Hello all,
I just got the goods to attempt a project to the extreme I have never gone.
I am going to make a 2 pound quilt and try to get it comparable to a zero degree bag. I know Nunatak makes a 30 ounce one with a 5 degree quilt.
The style of quilt I am looking at doing is completely different and will have your head fully enclosed like a bag and will be much warmer for the weight.
I have a few pics of these from my homemade gear...
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/7691/index.html?skip_to_post=55857#55857

My biggest worry is how much loft?
As far as I know or am at least thinking is that I will need 5".

What I don't want to have happen is have the chest and feet be too cold.

Any advice would be great.
Also wondering if anyone else has successfully made a quilt get down to 0*?

I will post pics when I am done.
Shouldn't take too long, this is about the 6th bag/quilt I have made, (at least that many).

Material will be Momentum and 800+ Down.

wow Aaron, nice project! I've been drooling over the nunatak expedition.

Hi Aaron,

Following the guide presented by Feathered Friends, you would need a minimum of 7" of loft (double sided) for a 0 degree F bag. On that basis, you would need a minimum of 3 1/2" of Down over the body for a 0 degree bag or quilt. I would expect you will need at least 7" to 9"?? (double sided) of loft for the footbox however.

Rich

Richard,
Thank's for the info.
I am looking at 5" on top and 2 1/2" on the bottom portion.
The foot box however will be a full 5" top and bottom.

I may even need to make in 5 1/2" for the feet and chest?

9 ounces of down isn't all that much for a nice little 35-40* quilt project, but man oh man does it add it when you're using more than double that.

I am also looking for someone to take out the quilt in some colder temps and do a compairison with a 0* bag. Then they could post a "Bag vs Quilt" reply in the forums for me.

Chris, let me know if you would be interested.

Edited by awsorensen on 09/11/2007 19:47:56 MDT.

Hi Aaron,

Part of the problem with any down sleeping bag or quilt is the compression of the down under the body weight. If you can keep the sleeping pad or air mattress tightly against the sleeping bag or quilt when you turn on your side or over you are supposed to have little or no air leakage for a cold feeling. Having not used a quilt though I can not comment.

But with the concern of compression of all of that down under the body (and I do have 2 Feathered Friends Down Sleeping Bags) I opted for a Stephenson's Warmlite DAM (Down Air Mattress) which I still have to put into service. My DAM weighs 20.2 oz and the pump sack weighs 2.8 oz. So in the DAM I would have uncompressed down below me in air mattress tubes which inflate to 3-4 inches. I am not sure, but I believe that Stephenson's uses 800+ goose down. So following this option, though it is perhaps a bit heavy, you would have down above you in the sleeping bag or quilt and down below you in the DAM. If you considered this option and were able to lock the sleeping bag or quilt to the DAM you could use less down in the quilt or sleeping bag and be quite warm.

Rich

Edited by naturephoto1 on 09/11/2007 20:15:29 MDT.

I have just gotten some 5 ounce per sq yard Climashield XP and will make one of my SUL Sleeping Bags out of it. The Clo numbers should give me something close to "0" degrees used with my Warmlite Down Air Mattress and Bivy. The sleeping bag should weigh about 1 pound if my math is correct.

Bill,
Don't you mean your Poly-Tube Down Air Mattress?
Don't tell me you're going commercial.

We'll have to have a shot-out.
I'm guessing 3 ounces of Cubin fiber and 2 1/4 yards of Climashield???

Your 20 oz Warmlite gives me 4 ounces for a pad to = your weight, (I don't think so), but you never know. about 22 ounces of down blows away the CLO value of 12 ounces of Climashield.
Then again, I think you just get beamed up into an alien space ship at night and just hang out and drink Ensure and Perpetum up there.

Hi Aaron,

The XP Sleeping bag is test to see what I can do with it.

The DAM is the Warmlite as the weight is close enough and my winter gear lists keeps getting lighter. I also have a lighter way to blow it up so I save a few ounces there. I am planning another Poly-Tube DAM that will be lighter than my first ones and will blow up in an easier way. I am waiting on a new Poly Tube that isn't in production yet.

Do you remember the Down Quilt I made. It had about 5" of loft and was just to hot. Top of PT-Q and the bottom of Cuben.


Cuben / Pertex Quantum - Down Quilt

I am not making Quilts anymore. Everything will be in the form of a Sleeping Bag but without bottom insulation. Using Cuben for the bottom works really well (very light) and it hold the sides together to make it much warmer inside my Bivy. I still have a lot of really nice Down and expect to use some of it for a Down version of this current Sleeping Bag idea.

Speaking of Ensure and Perpetuem, I think you were going to use Hammer Perpetuem on your JMT hike. How did that work?

Shoot out - sounds interesting but I am not a trail racer. Maybe something else to think about is a collective - two heads are better than one approach - to a winter set of gear.

Speaking of Ensure and Perpetuem, I think you were going to use Hammer Perpetuem on your JMT hike. How did that work?

Shoot out - sounds interesting but I am not a trail racer.

Maybe something else to think about is a collective - two heads are better than one approach - to a winter set of gear. Work it out on a private forum and then present it to the world. It could be open to a few others by invite. There are several others who pop up as prime candidates. Then after we have our gear made go on a hike to give it a good test.

For now I am working on a way to use a radio frequency from my iPhone to break down the hydrogen in water to burn for stove fuel and a SUL heater for my Bivy.

Bill, saw that article about burning water, but can't remember where it was posted.

Bill,
I meant a shot-out in seeing how far the quilts could get down to.

Yeah, of course I remember your 5" loft quit.
And I was the one who introduced you to Perpetuem, don't you remember?
_____________________________________
Added Oct - 29th

Alright,
I'll be using the quilt over the next few days and get a few pictures of it in use.

I'll probably end up dieing of heat exhaustion in it with low temps being in the low to mid 40's.

The max upper comfort limit of this bag is probably about 35*.

Edited by awsorensen on 10/29/2007 09:44:36 MDT.

Bill,

I was wondering how the SUL sleeping bag was coming along.

I'm interested in the CLO numbers translation to a zero degree bag .... in a quilt, the CLO on the 5.0 oz basis weight would only take me to about 20, so I wondered if I could trouble you for a bit of the math.

You obviously have some info from testing your concepts that translates CLO to Temp for your particular sleep number ;o)