Adding down to a CDT TQ.....

[Chesapeake]

So after ripping the rest of the seams on my CDT TQ I still had an urge to modify or d.i.y something and got to thinking that maybe I could add the down from an old vest I have to it. I thought about it for a week or so and after washing it today figured id give it a try. So I began CAREFULLY taking the down out of the vest and putting it in 1 gallon zip lock freezer bags. After doing both sides of the front and the little trim piece around the bottom I've got 4 bags fairly evenly filled all the way up with a tiny bit left in the trash bag I was doing it in. Now I've got the back and collar left, and should get another 4 bags or so I think. The bags aren't weighed or anything, I just eye balled it and tried to get as much in as I could. After I've got all the down harvested I figure I'll shake the TQ so all its down is at the bottom, open up the end of the quilt and try to *** SLOWLY*** empty each bag into each tube. The quilt has 10 vertical tubes but I wasn't gonna add any to the ones on each side or the bottom. That will hopefully fill them up about 2× as full as they are now or so. I've been reading old posts to get some tips. Does anyone have any advice? GO SLOW right? Lol. Wish me luck! I'll post before and after pics when I'm done......

[GadgetUK437]

Taping together works,


--
Gadget

[Chesapeake]

Taping together works,


--
Gadget

That's a pretty slick idea, thanks Gadget. I was dreading removing the rest of the down from the vest. But this method will work great I think since the back of the vest has 4 tubes and I've already got 4 bags, I can just tape the vest to the TQ. The bags will have to be done the regular way but at least it won't be AS messy with half of it going straight from vest to TQ. That just leaves the collar, which is a perfect rectangle of fabric filled down. I was trying to think of a way to use it w/o having to rip it open. Maybe some sort of draft baffle on something? Any ideas?

[Chesapeake]

Ive got half of the down in so far and its looking good. The bags of down weren't equally filled so Im putting the fullest 2 bags in the middle and going down from there so the lightest bags go in the 2 tubes in from the sides. I'm not adding any to the side 2 tubes since they are usually under me anyway. So far each tube is about double what it was before, the middle 2 are a little more than that. Once I get all the down in, I'm gonna fold the end down about 4" to shorten it a little. I'll add a channel for a shock cord sinch at the top, and inside the folded over 4" part I'll add the down from the collar of the vest, the last bag and any scrap that's left over from the rest. That should make a nice fluffy baffle at the top. Ive got the DIY bug BAD now loll!!!!

Overstuff on left :
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And the inside, overstuff on right :
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[Chesapeake]

All the down is added to the quilt now, minus the draft baffle at the top, and its a night and day difference. All the the tubes are about as full as they can get or close to it now it looks like and I can def feel the difference. Last night I had the AC on high and when I woke up to pee at 3 am the room temp was 60° and I was covered in sweat lol. Before I added the down I could def feel the cold spots where the stitching rows were with the cold ac blowing at me, but not anymore. Now ive folded over the top 5" to shorten the quilt and I'll add the last bag of down and the rest of what's in the vest to make the draft baffle tomorrow. I'll also add a channel for a shock cord sinch at the top too, and I'll later add a kam snap on the corners as well. Overall its turned out awesome and was easier than I though. I read a lot of posts on down stuffing and didn't loose much at all. Ill post pics tomorrow when its done.

[Scouter_Ken]

I used Jeff's shop vac method to add down to a CDT underquilt last fall. Worked great with a minimum of loose down floating around my workshop. It also allows you to do a better job of adding a consistent amount of down to each section.

1. cut a piece of mesh to fit between one section of shop vac tube and the hose
2. suck the down from the prior container into the tube until you have the tube filled as far as you want.
3. carefully remove the tube from the shop vac and put the open end into the baffle where you want the down
4. remove the mesh from the end of the tube
5. use a rod or wooden dowel (with a small rag attached to the end) to push the down into the baffle.

repeat for each baffle.


http://www.tothewoods.net/StuffingDown.html

[Chesapeake]

I was going to do it that way but my shop vac stopped working. So since all the down was already separated into equally filled tubes on the vest I just did it by hand. The shorter tubes on the front of the vest got put towards in the outer tubes of the quilt, the longer ones on the back of the vest in the middle of the quilt. Once I got a rhythm down it went pretty smooth w/o much loss at all. Ive got one gallon size bag roughly 3/4 full, one tube on the back of the vest and the vest collar left plus some left over in a trash bag that will go in the draft tube, should fill it up nicely. I'm surprised at how much warmer it is now, its almost too warm to use inside even with the air on arctic blast in my bedroom lol

[Chesapeake]

Pics of after I added the overstuff, minus draft baffle. In the last pic you can kinda see the opening for the shock cord to sinch it and the meticulous hand stitches along the side of the soon to be draft baffle.

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[Chesapeake]

Here it is with the draft baffle sewn closed, leaving a hole on one side to stuff it. All the down was pushed deep into the the tubes to leave the top empty before sewing the tubes closed across the bottom of the draft collar to give the body of the quilt as much loft as possible with the down that's in it. Now I'll stuff it and close off the hole. I'm ommiting the end sinch in favor of just a kam snap at a later date so I can add a little more down to the now larger draft collar. I don't think I'll need an end sinch on it anyway since it won't be used at temps cold enough to need it, but a kam snap will let me keep it in place and pulled up if it gets windy or I don't need to vent it. Almost done, now to stuff the draft collar!

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[Chesapeake]

Here it is all done. I had more down left than I though so the draft collar is super fluffy. It was tricky getting the down into the tube through such a small hole but it worked out good... Almost zero loss and loftier than I thought it would be. I can't wait to test it out this fall and see what the limits of a CDT with the max amount of down will be beings it is still sewn through construction. With the amount that's in this TQ now it matches my overstuffed CDT UQ perfectly and I used it into the 30's with my XL sock and UQP on to help minimize the cold air seepage through the long rows of stitching. Now ive got the DIY bug bad lol ! What next????
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