wool blanket for underquilt

[SalamiHead]

a friend of mine is giving me a large wool blanket and im wondering if I can use that and fold it in half and fill it up with down or cotton batting and sew it in. any thoughts would be appreciated. I really cant afford to buy one so its a DIY in progress.

thanks in advance

[BrianWillan]

Wool blankets tend to be quite heavy and bulky. So they are less than ideal for hammock insulation when you plan to backpack to your camp site. For car camping this is not a concern. depending on size, I'd be inclined to place it the hammock, lie on it and wrap the excess portion over top of yourself like a burrito. This will give you both bottom and top insulation in one. Wool doesn't have much loft to begin with so compressing it a little won't make much of a difference.

As for your plan to fill it with down. I wouldn't do that. Wool isn't know to be a down proof material. You would also be negating the benefits of the down insulation for compressibility as the wool blanket shell compresses very little.

If you are looking to DIY a down quilt, there are numerous threads and instructions on how to do that on this site.

Cheers

Brian

[ylnfrt]

Hello, and welcome to the finest hammock site anywhere. A wool blanket is a good insulator but is HEAVY so it is not usually used as an UQ- to heavy for the shock cord suspension to support and very difficult to get to conform to your backside. That being said you could use the blanket folded in half much like a PLUQ (poncho liner UQ)- numerous threads on this- you would need to sew some channels on the ends/ side of the blanket for suspension, but doable if that is all you have. I would look to other options though- 1) PLUQ, 2) sleeping bag modified to UQ- 3) sew a synthetic UQ, materials are available, as well as kits, from a number of the venders here. HYOH- hang low fall less...

[SilvrSurfr]

I definitely wouldn't bother trying to make a down-filled UQ out of a wool blanket.

Before I bought a UQ, I used to use duct tape to tape a wool blanket onto my ccf pad. The tape kept the blanket from bunching up.

[SalamiHead]

Ty everyone for the advice!!! Im so glad im here!!!

[fallkniven]

filling a heavy wool blanket with lightweight down filling had me laugh.
It is getting warmer out though and you probably could use the wool blanket for insulation if you wanted. The reason for underquilts is to avoid compressing the insulation when you lay on it, but wool blankets don't compress all that much. I'd give it a try with just the blanket, fold it up and lay right on it. Try in your backyard one night, worth a shot.

[DanglingModifier]

too heavy for the shock cord suspension to support and very difficult to get to conform to your backside

This. Keeping that heavy monster snug under you without compressing the down inside seems like it would be a challenge. I agree with others that it would work better IN the hammock, than it would under the hammock, and sticking down in it won't add anything beneficial to the mix.

[SalamiHead]

after careful consideration and advice from you guys. im getting the HH safari deluxe asym zip. so i can leave my wool blanket in the bottom of it =) you guys are great

[dkurfiss]

When car camping I have more than once used a wool blanket under me in the hammock for some additional warmth. Like was suggested above I laid it in the hammock then wrapped the excess over me. I worked quite well in fact.

[CamoDeafie82]

I have a few wool blankets; depending on the size of the blanket though...if its a Queen or bigger, you could lay it out diagonally (or inline with the hammock), then fold the corners diagonally to make your own makeshift foot box and wrap your shoulders with the other two corners, roll the head corner into a sort of pillow...this would be a good way to keep the warmth in, and when combined with a CCF pad, you would have enough insulation for the most part, and you can just use a top quilt over yourself....
I've found using the heaviest, thickest wool blanket as a layer under the lighter sleeping bag material and over a sheet of some kind, will keep me and the woman warm in an airbed.... with a fleece blanket and a thin wool blend blanket and a couple CCF pads layered on top of the airbed in a very cold weather camp (20s) in a T**t..... but due to the woman hogging the quilts/blankets...I ended up with CBS...so the next camp trip, we will be trying this;
wool blanket burrito inside down mummy bag on top of a CCF pad for her,
and same but in USGI cold weather mummy bag for me (down mummy bag is too tight for me)
if the weather forecasts are below 40s.