I'm not sure how useful this will be. But, I made a simple insulated floor for my cold camping tent. I used these Gossamer Gear 1/8" thinlite pades, and some heavy duty 2mm reflective mylar that I got from amazon. The plan is to put the insulation under the tent. I'm not really counting on it warming up the tent, but I am hoping it warms up the floor enough to make the tent less damp.

For a VE-25, it rolls up to about the size of a ridgerest. Weighs 26oz with the mylar.

Some pictures.

























I also tried the pad/mylar with a blanket inside the tent, on top of the mylar and foam. The nice thing about these pads is that they are kind of grippy, and things don't slide around much. This makes the blanket stay put like a carpet. But the blanket doesn't pack down well, so I don't see myself doing this.







I used duct tape to assemble the main center part of the tent floor - I used 3 pads for that. It fanfolds. And, It is separate from the edge pieces. The 3 edge pieces attach with small sticky back Velcro patches. The sticky back velcro didn't work so well, so I think I would have to stitch the Velcro in.

Velcro pads.

Looks like a neat idea, that's what I love about this site. There are lots of people on here with great ideas for problems.

quote OldFingers57: "Looks like a neat idea, that's what I love about this site. There are lots of people on here with great ideas for problems. "

It's not really my idea. I saw it first mentioned once when reading about arctic tents. Then Dan Cooke made a floor for his hot tent that is posted on his trip report, which convinced me to try it.

But, you don't know how bulky it is until you try it. I couldn't find any pictures of how bulky it was anywhere, that is why I posted mine.

An insulated floor is an interesting idea, but I confess to be more curious about what it's like to go winter camping with a cat.

I saw someone set up timberline outfitter 4 on 3 pieces of 2" x2' x 8' styro, laid on top of snow. Have also see that mylar bubble wrap stuff used under tent.

quote billconner: "I saw someone set up timberline outfitter 4 on 3 pieces of 2" x2' x 8' styro, laid on top of snow. Have also see that mylar bubble wrap stuff used under tent."

I also thought cardboard would work OK and not take up much space, and also be pretty simple. But you'd have to keep it dry with a ground cloth or mylar/plastic on both sides.

I also found this company that looks to be selling similar/same foam padding for much less than I paid, and in a bigger size (but a different color). But, since I had only used the gossamer gear foam, I went with what I knew - might not be the same. The gossamer gear foam is very light, and very firm so it is more of an insulator vs a cushion. Most other foams are either too heavy or too cushy.

I still need to take a match to some of the material scraps outside to make sure they aren't to flammable.

Great idea, that would also be nice for vehicle based camping!
yoga mats and space blanket combo is another possibility.

butthead

That would work too.

The unique thing about the Gossamer Gear pads is that they are extremely light and thin, good R-value for the thickness, and they are not that compressible so they retain insulating value when weight is applied. Yoga mats would work the same, but be much heavier. Ridgerests would work too, but be much bulkier (but warmer too). All that said, I don't really know how useful the floor is - haven't tried it yet.

I am unclear . Did you laminate the reflective material- or just layer it?
Where did you find R values on the mats/ pads?

quote DanCooke: "I am unclear . Did you laminate the reflective material- or just layer it?
Where did you find R values on the mats/ pads?"

I just layered it. When I pack it up, each layer folds up seperate.

I think it would be better to laminate it somehow, the problem is that the mylar isn't stretchy like the foam, so if they were laminated it wouldn't roll up as tight. I think it would be best if somehow there was a top protective layer over the mylar, stitched to the foam, with the mylar just held loosely in between the top protective layer and the foam. But, I think the top layer would need to be a little bit stretchy too in order to get the pad to roll up tight.

I just found the r-value by random googling for "evasote r-value". I think the r-value for the 1/8" is something like 0.45.