I will update with our full tale of a week at Flamingo land later, but as we packed up I noticed the flocked part of the air beds were damp. We have rugs on top which were also wet, but the bottoms were dry, and my sleeping bag didn't appear wet.
Could this be condensation somehow? Any other ideas!?
Yes. It's been high humidity all week, wet air to you and me. Best way to help it is keep pods open during the day, roll back the bags and rugs during the day.
------------- Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Sleeping bags work by wicking moisture away from your body, through the bag to the outside. This keeps you & your jimjams dry, and therefore warm and comfortable.
I prefer airbeds to camping beds but they do need the opportunity to air, so it's a good idea to move the sleeping bag off the airbed for an hour or two once you're up.
It's also important to pack the airbed dry, like your tent, so make sure it's well aired on the day you break camp. We found this is slightly difficult with kids who want to stay in bed til the last minute while we pack everything away around them
------------- Camping Gear expands so as to fill the space available for its transportation.
Definitely make sure you dry the airbeds before you put them away. Me and my daughter had an overnighter in Le Mans last month, put the tent up, unfolded the double airbed to find it was disgustingly mouldy, it went in the bin and we slept on lilos for the night, which thankfully didn't pop!
When we used to take air beds we removed the sleeping bags and fleece and then stood the air bed on it's side every day, to air it. Never had the wet air bed problem, we use camp beds and SIMs now.
We have had that happen to us a few times as well, but I don`t worry about it. I put a picnic rug under the airbeds for insulation, then a fleece blanket on top. When we get up in the morning I open up the sleeping bags to air out, pull back the fleece blanket to dry the airbed out and if the bed is really damp, I put the sleeping bags and blanket over chairs and leave the airbed uncovered while we go out for the day. As others have said, always make sure your airbed is thoroughly dry before packing it away.
When you sleep you sweat out a good 2 pints of water, this is what you can see on the outside of sleeping bags, fleeces, roofs of tents, airbeds etc nothing you can do about it except better ventilation.
------------- As I've told my psychiatrist, you can't have too many tents.
Late to this thread, but just wondering, can anybody tell me if it is possible to remove the spotty damp/condensation patches off my airbed? I've used many a flock airbed and never had this happen before, but now it has for the first time, and honestly, it's so unsightly! Please, please can anybody help me with advice?? Thanks, Kris.
Yes, inflate it, get it outside and wash it over with some warm sudsy water (washing detergent) then rinse thoroughly and let it dry.
With the weather we're currently having, it'll be dry enough to put away in no time (just check that it's totally dry before deflating and re-packing).