adding down a sleeping bag

[toenail]

We have two lafuma down sleeping bags, that are good down to about 45 degrees. I want to add some down to them to get to 30 degrees. Does anyone have any experience, tips, or links they could share. thanks

[Cabin Fever]

Probably more worth your time to go buy a colder down bag. You can find Lafumas at REI, Sierra Trading Post and eBay all the time for well under $100.

[Slo-go'en]

I tried that once --

I had an old down bag which had lost most of its feathers in one the baffles. Found a cheap down comferter at Wally world. Figured I'd open them both up and transfer some feathers. What a mess! Feathers flew everywhere.

Should I ever try to do that again, will do it inside a tent to contain the feathers so they don't fly all over the room and take forever to clean up. Or wet them down first to make them clump up.

[Reid]

The thing I learned is that the baffles are designed to only hold so much down. You could in fact shove another ounce throughout the bag and there would be room for it but the benefit I doubt would warrant that. The summer bags are easier to add down too but the winter bags such as a 20 bag have more bulk around the zippers and thus harder to sew back up in adequate fashion. Just my experience. Get another bag.

[Chaco Taco]

Get a liner, not worth the trouble

[Blissful]

I'd get a whole new bag. Lafuma is awful (my hubby froze in his and he's a huge guy)

[Bags4266]

If u do remove the feathers, use a shop vac (small one) extended tubes. At the far end of the last tube put a panty hose liner there. Suck out the feathers. They will stop at the liner. Then reverse direction of vacume to blow mode and blow them in. Or use your mouth, you will probally control the blast by using the lungs.

[skinewmexico]

I bought a few of the Luxurylite 2nds for $39, that had a few chambers underfilled. It wasn't that big a deal to unstitch the zipper, add some 800 fill down, and sew it back up. You could unstitch those bags at the seam or zipper. I would stick a paper towel tube into the down, and weigh it to get the right amount of down, then blow it into the chamber. It really wasn't any big deal, took a couple of hours to do 2 bags; except the bags are too warm to use in most weather I see. Great bags though, and some overfilled ones are on closeout for $99 now.

[buz]

I would agree with Ski, not difficult to do if you contain the down, and have a source for it that isn't too costly. I had an old jacket that died in an encounter with a car battery. Took out the down, sorted it for feathers, and used it elsewhere. I didn't bother with stitching undoing, I just made small slits and resewed them, then put seam grip on the repair stitches. For down, put it in a big paper bag, it doesn't stick to it. I used a small tube, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 inch diameter, plastic, and used needle nose pliers to ram the down into the tube, filling it up very condensed. Put tube into slit, then use rammer to push down into baffle. You can use small lunch bags to weigh small amounts of down if you want prior to inserting.

[Two Speed]

The thing I learned is that the baffles are designed to only hold so much down . . . IMHO that's the key point. If the bags have lost enough down they're not coming to full loft any more, yeah refilling with down will help. If the baffles are at full loft additional down isn't going to make a bit of difference.