Shug, I'll never be able to repay you for all the good intel I've pulled out of your posts and videos...and that applies to a whole bunch of folks around here as well.
You're one of the most whackdoodle folks I've seen post videos on the internet...my son has watched a number of your vids, and swears you've got to be kin to me and my brothers.
I look forward to meeting you someday if I can ever manage to travel to a hang (or entice some folks to come grace the flatlands of Kansas city).
I just finished making a UQ with Primaloft One. To get around the problem of needing to be stabilized every 6" I used a soldering iron to cut the insulation into 6" strips. The soldering iron fuses & stabilizes the Primaloft. You really need to squeeze it down firmly with a straightedge to cut the insulation. Also do the cutting in a WELL VENTILATED AREA. I don't know what is in the smoke that is produced when cutting but I sure wouldn't want to inhale much of it.
I then sewed the UQ fabric together using baffles to form a box just like you would make for a down UQ I made the quilt with a differential cut so that the boxes are actually 4 1/4" wide on the top side (the side against my body) & 4 3/4" wide on the outside. I then slid the strips (6" wide) into the boxes. this gives the UQ an "overstuffed" feel and eliminates the cold spots that would be found if the insulation were sewn through. I made my baffles run the length of the quilt. I really don't see how any of the insulation can ever shift but I haven't used it that much yet to be sure. So far I've been happy with it. I've slept into the 30s with it.
I used down for years ( decades actually) without a problem back in my tenting days but the one time it did get wet was enough to convince me that synthetic has a lot to recommend it for wet conditions. Wet down is not only useless as insulation, but it weighs more than you would believe. Hopefully some of you may find these suggestions useful.
I tried the baffled Primaloft type construction mentioned...
very poor results here
I made 2 layer 7" strips from 3oz P-One to fit into 6-7" baffles
the 7" insulation strips formed themselves into 4" diameter cylinders inside the baffled chambers after a little use.
= large areas with no fill
oh well, I got some good practice sewing baffles, and now I can stuff this thing with the down that I just ordered
FYI, the UQ was built based on the KAQ instructions and the baffles are about 2 1/4" tall
Still trying to figure a decent use for these primaloft strips...
Although it's rare to get your gear wet, I did on my last camping trip, and well, let's just say my Down top quilt was about as useful as a wet towel at keeping me warm. I still slept ok, but had I had my synthetic sleeping bag I would have slept much better. I just used what was dry to cover me somewhat, and occasionally the wet stuff would creep down and touch me, and that crap was cold!
Next time I pack it in a Sil dry bag.
It never dried out the rest of the trip, and stunk horribly by the time I got home. Either I'm starting to pack everything in dry bags, or I'm swapping to synthetics. Sleeping once with wet down was enough for me.
Fulfillment is living a life that makes the lives of others worth living.
DIY is addicting and fulfilling!
"If guns kill people, then pencils mispell words, cars cause people to drink and drive, and spoons made Rosie O'donnell fat."
I was doing an easy mode camping trip down the Sipsey River, and typically don't take tons of precautions for my gear because I never had a problem getting it wet before. Well, two of my friends dumped their canoes over on a larger than than any of us ever expected on the Sipsey rapid, and here I am resting in an eddy below watching gear come floating at me. So into action I go, picking up every piece of gear I can get my hands on, plus a canoe that came floating down river as well.
By the time I filled up all the open space in my kayak with stuff I fished out of the river, my boat had about 4" of water in the bottom of it that had drained out of various bags, the beer boxes, and clothes and such.
My Pungo had dry storage (Some thief is enjoying it now), I assumed the Pamlico (I purchased the Pamlico for $250 around 10pm the night before the trip) I have now was going to have it as well since they are such similar boats so I didn't pack into dry sacks.
I will say this though, eddy hopping, ferrying, and eddy hopping back up the rapid is quite difficult and exciting in a 12' rec kayak. No one told us there was a legitimate class 2+ rapid on the upper part of the Sipsey. Never heard mention of it in anything I have read about the Sipsey, Plus we went about 9 miles up river from where we normally put in. it was really really fun regardless of the gear recovery operation I did and the wet equipment. Everything dried out the first night except my bag.
Fulfillment is living a life that makes the lives of others worth living.
DIY is addicting and fulfilling!
"If guns kill people, then pencils mispell words, cars cause people to drink and drive, and spoons made Rosie O'donnell fat."
I have a synthetic sleeping bag and I have slept in it wet. Didn't get cold. I tried to eek one more trip out of a 23 year old nylon tarp. One of my tie-outs came off in the night during a heavy rain and the tarp was touching my hammock. I didn't realize I was wet until I woke up the next morning and the temp was in the mid 30s.
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