Q:Sleeping Bag Liners

[dje97001]

So, I was wondering what the collective experience (and/or wisdom) is regarding sleeping bag liners? I plan on buying a Western Mountaineering Ultralite shortly, and wanted to get advice on a liner for it. My understanding is that the liner will keep the inside of my bag cleaner, and should add a couple of degrees of warmth. Further, I am assuming that could use this liner as a summer bag, in combination with the Ultralite--do you agree? Consider a thru-hike as the climate range. Also, is it important to get a certain cut (rectangle/mummy) in the liner? Thanks again guys/gals.

[Blue Jay]

In my opinion the bag should at least be rated 20. The liner might give you another 10. The best part about a liner is you do not have to wash the bag. If taken care of in this manner a good bag can last a very long time, as washing is one of the most damaging things that you can do to it.

[Alligator]

I have a fleece mummy liner that I got from Campmor to supplement my 20 bag in winter. It subtracts about 10 degrees from the temperature rating, which gets me through the winter down here in the VA area. The warmth to weight ratio however is not so good, because the liner is on the heavy side. I would end up lighter with a warmer bag, but a warmer bag in the range I want is currently outside my budget, so I use the liner in winter. I have yet to try it the liner as a stand alone, but am willing to try as a summer bag under favorable conditions. My suggestion would be that if you can afford different bags, having 2-3 with different temperature ratings would the best approach weight-wise.

As Blue Jay says, having a liner to keep the bag clean is a good idea, especially for thrus... Simple liners are typically pretty light, I had one that weighed about 5 oz. If you do go with a liner, get some blanket pins to keep it from twisting up at night.

[chris]

I use a silk liner from Integral Designs. It weighs a little under 5 oz. and cost me something like 50 Canadian dollars, which at the time was about $3.50 USD. It adds about 3-6 degrees of warmth (gleaned from the unscientific method of sleeping out a lot) and does keep the sleeping bag a lot cleaner. I was absolutely filthy (particularly my feet) this summer on the PCT, but didn't have to wash the bag (WM Highlight) until I got back from the thru. I washed the liner about 5 times (about 100 bag nights): It had the most disgusting stains on it from the slime of my feet, blood, etc. Filthy, stinky, repulsive. But, then I would wash it and all would be good. On nights in the 60s (there were a few), I would generally sleep in the liner only and be rather comfortable. Unfortunately, mosquitoes can bite through silk.

If you are going to do a standard length thruhike of roughly 6 months with, say, 45 nights spent in a bed somewhere, then you have 4.5 months of time in your bag. That is roughly 135 nights. Without a liner, you'll end up washing the bag two, three, or more times. Part of it will just be to get your horrendous stink out of it. As Blue Jay notes, the more you wash your bag, the more damage you do to it. While WM makes quality bags, they also cost, so do what you can to preserve them.

Note: My standard winter set up for the Smokys is a WM Ultralight with a silk liner, sleeping in thermals and a hat. No problems there.

[kncats]

We're using Sea-To-Summit Thermolite liners for our colder weather hiking. They weigh 8 oz and compress down very small. According to the manufacturer it adds "up to" 15 degrees to the rating of your sleeping bag. My wife and I both sleep pretty cold, but I'd still rate it as good for 10 degrees. For warmer weather I have a pair of baggy silk long johns that I use instead of a liner.

[Footslogger]

I carried a silk bag liner at first on my thru last year. I convinced myself that it made my 20 degree bag warmer but in retrospect, if I was really pressed I doubt I could prove that fact. One thing about the silk liners (at least the "Cocoon" model I had) is that they tend to get pretty bunched up at night inside your bag. After a while I just determined that the silk liner was more problem than it was worth ...at least for me. I mailed it home and never missed it. I found it easier to wear long john bottoms and a long sleeve shirt to sleep in when the mercury dipped.

Never have tried to use a polypro or fleece type liner and that might be a totally different story.

Anyhew ...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Edit ...just saw the above comments on the liner keeping your sleeping bag clean. Guess that's probably true but did want to comment that even after I sent the silk liner home I did not wash my sleeping bag during my thru. Personally, I think washing a bag along the trail on a distance hike is a risky proposition, especially if it's a good down bag. What I found to be just as effective, at least in terms of controlling sleeping bag odor, was to use some "Fabreez" when I hit a town. I just zipped the bag open and gave it a good spritzing and then let it sit in the open air to dry. Bag stayed reasonable fresh for the entire 6 months.
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'Slogger

[Moon Monster]

An important point made above that I want to single out is that for the liner to help keep your bag clean, it's important to wash the liner itself often. Maybe that's intuitive to a degree, but my liner did not do a good job at keeping the funk out of my bag and I did wash the liner a few times along my thru-hike.

So, my point is to wash the liner frequently. That seemed to be effective for others I knew on thru-hikes. It's not a bad idea to wash it everytime you do laundry. BTW, some silk liner manufacturers suggest that you handwash.

[SGT Rock]

I have a silk liner, and have not found it to add 10 degrees to my bags raiting as advertised. It does help to keep my bag a little cleaner, but not by much. If you have a silky linning like my Nunatak bag uses, then you may not want a liner, but if you bag isn't very nice fealing to the skin like my 20+ year old down bag, then a liner might make the nights a little more comfortable.

[charlottebronte]

My experience with liners is that I get all tangled up in them...the inevitable effect of putting one bag inside another and turning over in one's sleep. Does that not happen with silk liners? Am I the only one who gets tangled up?