[pct-l] Nunatak USA Bag Report

[Georgi Heitman]

Steel-Eye:  You're absolutely right!  It is Ensolite that I remember.  I was speaking to one of my daughters last night, and she straightened out my memory.  Both my girls had one, I did not.  I was quite happy with my Gerry Sleep System, comprised of a open-cell pad, that was enclosed in a form-fitting sack of nylon...basically stuff bag material.  To complete the 'system' my down sleeping bag came with a stuff bag that had a very wide side seam three big snaps evenly spaced along it.  They matched  up with the three snap holders on the top seam of the foam pad so they could be snapped together as a pad and pillow (so my pillow didn't get away in the night.  Clothing shoved into the stuff bag formed that pillow and come morning, the clothes came out, the pad was unsnapped, and rolled up and slipped into the sleeping bag stuff bag and then my sleeping bag was stuffed into the area in the middle of the bag.  It has always been easy to stuff that bag, because the foam pad gives some 'body' to the sack and doesn't fight back while I'm trying to get my bag into it.
Thanks For The Memory  (TFTM),
Georgi, TA 
Old Station


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steel-Eye" <chelin at teleport.com>
To: "Georgi Heitman" <bobbnweav at citlink.net>; <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 5:25 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Nunatak USA Bag Report


> Good morning, Georgi,
> 
> I believe you may be remembering something called Ensolite, which was one of 
> the first closed-cell foam products regularly used by hikers.  I well 
> remember how pleased I was to get my first piece back in the late '60s or 
> early '70s.  Prior to that I carried an air mattress or usually nothing. 
> Enosolite was very good insulation, but it doesn't measure up to some of the 
> current foam products.  It has a wonderfully smooth surface which seems to 
> scratch and abrade easily, plus over time it became thinner in the important 
> pressure areas and it did not rebound.  That 3/8" pad could easily end up 
> 1/8" thick at the hip and shoulder areas.  I think the Ensolite product is 
> still available, but it has been surpassed by what I consider to be better 
> foams.
> 
> By the way, I recently looked at foam pads at REI and I don't think I would 
> use one unless I were desperate.  They seem to have been sliced off a big 
> block of foam rather than having been manufactured at the necessary 
> thickness.  The result is, even though it is closed-cell foam, the cutting 
> process leaves the entire surface somewhat fuzzy which can retain water that 
> would be very difficult to wipe off.
> 
> Steel-Eye
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Georgi Heitman" <bobbnweav at citlink.net>
> To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 9:00 PM
> Subject: [pct-l] Nunatak USA Bag Report
> 
> 
>> FYI... most backpackers over the age of 40 will remember that those blue, 
>> closed cell foam pads were called Thinsolite?, or Thinsolate? pads.  I 
>> recall that while REI carried them, so did most Army surplus stores, a lot 
>> cheaper.  But memories get faulty after 65, so,??? ...could be wrong.
>> I also recall that you could get a pretty nice ride down a snow chute on 
>> one...and the closed cell factor kept them dry.  I've still got, I think, 
>> four of them, for hikers to use while they stay with us.
>> Georgi, T.A.,
>> Old Station
> 
> 
>