[pct-l] Quilt vs sleeping bag

[Reinhold Metzger]

[pct-l] Quilt vs sleeping bag

Katherine,
Brick hit it right on the nail.
For a solo hiker, in my opinion, ounce per ounce you can't beat the
sleeping bag.
It is true, the bottom insulation on the sleeping bag gets somewhat
compressed and compromised, but the zipped sleeping bag, with only
your nose and mouth petruding on a cold night, traps your body heat
far better than the quilt.

As far as the argument that the bottom of the sleeping bag is dead
weight, I will say the following:
If the sleeping bag and the quilt are made from the same material,
the sleeping bag, since it more or less hugs your body and may be
tapered to your body shape, may contain no more material than the
quilt because the quilt needs to be wider and longer than your body
to insure your body is fully covered and not exposed as you toss and
turn in your sleep.
I know, to prevent parts of your body from being uncovered as you
turn in your sleep, elastics may be used to keep the quilt rapped
around you as you sleep on your side and under you as you sleep on
your back, in which case the part of the quilt under you will get
compressed just like the sleeping bag.
But, to accomplish this the quilt must be wide enough to wrap around
your body and not just as wide as your body and therefore probably
use as much material as the sleeping bag but not trap your body heat
as well as the sleeping bag.

Also, the quilt will not keep out the crawling critters like a zipped
sleeping bag, so you can sleep tight and not let the critters bite.

So,....sleep tight,....don't let the bed bugs bite....and dream of me
and only me at night.

JMT Reinhold

-------------------------------

  Katherine <ihearttrail at gmail.com  <http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l>> wrote:
>/  We've scoured the internet, and still have a hard time figuring out the
/>/  true difference and pros/cons of a sleeping bag versus a quilt. We would
/>/  love to hear about your experiences dealing with one versus the other.
/-------------------------------

Brick wrote:
Here is my take on it.

When I am hiking alone, I use a sleeping bag.

When I am hiking with a partner with whom I want the skin contact,
then the shared warmth under quilt makes it worthwhile, as the quilt
weighs less than 2 sleeping bags, AND it is more enjoyable. Jardine is
the reasons the quilt fad started, and I believe he was always hiking
with his wife.

I would not carry a quilt while hiking solo.

HYOH, YMMV