How can I prevent my sleeping pad from getting a puncture?

Whether it’s your first trip with your sleeping pad or your hundredth, it’s important to treat your pad with care. Punctures are easily the most common issue we encounter in the Repair Shop. We see all kinds, from the imperceptible pin-hole to the cavernous gash where a valve used to be before your dog got to it.
 

Protect Your Sleeping Pad from Pets
We are full proponents of camping and backpacking with your canine friends. Their unbridled excitement and eager love make for happy days on the trail and fulfilling nights under the stars. But it’s those very qualities that puncture a remarkable amount of sleeping pads. We see a lot of pads that made great chew toys. Others were happily considered just a squishy piece of ground good for walking all over.

Ensuring your dog’s nails are neatly trimmed and their favorite toy is on hand—so it doesn’t become your pad—could be the difference between all night comfort and waking up with your hips on the ground. Covering your pad in a Synergy™ Sheet or a blanket also offers a layer of protection against wandering paws.

Many customers tell us that they had their pad laid out to test it pre-trip and that’s when their pet got to it. Dog’s are the common culprit, but in this scenario, we get the occasional cat action. Consider setting it up vertically in a closet to keep it out of reach. In the end, you best know how to manage your pet, but you should know that while we are very good at fixing punctured pads, dogs often test the limits of our abilities.
 

Use Layers to Protect from Punctures
Previously we have discussed sleep system layering and how it allows customization of your sleep system’s overall warmth. Expanding upon that idea, layering also offers protection. Sliding a closed cell foam pad like a Z Lite™ SOL under your pad will boost your R-value and help prevent anything from pricking your pad from below.

I’m sure you can imagine a situation where you wriggle in your sleep a bit and shift part of your, let’s say, NeoAir® XLite™ NXT off your Z Lite in the middle of the night. It happens all the time. Our customer service team members regale us with stories of customers whose pads mysteriously deflated, despite only ever touching the floor of their tent.

After you’ve set up your tent and before your toss your gear in, consider sweeping it out to ensure nothing is in there that can cause a puncture. Help your tent floor out by choosing a tent site devoid of sharp sticks, plants, pine cones, cacti, rocks etc. Always follow LNT principles when it comes to campsite selection, but keep some backpacking gear care in mind as well. We’ve seen plenty of tents in Repairs from our MSR® compatriots with archipelagos of tiny holes in the floor.
 

This is why tent footprints are a critical layer for gear care. Despite the fact that many backpacking tents use a higher denier fabric for the floor than the canopy or fly (the MSR Hubba Hubba™ 2 has a 30D Floor and a 20D canopy and fly for example) sharp plants and rocks can sometimes get through. Having an extra tent floor helps prevent this, and ensures you don’t wake up with your hips on the cold hard ground.

Moreover, if you ever feel like foregoing the tent and sleeping with the sky as the roof over your head, you’ll need protection for your pad. Closed-cell foam plus your tent’s footprint is a perfect protective setup for stargazing your way to sleep.