I've been a lurker here for a while, but this is my first post. I haven't seen any posts like this in my few months here, so I'm hoping someone might be able to give me some advice.

I've got an REI Sub-Kilo bag with 700 fill down that's about 30 ounces. It's served me very well for about 6-7 years, it's rated down to 20, and while I've never taken it down that low, it's been fine below freezing. I've only recently noticed that I don't ever use the "hood", and I toss and turn during the night and thus negate the thicker down on the topside of the bag. I sleep on my side and regularly wake up with the zipper beneath my body, and the thinner down on top of me, while I'm compressing the thicker down on the top of the bag. I hope that makes sense...

Anyway, I think a quilt would be the perfect thing for me, not just to go lighter, but to take advantage of the "fixed" nature of a quilt that enables you to toss and turn a bit at night.

The question I have is whether or not it would be feasible to gut the bag, sew my own quilt, and use the down from the bag so that I don't have to spend much money? Has anyone done this before? Are there big disadvantages to using 6-7 year old 700 fill down instead of new 800 fill down? Any thoughts or experience for this? Thank you!

EDIT: Just noticed this might be better posted in the "MYOG" forum, so perhaps someone can move it for me...

Edited by whitenoise on 08/16/2011 13:36:12 MDT.

I just unzip my WM Megalite 30 F. bag, stick the end of my regular length Thermarest Lite (c. 1997) in the end of the bag and use it as a quilt. Works great B/C the Megalite is a wider bag. Very comfortable on hot nights.

I would not gut the bag just for the down, however you could sew and cut the shell and convert it to a quilt.

If you want something new I would just build a M90 or M55 Climashield quilt with 5 oz climashield. Very easy to make compared to down.

Figure about 23 ounces for a long with M90. About 21 oz for a long with M55.

Edited by tammons on 08/16/2011 13:58:15 MDT.

"I just unzip my WM Megalite 30 F. bag, stick the end of my regular length Thermarest Lite (c. 1997) in the end of the bag and use it as a quilt. Works great B/C the Megalite is a wider bag. Very comfortable on hot nights."

Thanks Eric, the problem is that my bag has thicker down on the top and thinner down on the bottom (the part that makes contact with the ground/pad). So if I wanted to just unzip it, which I've considered, the hood is going to waste, and I'd only have half the thickness of down on half of my body.

"If you want something new I would just build a M90 or M55 Climashield quilt with 5 oz climashield. Very easy to make compared to down."

Thanks Troy, do you have a set of instructions I can follow? I searched but couldn't find any.

BPL did an article one time on converting a bag to a quilt. I can't remember where it is, but I know I've found it and referenced it before.

From Joe's previous post on this: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/make_your_own_gear_mummy_to_arc_conversion.html

Thanks for the helpful responses everyone. I think it might be a better idea just to make my own down quilt from scratch, and perhaps sell the REI bag, as it's in almost new condition.

Could someone point me to the definitive "MYOG down quilt" guide?

Thank you!