Aaron,
That is probably a great solution. I just can't bring myself to sleep in a turkey bag, i might bake. I have slept under emergency blankets before and unless this one is totally diff it's not something i would want to do night after night.

Franco,
I'm cool with silk, i just want the smallest amount of loft between the layers to stop heat loss due to wind. I would consider using silk on the liner side.

Rog,
I didn't think that by looking at it on a statue you'd know the weight, but it was worth a shot. Word to the wise. If you let your girlfriend keep you from braking the law in the name of backpacking innovation it will always go down like that. She is winning, but i guess they always do. Sex is so much more fun with a partner.

-Tim

Lol! Well, what can I say. She seems to prefer crawling under my WM ultralite in quilt mode to having a seperate bag, so it's a weight saver too! :-)

Rog,

Agricultural fabrics and films make the best cheap DIY summer sleeping bag materials for orienteering and ultras, I think. The film I used was like a Heatsheet but thinner. It was black on one side and aluminized on the other. I cut the pieces and seamed them in one operation with a hot knife. It was totally waterproof (I inflated it and left it overnight to check). The polypropylene fabric inside wasn't attached to anything. It was just two giant socks made of the PE film and another two made with the polypropylene, all nested together. It was warm but very damp inside by morning.

Tim,

Totally outside the box thought but, you might consider packing a lightweight set of long johns to sleep in. I do this in Florida with no quilt or bag. Usually, I wear 140 to 200 weight merino wool from Icebreaker.

I realize this doesn't provide a lot of temperature control like a quilt but, wool is quite good at providing a wide comfort range just from a material standpoint.

This may not be the lightest option when compared to an ultra-light quilt but, I usually sleep with at least a silk layer inside a quilt or sleeping bag anyway. Also, the long-johns won't run away from you in the middle of the night! :)

i always bring long johns too. I just don't find it very cozy to lay out with nothing over me. This whole attempt is about coziness. There are lots of ways i can slept comfortable in 60*+, but i want to be cozy and happy. Like a fat little elf.

-Tim

Thinking about the scrim material, it would be great to have a 3D structure made of it - like corrugated cardboard. The result would be light,compressible and will trap some air for more insulation.

Colin:
I get it now, at first I thought it was a 'quilt' but it's a multilayer bag. Waking damp is ok on a fine day, but the UK's maritime climate is too unpredictable. I'm buying a Spinnshelter off gear swap, so the condensation can roll off that. Maybe the right summer quilt would be a wicked fastbag summerweight long. 12oz with down in. Hard to find secondhand though.

Rog,

I just got some down off the forum and would be willing to make you a bag with it.

Nice offer Tim, I saw the down befre you grabbed it but I don't have the needle skills, metalwork is my forte.
How about a deal involving some cash plus a couple of my uberlite 2oz kelly kettle/stove combos?

I'd like a no frills quilt with enough width for side sleeping and a closed footbox for solo only use. En deux the WM wins.

There was a couple of yards of black event on gearswap too. How about that for a WR/breathable top? Handkerchief linen would be nice for the lining, but too heavy and insufficiently downproof I guess. I have some spare green parachute nylon I could send over, or do you use something lighter still?

Rog,

I will move this conversation to e-mail

-Tim

oops, epic not event. Too late, you grabbed it. Should be fine anyway?

nothing is final yet so i can back out if you want

I've ordered a down quilt from Tim. Just thought I'd put that on the record in case he starts playing favourites wih his fellow countrymen when the queue starts to form. :-)

at this point i have no plans of making any furtur down items. So put your tounges back in your mouths.

After i do this quilt that may change, but don't get your hopes up.

-Tim

Roger. I have a black, epic shelled quilt. It's great for the damp UK climate. Water just runs off it. Being black, any dampness dries pretty quick too. ;)

Well I used the quilt Tim made me for the first proper outing last weekend. Fantastic.

It's longer than a long golite ultra 20 and weighs less by a fair margin. I slept solidly under a Gatewood cape on a big agnes clearview inflatable with a cheap 2 season foam mat thrown on top of it. Ambient temp was about 6C - 44f. I don't use a bivy.

I wore my light down jacket over a cotton T shirt as I asked Tim to bias the down to the foot end for me. On my legs I wore some acrylic/wool man tights and some light rohan walking trousers.

Rog,
I would like to see pictures of your completed quilt, any chance?

Thom, I'd be delighted to show you pictures of Tim's handiwork. I'lltake some snaps in daylight tomorrow and post them.

Here's the quilt Tim made for me.

.

.

Custom made to my spec.
78" long by 48" at the head end tapering to 26" at the foot.
6oz 900 FP down, biased to foot end.
1.1oz nylon top and bottom.
Epic ends to resist condensation
Snaps and drawcord to close foot, straps for comforter conversion, drawcord at head.
17oz total weight - amazing for such a large quilt.

Edited by tallbloke on 05/18/2009 07:08:07 MDT.

My only issue is with the quilt is how much the down slides around in the baffles. I think I have found the answer to this. I just got 10 meters of Colin's row cover (horticultural fleece) off ebay for a couple of pounds. It's a thin spun polypropylene matting which weighs around 20g/m2. A layer between the shell materials above and below the down would help stop the down shifting a lot, as it's quite 'snaggy'. As it has some insulation value in it's own right, you could propably reduce the amount of down used by a couple of ounces too, which saves $$$.

In fact, I just did an experiment by concertina-ing the 10m of row cover and getting under it, and pulling a 1oz/yd nylon sheet over the top. It was warm. Total weight, 310grams or around 11oz.

I feel a myog project coming together.