Crash Pads

Crash pads are very important because without them you could get
severely hurt. This tutorial will teach you how to make crash pads,
and at the very least all it will take is some old camping gear, or if
you have some extra bucks, you will also learn how to make a
professional quality pad. There are several aspects of a crash pad
that you should keep in mind, these are planning, construction,
execution, and revision.

Planning

The first aspect of the planning stage will be mobility, wether or not
you will have to move your crash pad around on a regular basis. If you
are making a crash pad for a home bouldering wall, then mobility will
not be much of an issue, but if your making a crash pad to out to the
rocks with, mobility plays a significant role. If the crash pad is
strictly for home use, many things can work well, and cheaply to
accommodate your needs. Whereas for a more mobile crash pad, you may
need to fork out a couple bucks.

The next thing we take into consideration is the size, most
professional large pads fold out to about 4 to 5 feet either way. But
if you don't need to move your crash pad, it can be as big as the room
(or your mother) permits.

Sizes
Regular 3 feet by 3 feet
Large 3 to 4 feet by 4 to 5 feet
Extra Large 6 feet by 4 feet
these sizes are not absolute.

The most important aspect is budget and materials. Those of you with a
small budget and at home bouldering walls, can get away with large
camping air mattresses, and lots of blankets. For example, I have made
one that entailed one huge 6'x6'x1' air mattress with two normal
camping air mattresses piled on top, with a ½ foot devoted to
blankets/comforters. This method worked well, at home, but going out
to the rocks, something like this is not suitable.

The first thing we will talk about is the padding. Most commercial
crash pads feature an inch of closed cell foam, and two inches of open
cell foam. The reason for this is that, closed cell foam, can take a
tremendous impact, but is about as comfortable as concrete, so they
add the open cell foam to take some of the impact, and to soften the
landing. This method creates 3 inches of protection. You should be
able to buy these materials at your local hardware store. However if
you cannot find closed cell foam, go to the camping section of a
store, and those little blue foamy things will work. If you are
bouldering at home, as stated above, matrasses (air or not) will work
fine. Another thing that works really well at home, is bubble padding,
and tons of it, if you can get a layer three feet thick of bubble
paper, it will work fine.

The second attribute is the covering. We need something to contain all
of this, and in order to be effective it has to be tough. What ever
surface your crash pad will be above is irrealevant, the pads surface
needs to be tough to last long, the more money you spend, the longer
it will last. There is no definite material to use here, if you want
to cheap out, to a fabric store and get whatever you want, hell a
couple bed sheets may just suffice for you. But for those will a
couple bucks, your going to want something hard, durable, but still
flexible. Those you climbing at home, this may not be a huge concern,
but is still a good idea.

How are you going to transport your crash pad? Lugging around a huge
wad of foam is not exactly the most credible idea, so you may want to
be able to fold your pad, and add straps to it. Folding your crash pad
will be discussed in the construction section, but straps is a very
important subject. You want something that wont break, take a beating,
yet still feel nice on the shoulders. One thing you could do is cut
the straps of an old backpack and use them, however if you don't want
to do that, some webbing material (the stuff quick draws and seat belt
buckles are made of) works very well.

An often overlooked thing is how you fasten everything! The string is
very important as it holds everything together. You want a highly
durable string, this is definatly soemthing we cannot cheap out on!
Another thing you may want to do is add a zipper, velcro, or rope, to
hold one side, to allow easy access to the foam inside, because you
may want to add, or replace some as time goes by.

Next draw out your plan, along with all the dimensions, this way you
can determine how much material you need, and aid in the construction
of the pad.

Construction

Construction is pretty much straight forward, cut out all the pieces
before hand, to save time, and confusion. If you are building a foam
pad, place the open cell foam on the bottom and the closed cell on the
top.

First you want to construct the outer layer, the theory is that the
foam slides in and out with ease. Always double stich, as it will
increase the durability of the pad. Try to keep all the joinings,
zippers, etc. from sticking out. To so this, take the layer you want
on the inside, and put it facing outwards on either side, sew it as
normal, and when finished, turn in inside out, so that the outside is
on the outside, this way all the seams are on the inside.

To make the pad fold, what you want to do is cut the foam into two
halves, and sew the top as normal, but for the bottom you want to sew
each of the pads separately, kind of like those blue mats in
gymnasiums. This way when you fold it the bottem should be facing
outwards. Then take whatever you are using as carrying straps, and sew
them to the bottom of the mat. You will also want something to hold
the two ends of the mats from coming apart.

Use your creativity and you should come up with something as good as
professional mats, but less expensive.

Execution / Revision

This involves, actually using your mat, so for this just test it, jump
on it, land on it, and make sure it works. If you feel the ground when
you land, add some padding (this is why we make one side of the crash
pad accessible) and make sure its comfortable. Maybe you don't like
the way you put the straps, change it. Revise it till you feel
comfortable with it and trust it can break your fall.