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View Full Version : Down Comforter as quilt



jhick
05-15-2008, 13:41
With all the talk of sleeping bags vs. quilts, I'm curious if anyone uses a regular store bought down comforter.

anarky321
05-15-2008, 13:47
i tried it a few times but it was too heavy and bulky...it was right before i gave up on cold-climate backpacking altogether

jhick
05-15-2008, 13:57
I'm curious about using one in warmer months. Being a cold sleeper, I don't think a quilt would work for me below the mids 40's. I would think a thin Twin size comforter would compact pretty well... haven't tried it.

Hooch
05-15-2008, 14:13
I'm curious about using one in warmer months. Being a cold sleeper, I don't think a quilt would work for me below the mids 40's. I would think a thin Twin size comforter would compact pretty well... haven't tried it.It'd still be pretty heavy though, don't you think? Any forget about it if it gets wet. Those things are usually covered with cotton, so you're screwed-with-a capital-s.

anarky321
05-15-2008, 14:44
I'm curious about using one in warmer months. Being a cold sleeper, I don't think a quilt would work for me below the mids 40's. I would think a thin Twin size comforter would compact pretty well... haven't tried it.

i find that sleeping in a tent below mid-40's doesnt work at all lol

you can camp as cold as you want but the lower the temp, the larger the amount of stuff you have to drag with you just to stay alive

and yes comforters are covered in cotton usually which means that as the previous poster said your double-screwed if the thing gets wet..especially if its 45 outside and your relying on it to make it through the night....brrrr

Frolicking Dinosaurs
05-15-2008, 15:13
I have a double bed size microfiber covered comforter with 750 fill power down and it has been on a few hiking trips with us Dinos - works well, but it was more expensive than most hiking quilts. Cheap 'down' comforters contain a lot of feathers instead of down -- and that's pretty much all you are going to find at places like Wally World, Target, etc. You can sometimes find a high quality comforter on deep clearance at places like Bed, Bath & Beyond - especially if it is soiled.

Hooch
05-15-2008, 15:25
You can sometimes find a high quality comforter on deep clearance at places like Bed, Bath & Beyond - especially if it is soiled.Ewwwwwwww! http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/sick017.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org)

Frolicking Dinosaurs
05-15-2008, 15:29
Ewwwwwwww! http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/sick017.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org)Soiled as in was a floor model - not from use. That would be gross. However, if you plan to use it for hiking, a little normal dirt isn't going to hurt anything.....

Hooch
05-15-2008, 15:33
Soiled as in was a floor model - not from use. That would be gross. However, if you plan to use it for hiking, a little normal dirt isn't going to hurt anything.....Nevermind......cancel the alert. :rolleyes::D

napster
05-15-2008, 15:42
I been thinking about taking the guts from our old down comforter (king size) and the shell from a old tent and asking my sis-in law to sew some kind of quilt for underneath our hammocks.How should I attach it to the hammock? Velcro or closepins or just sew an extra sleeve underneath the hammock botom? Any suggestions/ideals?

Frolicking Dinosaurs
05-15-2008, 15:46
I suggest you look at the homemade hammock gear forum over at Hammock Forums (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/?)

jhick
05-15-2008, 15:52
HAHAHHAHAHA......

Well, cotton is not a worry as much for warmer weather hiking. Mostly curious for the sake of saving money. I already have a nice 35° Big Agnes down bag, but wanted something quick/cheap for summer. Thanks for the input.

russb
05-15-2008, 16:44
i find that sleeping in a tent below mid-40's doesnt work at all lol

you can camp as cold as you want but the lower the temp, the larger the amount of stuff you have to drag with you just to stay alive

and yes comforters are covered in cotton usually which means that as the previous poster said your double-screwed if the thing gets wet..especially if its 45 outside and your relying on it to make it through the night....brrrr


If your down quilt gets wet you are screwed no matter whether it is covered with cotton or something else. The weight and bulk is the only concern that matters.

Hooch
05-15-2008, 16:48
If your down quilt gets wet you are screwed no matter whether it is covered with cotton or something else. The weight and bulk is the only concern that matters.Respectfully disagree. If the down comforter or quilt if covered in DWR ripstop, at least it has a fighting chance. It it's covered in cotton then you're up crap creek without a paddle, period.

Fiddleback
05-15-2008, 20:10
From the time I started camping I avoided down articles...sleeping bags, quilts, insulated clothing, etc. I, like the rest of the conventional wisdom, was fearful of getting my sleep system wet. Then, a few years ago, I fell in lust with my brother-in-law's down sleeping bag and I soon got one for myself.

I've camped in all kinds of conditions including violent thunder storms and endless rain that drove us into our tent for more than 24 hours. I camped out on site when we started building our house and I swear it didn't stop raining for two weeks! Yet, after salivating over that down sleeping bag, it suddenly hit me...nothing in my sleep system had got wet (other than surface condensation) since sometime around 1962...and even that was a fluke. I've since concluded that my fear of a wet sleep system was overblown, as I suspect is others'. Of course, there's an assumption of experience and expertise in that statement.;) Elsewhere I've read about campsite selection and tent pitching practices that seem to dare the water to come in.:D

Long backpacks, especially those without relief, demand different considerations. So too, I suspect, do very humid areas or arctic cold. But for weekends or even a week's camp, down is not the risk I grew up thinking it was.

As for down comforters...too bulky and too heavy. But I have an Arc Aplinist that's just wonderful.

FB