REI Co-op  Sleeping Pad Repair Kit

I bought this to patch a couple sleeping pads that I got at REI's garage sale. The patches are useful if you want to color match your pad and there's plenty of those. The adhesive is terrible and there's very little of it. That seems super cheap. I needed to patch two pinhole slow leaks, and one larger 3mm tear. The adhesive just won't fix pinholes by itself and it dries hard and brittle. You must use patches for the tiniest leak and there's not enough adhesive for more than a couple of them. Use the Gear Aid Seam Sealer instead, it's much more flexible, easier to work with, and seals well.

I agree with two of the other reviewers: this product works great the first time, and maybe more if the adhesive is used within a year or so. But the tube goes solid long before more than one or two of the patches are used. Web research indicates McNett Seam Grip is a good replacement adhesive, and REI sells what looks like a good two-tube product. However, this product would be much more useful with two or three very small tubes instead of just one.

I should have stuck with my gut on these but I bought them anyways because it was $10 and I thought I'd give them a try. The instructions said that for pin holes all you need to do is dab some glue over it and allow to dry. I did that and then added more glue to a patch and patched it to be safe. I went camping and my pad was empty by the middle of the night! I figured maybe I missed a hole while patching, but I just tested it and there is air coming through the main glue patch AND the fabric patch! Bummer. I bought some different patches and they already seem a million times better. Let's hope it holds up this time.

Less than a year later the glue is all dried out. You only get one shot at sealing, then you are left with a lot of extra patches. Fortunately I was able to prevent scuffing by gluing with a bodied superglue. Don't know if that would be a hermetic seal but it prevents abrasive wear. Single-portion plastic ampules of glue would help. Seems like the glue should be available at a hobby shop, but there is no identification on the tube. Frustrating.

This worked perfectly to repair my sleeping pad. An REI employee told me I should just replace the sleeping pad, but I didn't want to spend the money or waste the materials. I thought that for $8 or so, it was worth giving this a try. It comes with small round patches, large square ones, and a little tube of glue. The whole kit is small enough that you could bring it backpacking in case you spring a leak on the trail. The kit comes with lots of color option to make your patch blend in, but I picked a contrasting color because I was proud of repairing my own gear and wanted the visual reminder.

Purchased 11/2016, contained 20 round patches and 10 larger (3.5x5in.) sheets of coated fabric (many more than indicated on-line), glue, and decent instructions. It appears that many negative reviewers didn't understand proper use of the glue, perhaps they were mis-led by their experience with tire patch glues (contact cements) that work differently than that in the kit. Small punctures are sealed with a drop of glue and don't require a fabric patch. The coated fabric patches are for larger/more complex repairs such as cuts or the fabric around the valve body. Per the instructions, pre-glue the area to be covered by the patch, allowing it to set for the specified time (2hrs), it will dry completely and not be tacky. Pre-gluing fills/seals the fabric so the subsequent coat of glue, which bonds the patch, doesn't wick into the fabric causing a porous joint. Rather than applying the second glue coat directly to the patch, apply a uniform coating over the pre-coated and dried area of the mattress immediately before applying the patch - this prevents the patch from curling from contact with the glue and before it is placed. The patch edges may loosen and try to curl for a while after it is applied - one should apply steady pressure for a few minutes until the glue starts to hold. While applying pressure protect fingers from glue and nasty solvents by covering the patch with a piece of plastic film like the patch kit bag. One reviewer complained of "splitting" patches. Our kit contained 2 round patches of each color with some stuck together at their periphery giving the appearance of being a single, thicker patch (the fabric is thin). The sticking may be a consequence of the method used to cut them from larger stock. If stuck at the periphery they can be teased apart with a thin blade or pin, or one can slice off a sliver from the edge with a scissors to initiate separation. Keep finger oils off the bonding surfaces - handle the patches with clean tissue, paper towel, or tweezers. We did have to pierce the tube seal with a sharp tool, no big deal.

At the price I paid for this patch kit, I didn't think I was rushing much. However, I didn't count on all the frustration incurred and time wasted. As mentioned by another reviewer, the thin patches curled dramatically upon contact with the glue/rubber cement. This made them unusable. One side of the patches was fabric and the other glossy - and yet the modest directions didn't tell you which side to apply the adhesive to. Instead of giving us a zillion patches and enough glue for only a few of them, give us some thicker patches that won't curl on contact with the glue!

The best way to use them is to: -put a thick layer of glue a little bigger than the patch (1mm bigger) -place the patch over it and squeeze a little, the patch will begin to wrap - apply preasure with at least four fingers for about 2 minutes -put preassure on the sides that begin to wrap until it stays on place (about 5 minutes) The glue dot patches that comes with the therm a rest repair kit are way easier to put, and they work great too.

I have just used the patch kit and my pad now holds air. I am writing mainly to let others know some usable instructions. The included instructions are wrong, never mentioning the patches. Trying to follow the instructions, I initially tried spreading a thin layer of adhesive around the hole and letting it dry, as is done with bike tube patches. This did not work because the adhesive was no longer tacky once it dried. On the second try, I spread a thin layer of adhesive directly on the patch, then quickly put the patch on the hole and squeezed it on tightly and let it dry overnight. This worked. The tube that comes with the kit is only big enough for a few repairs. From experience, I estimate that it will dry out within a year of puncturing the metal seal on the top. I urge REI to put 3-5 tubes of adhesive in each kit, or sell them separately (note that this is not the rubber cement found in bike tube patch kits).

I've since spent 10 nights on my pad since patching a 1/2" awkward gash 5 months ago. The seal still holds fine. Some of those nights were just above freezing and on rocks/roots; others were on sand. I have a ~14 year-old REI brand closed-cell foam pad. To be safe, I carefully applied an excessive, even coating of glue when my pad was back home and warm. I let the glue set for two days and I think I put something sort of heavy on the patch. I ended up using the entire tube of glue. I wish the same size tubes were sold individually because now I have way too many patches and no glue. Sleeping on cold, hard ground is miserable, so I'm buying another kit to carry just the glue and two large patches in my pack for emergencies.