to get a good rest at night.

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 7:35 am
by markskor
That "pop/tear" thing affirmed my initial suspicions.
Much like a balloon that tears itself apart when bursting, the material here does not seem to lend itself to allowing a slow leak to remain a small hole.
When I first saw the NeoAir I was immediately surprised by the consistency of the outer shell...hoped for the best but worried enough about exactly this not to buy.
Hope it came with a guarantee, but, unfortunately, not much help if this same thing happened 20 miles in.

For me... :thumbsdown:

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 7:42 pm
by hikerduane
The blow out was not near the hole. I may not have clear about that. Judging by the evidence of a few strips not matching the color of the rest of the pad, on anything else, it would be considered a second. The blow out was not in one of these areas nor was the pin hole. I'll see if I can get an exchange, then get a stuff sack for it. Not too worried if I don't, not sure how much if any, I can be blamed for making matters worse if I indeed did.

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 8:02 pm
by rlown
hmm.. the exped is starting to look better to me at this point.. Nice try in the tub though. I think we all do that (lake or tub) to find a leak. still it shouldn't burst. How high was your air compressor set? :wink:

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 9:54 pm
by hikerduane
High.:) We need some engineer to do the calcs on this, to see how much pressure I was creating by blowing the pad up as much as possible, then standing on it with the 2X6 board with my 160 lbs. The board in question is 21.5 inches long, just as wide as the pad. I need to see now if I can repair it, wasn't thinking along those lines last night or this morning. I don't even think a repair kit is available for it yet. I will email Customer Service at Cascade Designs, as Sales has no clue what a NeoAir is. I thought that was hilarious when I emailed Sales and they went huh?

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 6:22 pm
by hikerduane
Thank you Cascade Designs for the brand new NeoAir small. Received it about 12 days after sending in my leaking/exploded one.:)

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 6:34 pm
by The Other Tom
hikerduane wrote:High.:) We need some engineer to do the calcs on this, to see how much pressure I was creating by blowing the pad up as much as possible, then standing on it with the 2X6 board with my 160 lbs. The board in question is 21.5 inches long, just as wide as the pad.
I don't know if it still matters, considering you have a new pad, but here goes.....
A 2x6 is actually 5.5 inches wide. So the surface area of the board is 5.5 x 21.5 = 118.25 square inches. Considering the weight of the board is aprox. 3.6 lbs, plus your 160, the total weight is 163.6 which is distributed over 118.25 square inches. So the pressure is 163.6 divided by 118.25, or about 1.4 psi.
Now, under normal use conditions, assuming an average 6 foot tall person that is 18 inches wide, and 160 lbs, that person would apply aprox 0.12 psi if laying flat . Of course this assumes equal weight distribution over your body, which isn't the case, but you can use it as a first approximation. The point is, that laying on your back, you put about 10% of the pressure on the pad that you applied using the board.
Further consider if you lay on your side. The the psi doubles to around 0.25 psi, or about 18% of the pressure you applied with the board.
To put it another way, a person would have to weight 900 lbs and lay on his/her side to equal the pressure you put on the pad. So I would say you gave it the "acid test".
Sorry if I got carried away with this, but I can't help it. I am an engineer and there is no cure. :lol:

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 4:14 pm
by hikerduane
Love it.:) Also, it is a short, so my feet at least part of the time would be touching earth.

I was more upset I think, that I would not be able to use such a light pad and lose any weight in a gear upgrade.

Re: NeoAir Thermarest...new product

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:59 pm
by maverick
Anyone take there NeoAir pad out for a test drive yet?