Companion forum thread to:

MYOG: Down Vest

Very nice Jerry!

I especially like the high collar and the way the shoulders are covered.

Thank you for the in-depth write-up!

Todd

Thank you, Jerry. Your article (with the help of Addie) was very well done!

Very neat article RetiredJerry!

This is just one of the great things about BPL. If you can't find what you want, use a little ingenuity and make it your self. Jerry has surely proved that with his jackets and ultra light poly shelters.

BTW - I too have the Dan Durston-recommended scale. I never use my other scale any more.

Sweet vest...looks toasty.

I'm surprised your scale only has 1g resolution. Both of my $5 eBay 'Digital Pocket Scales' go to the tenth of a gram and all the way up to 2000g.

I wonder what it would be like to make a similar vest, but use Karo baffles. Easier to stuff would be one advantage. Just put all the down for each large section in at once. Scott

Neat vest and nice article. IMO the down vest is one of the best things to ever happen to hiking. Having a down vest has saved me countless hours of misery simply because they're light enough to carry even when you don't think you'll need it.

Back in the day, down vests were made by cottage makers for true outdoors people. They tended to be longer and often had an extra baffle or two in the back to keep the rear end warm. The fashion police recognized how dorky this "tail' looked for mall wear and quickly deleted it. Nice thing about building your own would be the option to strike a small blow for functionality by adding a couple butt warming baffles in the back.

I found the best way to ensure that the fit is right when I make my outdoor clothing is to go to the local Goodwill store and find the clothing article I am trying to make. This serves three purposes (1) Ensures that the final product is sized appropriately. (2) You can dissect the clothing and use it as a pattern. (3) You can dissect the clothing and see how it was made and assembled.

Ooops - my scale that I got on Dan's recommendation has 0.1 g resolution

Michael - same here - I get old clothes and disect them to make pattern and figure out how to make it. Now, I have a number of patterns so I usually use one of them when I make something new.

Hi Michael & Jerry,

Never thought anyone else would do so --no doubt I was wrong-- but I’ve always used MY OWN clothes (once they can’t be worn anymore because they’re old and/or kaput) to dissect these. They make great patterns. Obviously I only used the ones I liked most.

I have been looking at buying some down, and compared to thru-hiker the FF down seems like a really good deal. However I just spent 20 minutes browsing their site and I don't see any way to order down from them directly. Jerry, did you contact them directly?

Adie

Edit: I can't find anything anywhere about cuben fiber down jackets or vests. If cuben work for quilts, it seems just as good to use it for a vest. What weight would one use? I was thinking the .51oz/sq yd stuff from zpacks. if I used thru-hiker's down, made the vest a pull-over style with only a 1/2 zip, it would weigh significantly less. is .9 the nominal weight of pertex or the actual? if its the nominal, you would save 1.8 oz on the fabric, plus about 1/2 an ounce on the down, and perhaps another 1/2 an ounce by shortening the zip. thats a total weight saving of 2.8 oz, making the finished weight under 6 oz! plus with the vapor barrier effect of the cuben, it might be slightly warmer too. the only trouble is it would increase the cost to about $115 (45 for the down, and about 60 for the cuben, buck or two for the zip). still, thats less than the montbel ex light down vest, but you have 3 times as much down in there.

hold on, that doesn't add up. 4.5oz of down, plus 3sq yards fabric at .5 osy totals 6oz already, and thats without thread or zip. perhaps .9 is the actual weight of pertex? or maybe the pattern actually uses less than three sq yds of fabric?

Adie

Edited by adie.mitchell on 10/11/2011 00:03:16 MDT.