[pct-l] Down compression

[kpherzog at sdesign.com (Kurt P. Herzog)]

Jeff asks:

>>I'm interested in just how important "not"
>>compressing down over five months is to the 
>>bag's continued being warm...

I have two down bags that are 40 years old.. so
old they have cotton covers!  My wife and I bought
them when we were first married, and they have had
a LOT of use.  They have been stored compressed
(by hand) any time we are not actually in them.
I have not seen any reduction in the loft of the down,
though we do open them early in camp and fluff them.

I added about 4 oz of down to my bag about 10 years
ago, but I think the attrition was just due to loss
of down thru the cover.. not any particular degredation
of the down itself.  My wife's bag has been on fewer
trips than mine, but both have the same compressed storage
time.  Her bag seems like new to me, except for the 
normal wear-and-tear of the cover.

These bags were made with very high grade european
goose down.. I don't know how the stuff used today
would fare.  I believe the USAF did some testing in
the 60's in which they vacuum-packed down survival 
clothing and stored it for 5 years with no loss of
performance.

Kurt P. Herzog  
Grants Pass, OR 97526 

kpherzog@sdesign.com