I am looking for a cheap foam pad in something wider than 20". 22-24 will work, and of course I can cut a wider one down.

The width is for my Virga - it carries best with a stiff foam pad like a blue Wal-Mart, but all the stiff foamies seem to come in 20" width. The load lifter straps are at 22" from the base of the pack on my medium, and getting more support up there would be great.

MEC has an extra-wide evazote pad, but it's ungodly heavy (27oz!!!), and pricey at $66. Gossamer Gear Thinlight pads look way too thin and soft to serve as much of a frame, although I could be wrong there.

The Ridgerest comes in a wide, but I'm not sure how the softer foam will carry.

Has anyone seen a 22"+ blue foamie anywhere?

I guess my next option is widening a Wal-Mart pad. Anyone know what they are made from? I wonder if a 2-part Plastic-Weld kit would bond it well enough...

Multimat Adventure XL Closed Cell Foam Mat seems to be about 22-23"
http://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/multimat_adventure_xl_closed_cell_foam_mat.html

However, it can be too thick for using inside a pack.

Edited by ssv310 on 08/28/2010 07:21:24 MDT.

Dammit, I have making links here. It's almost html, but I can't remember the little differences.

Cabelas.com ---> Alps Mountaineering Trail Foam Mat
$24.99

Edited by leaftye on 08/28/2010 07:21:37 MDT.

REI has them 24" wide in two sizes...

Regular Here

and

Long Here



LOL, it's not that hard, Eugene...

Edited by goosefeet on 08/28/2010 07:28:09 MDT.

Steve has some options too...

http://suluk46.com/products%20%20-%20P3%20PG%20Sheet.html

-Tim

Thanks, that REI pad looks like the same 3/8" foam Wal-Mart uses that I've come to love as a frame. Of course it's 3x the price at REI...


Interesting fact - it's super-grippy on snow. I tried to use it as a sled and it was no faster than glissading on my butt. Next time I'll glue a Wal-Mart pad to something slicker so I have two speeds to choose from.

Philip: I've gone through the same thing with my Virga, and it's two or three inches longer than the Regular. It was never a big issue, but it was enough to want to solve it.

I'm now using a Large NEoAir folded against the pack's panel, with maybe a puff of air inside. (I got the NeoAir for the luxe comfort, but the 25-inch width helped with rationalizing the purchase. It's working well, but you lose the advantage of a nice foam cylinder filling out and shaping the pack.

Eugene,

I PM'd you.

Try looking here for info on making an embedded link.

Sorry for the thread drift everyone. :-)

Party On,

Newton

JRB has wide and short 26 x 40 inch 1/4 thick eva pads for under $10.

Pan

John, I didn't get your pm.

nm

Edited by ben2world on 09/02/2010 22:47:19 MDT.

Eugene:

BPL has a very restrictive web address length -- and your Cabela's web address is way over the limit:

http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0067069518966a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntk=Product_liberal&QueryText=alps+mountaineering+trail+foam+mat&sort=all&Go.y=0&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=false&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form23&Go.x=0

If you really want to embed, you have to do it in two steps:

1. Copy the above link.

2. Go to TinyURL and paste the link there to create a shorter equivalent. In this case, it's:

http://tinyurl.com/29q2ckf

3. Now embed by typing it all out as below (do not copy and paste, but type it out):

<a href="http://tinyurl.com/29q2ckf>Cabelas</a>

Once you type the above, it will come out like this: Cabelas.

Hope this helps.

Edited by ben2world on 09/02/2010 22:53:32 MDT.

Consult google or phone book for commercial supplier of PU and PE foams.

cheers

Owareusa has some padding options and ideas.

http://owareusa.com/