sleeping Bag mod

[Dearborn]

Hey Folks,

over the past several months I have been going through my gear list over and over to shed more weight for our nobo in june. Last time I weighed in at the post office I tipped it at 13lbs 14 oz. Certainly not a bad weight at all, especially since before last summer I was a traditional weight backpacker. However, in the effort to cut more weight I have been wanting to modify my sleeping bag to be lighter. I have a fairly cheap slumberjack retangular cut 30 degree I am using for the trip, and there is a ton of room in the bag that could be trimmed. I sleep pretty warm and I am not against having to use my layers if nessesary to sleep comfortably. I was wondering if there were any things that I should consider that I may run into while turning my bag into a modded mummy. I have also been looking into the quilt idea, but am afraid of pulling the trigger on this too early with too little information. Any suggestions would be great!

[snowhoe]

I think you should pull the trigger. A quilt is great its like a blankey. You can modifey your temp too. If your to hot just uncover a little if you are to cold well then get your LOUD and crinkly emergency blanket out.

[Two Tents]

You asked for opinions. I just got a speer top quilt and took it out on the North country trail for a test hike this past weekend-Man I wish i'd have 'pulled the trigger' sooner. No regrets! I had it 1oz overstuffed and slept comfy in the low 30's. Happy trails---Two Tents.

[skynyrd]

What exactly does someone have to do to modify their sleeping bag into a quilt?

[Dearborn]

I was considering tapering the bag more towards my feet,, leaving a footbox, taking out the zipper since its purpose is nil as a quilt. Overall the bag is quite large so I would probably crop a fair deal of material off of it, especially since there will be no bottom. I'm trying to figure out whether to do it ray way style with the bungee like straps on the bottom, or have a pad envelope system. I do move some in my sleep so itll probably be smart to have something to keep it in place.

[Rocketman]

The width of the quilt, if that is your modification, is important in staying warm. 54 inches or 58 inches are sometimes quoted as good widths for a one person quilt.

Jarding argues that you need to do some measurements to be sure. He suggests that you lie on the floor on your side, and have someone measure with a tape the distance from the floor, up and over your widest part of your upper body and down to the floor on the other side. This is the "floor to floor" distance the quilt must cover. Then you need to add about 12 more inches to that width to allow some of the quilt to lie on the ground and form a seal against the cold air. If you are cutting patterns, you might add a couple of more inches to cover seam widths.

This would be a good start to figuring out how wide the quilt to be cut out from the sleeping bag could be. Wider would probably be a little warmer and maybe a little easier to sleep under, but it would also be a little heavier as well.

Here and there on the internet are DIY quilt plans that you can try to consult and learn from. I would suggest that you look up whatever of them you can, and certainly look in all of the discussion board sites in DIY gear - doing searches for quilts and maybe sleeping bag modifications.

There is a lot of information out there, and you can actually track it down with some patience and searching skills.