You expect me to sleep on that?
Monday, February 26th, 2007A “Thermarest mat” is a very clever invention; it is a self-inflating mattress designed by engineering geeks for outdoor-type people to use in tents. The theory is that you roll out this limp rubber sheet, open the stopper and the thing magically sucks in air and turns into something you can sleep on. Those hoping to see a luxury, king size, double sprung bed appear will be sadly disappointed. After ten minutes of waiting, my thermarest mat was barley half an inch thick. The instructions do say that you can assist the inflation process and increase firmness by adding a few breaths of air into the mat, however, doing this demonstrates the mat’s excellent self-deflating properties as each breath of air put into the mat is immediately expelled!! The spots before my eyes informed me that maybe I should stop this exercise and allow the mat to do its own thing; I just hope that assisted inflation is not required at 12,000ft up on the Inca Trail.
rob.dulcie