I just posted a short article on my blog about making a sit pad from a piece of ensulite foam pad.

Blake

www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Yes, it's an excellent and practical idea. But at the risk of being rude, it's hardly a news flash: hikers have been doing this for at least 30 years.

And the left over bits can be fashioned into kneepads, pot cozys, neck braces, or padding for fragile artifacts - you name it.

You are right, it's not a news flash but it's practical and bears repeating.

Hikermor I wonder what other great things a person could fashion out of a pad. Great ideas, thanks.

Blake

Foam pads are very useful for fabricating splints - add structure outside the pad in the form of a stick or hiking pole etc. Cut them to just the size you need - foam pads don't cost much, I have sacrificed a few for some splinting exercises with Scouts.

Much of the time you don't even need "structure outside". If you roll the foam properly it is quite stiff.

One of my favorite splints is the "jelly roll" for a knee or lower leg injury. Put two overlapping pads crosswise under the leg. Adjust the overlap to get the right length. In most cases it is best to put a small bit of padding under the knee so that the leg is slightly flexed. Roll the two sides in, towards the leg. Secure with cravats, webbing, or whatever. It is quite ridgid, well padded, and insulated. Very fast and effective. Works as good or better than the "quicky splints" often carried by ski patrollers.

I have also seen a very effective C-collar fashioned by cutting a peice of ensoslite.

:-) I carry a foam pad with 2 sizes of c-collar outlined on it, ready to cut.

Great 3/4 inch thick CCF pads for kneeling (perfect for sitting too) are available for very cheap in the gardening section of some retailers. Got a couple recently for just 4 bucks each on a sale. My old sleeping pad, replaced with the Therm-a-rest Luxury a while ago, is safe in the closet for now. (In fact mine is of a heavily ribbed construction and may not work as well for a sitting pad for several reasons).

By the way, I saw some UL campers attaching a piece of rope or bungee cord to each side of their sitting pad, and wearing it right over the dedicated rear spot all the time. Looks convenient.

Also I know that wise hikers are precutting their pads to 3-4 pieces and linking them back with cloth bands. So they can neatly fold it to a sitting pad shape when necessary without destroying its primary function and making the seat higher at the same time (It seems to me - that idea was commercialized recently, as I saw something folding like that at REI once).

And of course there are plenty of specialized lightweight harnesses available for almost every type of sleeping pad, which converts them to camping chairs. It's not a rocket science to just reverse-engineer one of them and improvise one to a personal taste.

The z-rest pad has had the folding into the shape of a sit pad thing going for a number of years now. I like it in the rain, you only unfold enough for folks to sit on - fits naturally along a log for instance.

One half of a z-rest pad works fine in reasonable conditions (roughly down to 20 degrees or so). Place the short pad under your torso and shove something else under your legs.