We had our first hammock camping trip last weekend. It was fantastic! It was just going to be my son and I, but two of my other kids' schedules cleared up, so there would be four of us on our first hammock camping experience. I needed to get some gear together, and not break the bank. We had the hammocks, and I brought 4 inexpensive bug nets and rainflys. When it came to bottom insulation, I didn't want to have to spend take kill the budget.
I came across Leiavoia's Clew Underquilt plans and knew that would be the best route to go. However, our local Costco does not currently carry the packable throws, and I couldn't find much on Amazon that wasn't twice the price. Then I found that Walmart sells an Ozark Trail packable throw for around $15 so I picked up a few of those. They are not as billowy and warm as the Costco down-filled version I'm sure, but I figured it would be fine for summer sleeping. Then I went to the local craft store(s) to pick up the other stuff I needed. I found and bought enough shock cord for what I needed, but later realized it was 1/8", not the recommended 1/16". So instead of returning it and ordering it up on Amazon, I figured I would just make it work. So in these photos are the result of my version of the Costco clew underquilt.
I used the 1/8" shock cord, but just tied a bowline on the snap side, ran the cord through the D-ring and back down to the next one so the tension would be similar to double-strands of 1/16". I left it loose so it could even out between the two adjacent snaps. The Walmart quilts also had an odd number of seams, so for the center one, I just ran a single line up the middle, ran it through and added a cord lock. This allowed me to tighten or loosen just the middle section for ventilation if desired. I didn't tie all the cords together like in the original plan. That way they could all self-adjust, or I could make adjustments to them later. I attached a section of webbing strap with a buckle on each D-ring, to make the entire system easily adjustable. In the end, I strayed quite a bit from the OG plans, but it worked great. Overnight temps dipped below 50F last weekend, and we stayed toasty warm. Just figured I would share for anyone looking for an alternative using cheap Walmart throws and the materials they have on hand.
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