Backcountry Bed 600 modification -

**Trambo** · 01-11-2019, 19:32

I started taking apart my Backcountry Bed 600 2 season bag that has 17 ounces of dri-down fill. First to be removed was the quilt portion of the bag.

Once I removed the quilt portion, I seam ripped that piece, so that I could shake all of the down into the bottom of that piece. It seems to have been successful, as I can see just a small portion of down left in the upper portions of the quilt.

While I was seam ripping the bag to get all the down into accessible locations, I had a realization. It looks to be quite simple to modify this bag, and save myself trouble in creating a piece of gear. Making the bottom of this bag into a top quilt will be quite simple. It already has a footbox, even having an access port so that I can slip my feet out of the bag if too hot.

I am still going to be able to cannibalize a good portion of the down. By rough estimation, I'm thinking that there will be 7 to 9 ounces left into the bag. I'm removing the entire hood and quilt portions. I'm going to be removing most of the back, just leaving a small portion of the bottom so that the footbox works properly.

There needs to be some more brainstorming with this piece of gear before I cut off too much. I need to see if this can be modified into an underquilt easily. Since there's a footbox access hole, this could function similar to a few of the underquilts being sold overseas. I'm going to add pictures soon, I just wanted to detail this project as it was fresh on my mind.

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Back of the bed with the quilt and pad holder removed.
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Quilt with filling shaked to bottom - All to be Cannibalized
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Filling at the Head 1 - All to be Cannibalized
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Filling at the Head 2 - All to be Cannibalized
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Back of Footbox - behind legs - overstuffed
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Side Filling
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Top Filling
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Way too tall, I'm 5'6" standing up with arm straight up
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The V of the opening reaches my upper chest
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View of Top Opening of Bed
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Approximate cut area
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Sewing continues to side baffle great to cut and hem above
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Back of footbox showing foot peek hole
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Approximate footbox size
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**MeAndMyBeans** · 01-11-2019, 20:22

Just curious why you are tearing apart such a great piece of gear? I have the 700, and I'd rather lose an appendage than have something happen to that thing. It's so versatile!

**Trambo** · 01-11-2019, 21:49

Originally Posted by MeAndMyBeans

I have the 700, and I'd rather lose an appendage than have something happen to that thing. It's so versatile!

Well, to be honest I really like the bag. First off, I got a great deal on a long version. Being just 5'6", that's obvious overkill .... but boy is it snuggly.
I even think that it's a decent bag for a hammock. Since I"m planning for a thru-hike, the bag just doesn't cut it. When I stuck my head inside the bag, I could see how horrible of down coverage that it had. I then looked into adding more down into it. Studying the bag's seams and hemlines, I determined that adding down would be a very difficult process.

So, I decided to completely scrap the piece of gear for the down inside ..... but, while dismantling parts of it, I realized that I could make a great top quilt out of the bottom section. It's the top of the bag that is getting removed. I've already seam ripped the top, so the majority of the down is congregated at the end. There's a seam or hem about 3/4ths the way up the bag. This is where I'm going to separate it at. I'm not going to seam rip there, but use the seam ripper to tear the fabric just on the head side. I'll post some pictures tomorrow before I do more work on it.

I told my girlfriend earlier today that I made a sad decision. She knows how much that I loved that bag, so your question didn't surprise me. I can see why they call it a 1.5 season bag (some places say 2 season), but I'm surprised that it's not suggested by more people as a quality bag. I love that it holds my pad in place behind me. I'm a side sleeper quite often, and this bag is the first where I was able to shift and move. I know that moving to a quilt will only help that more.

Don't mourn my bag too much, as it only cost me 138 dollars. I've kept the general foot box area normal. On my bag, the back area is very odd. It's just a panel with no insulation (because down compresses and they plan for you to use a pad). That uninsulated area covers a good portion of the back. The next few areas below that have been seam ripped and the insulation all pushed down into the footbox area. This is going to give me a nice little overstuff beneath my feet. Normally, that wouldn't be seen as optimal, but I toss in the hammock so much that it's perfect for me to have a fully enclosed foot box.

Oh, and I can't get past saying how much I love that foot "peekaboo" area. I enjoy being able to snuggle my feet outside, when they get too warm. I couldn't do an enclosed footbox without that feature.

**Trambo** · 01-12-2019, 14:48

Uploaded some images to the original post, and will be adding a bit of description to the images soon.

I'm planning on cutting the head off soon. The idea is to sew about two inches above my chosen sew line. Then cut above my newly sewn line, and do a simple rolled hem.

I haven't decided on where to cut the top quilt. There's a convenient sew line that is a hem that would stop me from having to sew, just cut. This line is down one sew line from the one just below the tape measure.