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  1. #1
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    Question DIY Top Quilt "rating"

    So, I made a top quilt. So far so good. Looks great and thank you to everyone on hammokforums who posted their DIY TQ journey (w/ pictures and/or video before!)
    A special shout out to James from Little Shop of Hammocks for a great experience buying the fabric, No-See-Um baffle material and such! If you're in Canada, go have a look at his site (and listen to the Hang Your Own Hang podcast episode where they interview him).

    Anyway back to the actual topic/question.

    I was nice and toasty for the half hour I tried it out before closing it up today. It was ~26.5F / -3C outside.

    I used the spreadsheet from the forums here and I know about the loft ratings and such (it came out to about 3.5" loft on average I would say). The problem I think I might have (or not) is that I do not know what kind of down I have. I had the idea to make the TQ because the SO was gonna throw out an old IKEA down pillow. It says 90% duck down 10% duck feathers and has about 900g of fill in it. I think I got quite a bit of that to go into the TQ (instead of flying about the garage - shop vac method rules if you ask me!). I used an analog kitchen scale and got about 40-50g of down into each baffle.

    Does any of that matter or can I just go by the loft, i.e. 3.5" means I get about 10F / -12C out of this and it weighs whatever it weighs? Any tips for figuring out how far down I can use this without killing myself?

  2. #2
    Senior Member Cruiser51's Avatar
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    As I understand it, it is simply the loft that matters. So as long as the TQ "puffs" to full, you get whatever loft the baffles are sewn to .... also, it would help to post which calculator you used, so that part can get checked as well.


    Brian

  3. #3
    Senior Member Firesong's Avatar
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    Glad it worked out for you.
    Part of the temperature factor is the baffle width as well as the loft.
    Cheers
    J

  4. #4
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    This one https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...CnY/edit#gid=6

    I spaced the baffles about 4-4.5" (as in, some came out to the 4.5 I intended, some didn't). Had to cut 2 more than I had calculated, so the safety margin I ordered got completely used up in the end. The baffle material itself was about 5-6-ish wide w/ crooked "seam allowance" while sewing. Can you tell I'm a first time thread injector?

    I also wonder about the 10% feathers. My guess is that it simply reduces the loft, meaning I can still just go by loft height I measured!?

    It finally started snowing today, so I guess I'll give it a go outside soon. Tried it inside last night w/ an open window and I was way too warm. Since I'll use it outside in the garden I suppose I'll wake up cold before anything bad happens and then I can just go inside.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Cruiser51's Avatar
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    I use a heavily modified version of that sheet, I replaced the temperature table with this info I garnered from 4 cottage vendor sites

    Down Information Table
    Imperial Metric
    Degrees F Loft Height (in) Loft Height (cm) Degrees C
    40 1.5 3.81 4.44
    30 2 5.08 -1.11
    20 2.5 6.35 -6.67
    10 3 7.62 -12.22
    0 3.5 8.89 -17.78
    -10 4 10.16 -23.33
    -20 4.5 11.43 -28.89
    I doubt 10% feathers will have any significant impact on temp performance, loft is pretty much the key parameter. When I do my TQs I am a little careful with the baffles as they are pretty critical ... the workbook calculates the volume and weight of down required to achieve the design loft, going to 2.5" on a 2" design means you fall short on down by 25%


    Good luck tonight, I am sure you will be toasty .... maybe consider getting a thermometer that records high and low temp to track your testing.


    Brian
    Last edited by Cruiser51; 11-28-2021 at 10:30.

  6. #6
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    Thanks Brian and James (and everyone else before in the journey of hammocking)

    Tried it last night.

    Max Temp: 19.4F / -7C (that's when I went outside)
    Min Temp: 16.8F / -8.4C
    Humidity: ~80%
    Temp inside the TQ: 89.5F / 32C (in my pocket)

    Toasty toasty warm! Almost instant warmth when crawling in and never felt cold one bit. Actually almost a little too warm to wear socks and I didn't make it with a closed foot box and I have nothing to put in the little hole that's left when cinching up the foot box, since I wanted to see how that goes. It wasn't windy at all though, so maybe that's when I might get a draft through there like I've read I would.

    Anyway I think this TQ will go down quite a bit more
    Last edited by arutha; 11-28-2021 at 11:30.

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