Keeping airbeds inflated

[adrianiscorrect]

Here's the thing.

I have never had an airbed that stays inflated. Never ever ever. I always wake up on the ground. Which is rubbish. I have no idea why. I don't weigh that much and I don't buy the cheapest ones going but they always fail.

Is there anyway to keep them from deflating in the night? OR is there an alternative that actually works? Or is there something I am doing really really wrong?

[muddywellies007]

Here's the thing.

I have never had an airbed that stays inflated. Never ever ever. I always wake up on the ground. Which is rubbish. I have no idea why. I don't weigh that much and I don't buy the cheapest ones going but they always fail.

Is there anyway to keep them from deflating in the night? OR is there an alternative that actually works? Or is there something I am doing really really wrong?

[Katster]

i learnt that if you buy a cheap one it goes down within a few hours.

[APC]

On the Thursday morning after we had set up our tents, my mate blew up his airbed with his mouth. I laid down on it and pulled a knife out to chop something up and pushed it right through it. Goodtimes.

[fanta123]

We bought a Coleman airbed last year and for the first time in any many years of camping it stayed up the whole time. And it came with a years guarantee as well

[r0cky]

I too have a Coleman airbed. It's lasted many festivals now. Previously I've had quite a few cheap airbeds, all of which have either had micro-leaks from new or developed them within hours. The cheap ones are long since in the bin, finding a micro-leak is not an easy task. The Coleman airbed has a fractionally thicker plastic than some cheap ones, so I don't agree with a previous poster that it doesn't matter.

[Katster]

I too have a Coleman airbed. It's lasted many festivals now. Previously I've had quite a few cheap airbeds, all of which have either had micro-leaks from new or developed them within hours. The cheap ones are long since in the bin, finding a micro-leak is not an easy task. The Coleman airbed has a fractionally thicker plastic than some cheap ones, so I don't agree with a previous poster that it doesn't matter.

[Savy]

I slept in my sleeping bag directly on the floor last year. First year I've tried that (as just got the arse with blow up beds for the reasons mentioned). Slept perfectly every single night. Happy days

[Ponyegg]

Ok, invest in a pump (Sitrrup pumps are best and quickest eg; http://www.leisureshopdirect.com/camping/g...0L.aspx?aff=122 battery pumps are effective but battery hungry)

The Golden Rules for airbeds:

1. Buy a good bed. I've made that mistake, now 3 beds in I wish I'd bought a decent (eg; Coleman) one. My first bed exploded on me on the Sunday night in 2007 which was bloody horrible. I moved over in the night and put m,y elbow near the integrated pump and the seem split. That said as others have stated, some cheaper ones are very good as well. The best I've had so far came from Wilkinsons (amazingly).

2. Don't buy a cheap airbed with integrated pump, the pump area as I have discovered, is a weak-spot.

3. Inflate it properly. it should be pretty rigid and firm, don't give up half way through cos you're knackered.

4. Don't over-inflate it though :-)

5. Bring some superglue with you, this may help plug any micro-leaks you find.

6. Accept that you will need to top it up at some point over the weekend. On cheap ones this could be every day to every other day.

7. Life is too short to blow bed up by mouth, invest in a pump OR ask a friendly neighbour if you can borrow theirs, we lend our to all and sundry, part of the first day buzz.

[ukslim]

Army style camp bed. Lovely and comfy.

[Joolz]

There was a product on the market a few years ago. It was an adhesive in an aerosol can and it was a puncture repair kit for car tyres. It blew up the tyre whilst plugging the puncture with adhesive.(A bit like Radiator Weld, though fine ground pepper has the same effect!) The restrictions were not to go over 50 mph. (not much chance of that in a materass!) I did use it once, on a motorbike tyre and it did not need to be replaced for the rest of the summer, the tread wore out first!

Worth a try if the product is still avaliable? Just shake the materass about a bit to get the adhesive to internal coverage.

[port]

theres a lot more air space in a bed than a car tyre, and you spin the wheel which spreads the glue over the surface. you would be better off taking a spare bed than how many cans of this stuff you would need.

you having a blonde moment?

[Kyelo]

Army style camp bed. Lovely and comfy.

[oldbird]

We have one of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AeroBed-Explorer-D...4717&sr=1-4

comes with its own rechargeable pump so perfect for the middle of a field! If it goes down a bit you can just use the pump again but ours doesn't. We didn't pay this much, got ours last year for about £60. Most comfortable and reliable airbed we have had

[r0cky]

I didn't say it doesn't matter, I said it's not always the case that cheaper ones = rubbish.

Edited April 30, 2010 by r0cky

[abu hamster]

Take an air bed and fill it with hair gel.

That would be funky!

[MissJoJo]

Take an air bed and fill it with hair gel.

That would be funky!

[neilos]

Forgive me as I am no scientist but isn't it true that the reason some airbeds go down is because they are inflated by mouth...

...as the air we breathe is warm it has a higher volume ratio than that of cold air and so during the cold nights, the air contracts and thus you get a deflated bed...

There must be some truth to this as last year we pumped up one with the pump and one by mouth and the one inflated by mouth had deflated a hell of a lot compared to the one by pump...therefore, make sure you use a pump, less of a pain than by mouth and should prevent it deflating as much during cold nights!

Feel free to shoot me down if wrong though.

[Kyelo]

Forgive me as I am no scientist but isn't it true that the reason some airbeds go down is because they are inflated by mouth...

...as the air we breathe is warm it has a higher volume ratio than that of cold air and so during the cold nights, the air contracts and thus you get a deflated bed...

There must be some truth to this as last year we pumped up one with the pump and one by mouth and the one inflated by mouth had deflated a hell of a lot compared to the one by pump...therefore, make sure you use a pump, less of a pain than by mouth and should prevent it deflating as much during cold nights!

Feel free to shoot me down if wrong though.

[Ponyegg]

A friend of ours took this the other year:

Dead comfy if somewhat unwieldy. The funniest thing was his tent wasn't that big and once inflated he was sleeping about 12" away from the tent's ceiling.