BA Pad and Therm-a-rest Hotbond

**sbmcghee** · 01-20-2009, 20:18

I know many people around here use a Big Agnes Insulated Air Core for insulation. BA's Insulated Air Core comes with a repair kit that includes an adhesive. However, Therm-a-rest sells a repair kit (Hotbond) that you heat up. This way makes more sense to me along the thinking that it will bond with the pad better. Has anyone tried using the Therm-a-rest Hotbond kit to patch a hole in your BA pad?

**slowhike** · 01-20-2009, 20:37

No I haven't. I have used the adhesive that comes w/ the BA to repair pin holes, sometimes w/ good success & sometimes w/ limited success (as in still having a slow leak).

Are you in need of making a repair or just thinking ahead?

If you try it, let us know how it holds. I would think it would hold just fine.

**sbmcghee** · 01-20-2009, 21:08

I'm just thinking ahead. A buddy of mine is going back to ground because he gets better sleep there vs. in a hammock. Personally I don't understand that, I (and most of here on HF) are the opposite. He's thinking about getting the Insulated Air Core like I have and he got me thinking about it since he's far more likely to get a puncture than I will.

**slowhike** · 01-20-2009, 21:55

Unless you find someone that knows that the hotbond works w/ that material, I would tend not to want to test it on a trip... just in case it doesn't hold for some reason.

**bear bag hanger** · 01-21-2009, 08:05

I have a friend with an old Thermarest that has been repaired many times. He use to swear by their repair kits, but the last one didn't hold so well. I think it has a lot to do with the age of the adhesive - the older it's been in your pack the less likely it's going to hold. Also, I suspect the newer kits have better, longer lasting adhesives than the old ones did.