NEMO: Airbeam Tents FAQs

Q. How fast and easy are the AirSupported Technology™ tents to inflate and deflate?

A. Very fast and easy! Aside from their rigidity and easy field repair, this is the one of the biggest benefits of air-supported tents. Every NEMO AST™ tent comes with a NEMO pump, which connects by a quick-disconnect fitting to each airbeam inside the tent. Morpho 2P™, our largest AST™ tent, takes about a minute to inflate with our Nemoid™ foot pump. The Gogo™ series of lightweight shelters takes less than 20 seconds to inflate with the included Integrated Pump! Every airbeam has a Deflator Cap attached near the inflation valve for easy deflation. You simply connect the Deflator Cap, roll the tent along the airbeam to squeeze out the air, stuff the tent in its stuff sack, and you’re ready to hit the trail again.

Q. Are the AirSupported™ tents easy to repair in the field?

A. Absolutely. It only takes a few minutes to swap a new bladder into an airbeam. The airbeams are a two layer construction, with a rugged abrasion resistant outer fabric and an airtight polyurethane inner bladder. Each airbeam has two bladder access points through which the bladder can be pulled for patching or replacement. To replace a bladder, simply tie a new bladder to the old one and pull the old one out of the airbeam being careful not to twist the new bladder as it enters. Spare bladders, which include the inflation valve, can be purchased from NEMO and select retailers at an affordable cost. Every tent comes with several self-adhesive patches. A piece of cord can be used to pull a bladder in and out of an airbeam if you do not have a spare bladder.

Q. Can NEMO tents be inflated using compressed air?

A. Yes, but only when pressure regulated to between 6-9psi. One of the great things about NEMO air-supported tents is that they are designed to be functional at low pressures and therefore don't require heavy pumps or compressed air for inflation. In turn, compressed air systems may be used for extremely rapid deployment, but they will need a regulator or blow-off valve to ensure that the pressures do not exceed 9psi.

Q. What if my AirSupported™ tent has a slow leak?

A. Every NEMO AirSupported™ tent is meticulously tested before being sent to the customer to ensure that there are no leaks or defects. If you have a leak in your tent, it must be in either the airbeam bladder or the airbeam quick-disconnect valve. Remove the bladder from the airbeam and inflate it to a modest pressure. Note that whenever you remove a bladder, for convenient re-installation, make sure to tie another bladder or a cord to the bladder first so you’ll have something in place to pull the bladder back through the airbeam. Most leaks can be detected by passing the inflated bladder along your cheek or the back of your hand and listening and feeling carefully. If this doesn't work, submerge the airbeam in clean water and you will immediately notice small bubbles come from the puncture. Use the included patch kit to repair the damage, or replace the bladder. Spare bladders are available from your local NEMO retailer or NEMO's online store.

Q. Can the AirSupported™ tents be used in the winter?

A. Yes, but it is up to you to select the correct design for your adventure. NEMO designs a range of tents and shelters each for a specific application. The AirSupported™ tents are primarily designed to compete with 3 season shelters. They can have numerous advantages over traditional poled tents including faster setup, greater rigidity, better field reparability and smaller packed dimensions. However, it could be tough to use the NEMOID™ foot pump in deep fresh snow. NEMO's Extreme Conditions poled shelters are designed with the coldest, harshest conditions in mind and have many features specifically intended to help you endure snow, below freezing temps, and brutal winds.

Q. How did you come up with this idea for inflatable tents?

A. Cam Brensinger went back to school to study industrial design at RISD in order to start NEMO. He spent four years from 1998 to 2002 working on various ideas for new products. For his senior project, he decided to tackle the idea of revolutionizing tents. It struck Cam that tents were a very significant product that everyone could identify with, that would really put the capabilities of his new company to the test, and that hadn't seen much significant innovation in recent decades. Poles were an obvious place to begin reexamining tent design. They could be a real nuisance and also limited the packed volume and weight of the tent. Cam experimented with many methods of creating structure, but his ten year old Therm-A-Rest without a single leak, his exposure to the modern EMU spacesuit while working at MIT (please see the NEMO consulting section), and inflatable kites for kite surfing all combined to give credibility to this idea in his head of making a low-pressure inflatable structure.

Q. What does NEMO mean?

A. Well, it originally meant New England MOuntain Equipment, but we quickly decided to drop the acronym and just use the word NEMO. It is pronounced "nee-mo." We trademarked our name before we had any idea that Hollywood was creating a heroic little fish by the same name! That's okay though, because it made the name tough to forget!

Q. What is the story behind NEMO's logo?

A. We call the white "N" on the black portion of the logo the "shield" and the red and white portion the "flag." The shape of the abstract "N" is reminiscent of a coat of arms and of an actual medieval shield. When Cam began NEMO in 2002 and designed the logo, it struck him that medieval armor had some important things in common with modern climbing and mountaineering equipment. Artisans would spend as much as several years making the perfect sword or piece of armor, putting an amount of care into the object proportional to the gravity of its use. Cam wanted NEMO to embody the same spirit. If somebody's life or comfort would depend on NEMO gear, the company should put tremendous care into making it.

The letters "NEMO" on the flag are meant to loosely resemble shapes from nature. The "e" is like a river, the "m" like mountains and the "o" like a pond. Red was chosen because it is the first color your eye goes to.

Q. Why aren't your tents manufactured entirely in the USA?

A. We continually look to find domestic sewing capable of handling the sophistication and quality we demanded for our tents. Unfortunately, the sewing industry has seen a drastic decline in recent decades in the US. Many of the companies we have tried working with were struggling to even find people to sew. None of them could even begin to match the speed of pattern development, the skills and the competitive pricing of our manufacturer in Taiwan. It's safe to say that our manufacturer in Taiwan is the best high-end tent sewing company in the world. They sew nearly all of the major brands in this country and Europe. We have been extremely impressed with their work ethic, professionalism, meticulous quality and ability to produce our challenging designs. Many of the non-sewn tent components and accessories are made in the USA and will continue to be as long as our manufacturers continue to provide the highest quality and competitive pricing. In 2008, we launched our Ditto™ line of upcycled and waste-saving products, many of which are produced entirely in the US.

Q. What is NEMO planning to introduce in the future?

A. NEMO is striving to achieve the best possible tent, shelter, sleeping pad and pillow designs for different applications. Expect radical new designs and ongoing improvements. NEMO is also constantly in research and development of other products for outdoor adventure. Every NEMO product will share the same commitment to quality and fearless innovation.