Bushwalk Australia

Before I go and waste $40, a bunch of time and fill my house with feathers I thought I'd get some input from those who may know a bit more than me.

I've had an Exped Downmat 7 sitting in the shed for a while suffering from the standard baffle blow out.

I've searched all over the internet and can't find a way to repair this myself. Recently I saw a $40 inflatable mat online. I'm sure you have all seen the sort I'm talking about, they are uninsulated and a dime a dozen on all the standard online auction sites.

So, can I buy a cheap mat, cut the very end off, fill it with the 700loft down from the exped and then reseal the cheap mat with an iron?

I'd also need to figure out how to jam a piece of open cell foam or similar into the valve.

Before I go on a stupid diy mission can anyone see any faults in this plan. My only concern is that the cheap mats won't reseal and are welded using a process not repeatable with an iron.

I think the downmats have baffles to keep the down spread out rather than all clumping together ?

Nuts wrote:I think the downmats have baffles to keep the down spread out rather than all clumping together ?

Are the baffles on the new mat vertical Smelly and run the full length of the mat, uninterrupted? Then it might work?
Horizontal baffles would be a no-go. You'd have to open the end of every baffle.
Sounds a mongrel of a job. If you go ahead I'd love to see some pics.
I reckon the best option is to take the down and make a vest/hood/jacket/quilt. That would be well worth your time invested.

The synmats have a mat of synthetic down on a scrim backing.and bonded in to the baffles. So the baffles must be primarily to keep the overall mat shape?

The down in down mats may be loose but I suspect the baffles are specifically designed for down, maybe even air permeable?.
I don't think it's clear that any baffle won't 'work', just perhaps not very well (with clumping and mold the main drama?) (just guessing, not had much to do with down mats).

This may give you a better idea about how Exped does it :
https://www.backcountryskiingcanada.com ... -LW-Review
there used to be a very clear drawing of that but I can't find it now.
There was a guy (Bender) that started to make mats with a down fill but gave up after a year or so. I strongly suspect he had too many returns.

Thanks all, the mat I was looking to swap the down into is "quilted" for lack of a better term. I think that the lack of baffles would allow the down to move around the mat a bit too much as there wouldn't be any baffles to prevent "bald" spots.

Then again the exped only has baffles to stop down moving horizontally.

I might give it a crack when I've got some more time. I already have a down quilt, just made a synthetic quilt and don't have the sewing skills to make a jacket.