[pct-l] re: (pct-l) Home-made sleeping quilt

[howie@jschool.troyst.edu (Hungry Howie)]

Last Fall I also constructed a 20*F sleeping quilt with a shell material
of 1.1oz ripstop nylon.  The difference is that I used 800+ fill down and
dropped the weight of my quilt from 2 pounds 2 ounces to a mere 17 ounces.
Cost?  $100.  And just because there is so little info on the web about
working with down and sewing baffled quilts or bags, I put it all on-line
for everybody to hopefully gather some useful info from
(http://jschool.troyst.edu/~jeremy/quilt.html).  It's true that down will
lose some loft while on the trail.  After 200 days of being compressed
into a literal soft-ball sized sac; my 20*F down bag that used to keep me
warm to 17*F, now keeps me warm to a mere 25*F.  Whereas my 20*F
Polarguard bag, which has only been used 1/10 of the times that the down
has, and never compressed to even close to that size (mostly because it
wouldn't have, even if I tried), now keeps me warm barely to freezing.
Where's the cost factor?  A high quality down product will outlast an
equivalent synthetic product 3 times to 1.  So then; there's really only
$10 difference between our quilts.  Mine weighs 1 pound and 1 ounce less
than yours does.  Where's the cost savings? Just an alternative to the
norm -Hungry Howie


Open your heart and awaken your mind and you'll be there