HOW TO REPLACE POLE SEGMENTSTips and Tricks (PDF)STORING After each trip, make sure your tent and all its components are completely dry before storing. This is the most effective way to prevent mold and mildew from forming on your tent and to prevent damage to the waterproof finishes. If you are storing your tent for extended periods of time, keep the tent and contents loosely in a breathable storage sack; do not store it in its stuff sack. Store the tent in a cool, dry, and dark area, away from direct exposure to sunlight.If your tent is exposed to dirt, sand, etc., you can wipe it down with a wet cloth. For excessive dirt, remove any airbeams (if applicable) and hand wash the tent with a technical fabric wash like Nikwax Tech Wash® or McNett ReviveX® Synthetic Fabric Cleaner. Do not wash in washing machines with agitators as it can tear the fabric. Hand washing and air drying is best. Do not use bleach and do not iron.It is also important to keep the zippers clean, so if exposed to dirt, sand, or salt air, wipe the zipper down with a wet cloth.
In excessive cases, wash and then treat and lubricate the zippers with McNett Zip Care™ or a silicone zipper spray (popular in dive shops). For the tent airbeams, wipe down the excess dirt with a wet and/or soapy cloth. Make sure to keep water out of the valves (keep valves closed).Footprints do not need as much care as they can be exposed to more dirt and are more abrasion resistant compared to the tents. If they must be washed, follow the same steps as above for the tents.Pawprints can be washed with a standard detergent or with a technical fabric wash like Nikwax Tech Wash® or McNett ReviveX® Synthetic Fabric Cleaner in a washing machine with no agitator.DRYINGDo not machine dry your tent. Be sure to let your tent fully line-dry before storing loosely in a cool, dry environment. Make sure to dry your tent away from direct sunlight as extended exposure to UV is harmful to the fabrics. You can machine dry your Pawprint on low to medium heat.REPAIRSIf you need to re-treat the outer Durable Water Resistant (DWR) finish, you can use a spray-on product like Nikwax Tent & Gear SolarProof® or McNett ReviveX® Spray-On Water Repellent after the tent has been cleaned.
Damaged seam tape can be repaired by using McNett Seam Grip® over the damaged area, as well ensuring waterproofing by treating the exterior seams of the tent.Fix a rip by using a clear Tenacious Tape™ patch by Gear Aid™. Just clean the area and peel and stick the patch. You’ll have a durable, nearly invisible repair that won’t leave behind sticky residue like duct tape will. For extra strength or for repairing mesh, you can patch both sides of the fabric.Repairing a leak in your AST™ tent is as easy as changing your bicycle tube inside the tire. If the leak is small, the bladder may simply be repaired with a small sticker patch placed over the hole. Two of these patches are included with the tent. If the puncture in the bladder is large, the entire bladder will need to be replaced. Fully deflate airbeam and remove the bladder through the Velcro® access panel to find the leak. Hint: Pull a spare bladder into place by tying it to the end of the damaged bladder. Or tie cord to the end of the bladder before removing to help get the bladder back into place once repaired.
After determining the size of the leak, patch or replace the bladder. Reinstall the bladder, making sure not to twist it or snag it on the Velcro®. Close Velcro® panels evenly to prevent exposed Velcro® from causing damage to your new bladder.If a pole breaks when you’re out in the field, use the included pole repair sleeve and some duct tape to temporarily fix your pole. Be careful of sharp and jagged pole ends and slide the pole sleeve over the damaged pole sections. Tape (or wedge) the sleeve in place. The pole sleeve can be wedged into place with a stick or stake if you don’t have duct tape on hand.SEAM SEALING YOUR TENT Although most NEMO tents are fully taped and waterproof, three tents (Tenshi™,Moki™, and Quantum™ Elite) are sewn through certain areas for extra strength. These tents must be seam sealed to be waterproof. Before first use, locate the seams on the tent that require Seam Grip®. This includes places where stitches cannot be seam taped (all pole wraps, light pocket attachment, and the STAT™/for Tenshi™), and any place where more than two faces of fabric are joined in one seam, like the vent seams.
Do not apply seam seal to the zippers. Cut off the tip of the Seam Grip™ applicator. Carefully apply Seam Grip™ to required stitching using several thin coats to cover seams. Let dry for 24 hours. Carefully snip off any drips that occurred. Hint: Dust with talcum powder before repacking.Posted on: July 24, 2012 MSRP: $139.95 / $149.95 / $169.95 I should start this review by confessing that I have always been a bit leery of inflatable sleeping pads. In the mountains, the insulation you have under you is generally more important than the insulation you have over you, and the nights get a touch long when your air mattress develops a slow leak, or worse yet, pops all together. I tend to favor a system consisting of a very short, thick, shoulder-to-mid-thigh foam pad and then a similar, short inflatable pad. I lay the inflatable down first, then put the foam pad over the top and use these two to insulate my core, with my legs and feet resting on my empty pack. My standard system consists of an old Ridgerest (cut short) and a Therm-a-Rest Prolite 3 (short), combined with whatever pack I happen to have with me.
It is by no means luxurious, but when combined with whatever clothes I have and the contents of my pack, I almost always achieve a good night's rest while managing to stay warm. My latest test item, the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir, is all the rave among guides right now. I was given the regular length that measures 72 inches long (183cm) by 20 inches wide (51cm) and weighs 14 ounces (410g). When deflated and rolled tightly, it is around the size of a one-liter water bottle. Therm-a-Rest assigns an R-Value to all its pads, a measurement of a given material's resistance to heat flow. The NeoAir gets a 2.5, slightly more than the 2.2 R-Value of the ProLite. The pad retails for $149.95, an amount that would cover a two-week climbing trip back in the day when gas was cheaper and my needs were fewer. In order for the test to be fair to both the pad and to the user, I took it on a three-week expedition to Aconcagua; a week on the Mexican volcanoes; and around four weeks on Mt. Rainier. I camped primarily in tents pitched on both rock and snow, but also used it a few times on bare ground, wood hut platforms and a few basement floors.
I went into this field test being almost certain that I would pop the NeoAir at some point and was impressed that it came through intact with no pops or leaks. However, I have been on trips with other guides who popped their NeoAirs after accidentally dropping a knife in a tent or tearing it on crampons, both common situations for any inflatable pad, but slightly more catastrophic with the NeoAir, as this is strictly an air mattress containing no insulating material other than chambers of air and hot-cold reflective barriers. On many of my trips I used the NeoAir in conjunction with a Ridgerest. In these situations I placed the Ridgerest on top—the foam pad tends to spread my weight more evenly and avoids occasional back pain that I get with the pads reversed. I also frequently used the NeoAir by itself in cold conditions where my tent was pitched directly on glaciers. I can report that it did as well as my Prolite, but seemed a touch light when used as a single pad. On these nights it was important for the pad to be fully inflated to give me the maximum warmth possible, and there were a few nights where I felt a touch cold, which is typical for any single, lightweight inflatable pad.
In all, the NeoAir's most impressive feature is its (remarkable) compressibility. Other features I appreciate are the pad's pleasant and grippy-but-not-sticky nylon outer layer that keeps the pad from sliding around the tent; and durability that I wasn't expecting. When I have seen these popped you can almost always see the hole easily, and duct tape will at least get you through the night. More permanent repairs are easily made with a patch sold by Therm-a-Rest. But there are a few things that keep this from being perfect in my mind. While my pad did not pop, I've seen them get holes often enough to worry me a bit about relying on the NeoAir as my only pad. But it's almost unfair to grade it on this, as nearly all lightweight camping gear is less durable. The NeoAir is remarkably tough for what it is. It relies almost entirely on air for its structure and as a result takes awhile to inflate. A larger valve wouldn't allow me to inflate the pad any faster, but it would deflate more quickly.