How much warmth dead leaves add if placed under your tent/pad?
During the fall season, fallen leaves from deciduous trees such as maple, oak, etc. can be found in abundance. Dead leaves can be gathered and placed under your sleeping system in order to sleep more comfortably and presumably warmer.
How much R-value does a pile of leaves provide? This is of course dependent on the type of leaves (or composition), quantity, dampness and other factors.
Considering the possible variation, what level of R-value could you expect by gathering dead leaves?
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This is almost certainly close to the R-value for a "dead air" space the same thickness as the leaf layer and the less compressed the leaves are the higher the R-value.
Setting up a test for this using a heat source and one or more thermometers shouldn't be too difficult.
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Leaves under your tent will offer almost no value as you will crush them when you lay in your tent. The primary benefit from leaves comes from dead air space. However they will provide a more smooth and soft sleeping surface.
Leaves piled around your tent will provide good insulation as long as they do not get wet. I could not find an R value, but I did manage to find this fairly realistic test using leaves for insulation.
http://usefulstuffonly.blogspot.com/2007/11/insulation-testing-of-leaves-sawdust.html
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When I have to sleep in moist cold air I always put some newspapers under my matras. It absorbs the water thus keeping me much better dry and warm. If those leaves are dry when find them you can also put them under your matras with the same effect. I think it will work even better than putting them under the tent.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/4378. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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