No, no... I appreciate it! I DIDN'T know that:what:Originally Posted by hppyfngy
Very important moot point
I'll post it when complete... Prolly wont be for a little while though, the school year starts in a week and I just started coaching (cross-country). Once the seasons done in late october, I'll begin my 20-hr TQ project so that it's ready for some winter hangs in Ohio;-) Having a family with 2 kids (1 and 5) makes it tough to find the time
I hate to revive an old thread, but I thought this would be interesting to people asking the same questions I am while researching for a first down quilt. It looks like backpacker covered some of this back in 1994 to gather the various baffle types. Looks like you were on to something, gt7599a!
Baffle Types.jpg
I still don't quite get triangle baffles but having used my truffle baffle (previously and inferiorly named D baffles) quilts I must admit I love em and much warmer than I expected.
Scotty, these various styles of baffling were designed to try to eliminate cold spots where a person lying in a sleeping bag would feel cold where the baffles were stitched to the outside cover. I think that basically the main problem was the compression of the down more than anything else. The "V" shaped baffles were considered the most efficient back in the '60s' and were used by many top line manufacturers,read that $$$$. The difficulty of sewing offset baffles while maintaining differential cuts was a real pain as you were sewing a continuous full length of mosquito netting to both sides of the bag body, rather than sewing individual strips. I built a half bag for my daughter using this method (an elephants foot bag for me) in 1967 when I was a starving college student.
I get the reasoning for baffles but I'm still bemused by the triangle idea. Its seems a great deal harder to manufacture with no reduction in costs, weight material etc? The only one I can think of is strength, if a baffle rips on a standard modern box section you're in real bother but a triangle would have virtually no cut edges to tear out.
BTW ezhiker you get extra points for a DIY elephant bag, I really want one now :-)
Unfortunately When I got into hammock camping somewhere around 95, I decided I needed a top Quilt and so I tore it apart, salvaged the down and built one. The down was the result of hand picking 18 Canadian Geese for hunter friends who did not want to process them themselves. That was back in 67. So that elephant foot saw lots of use by all of my children while they were young. Not to mention my use while involved in Mountain Search and Rescue. I was amazed that after all that time it was still in very good condition. The top quilt that I made was good down to about 30 degrees F. Some day I need to take it apart and redistribute some down as I did not do a very good job balancing the down fill among the baffles. I think the main reasoning had to do with giving the bag an even fill with no cold spots which could form on the seams. You are right it really was much more involved to make.
Scotty, how do you like those truffle/D baffles? I've debated on them myself, but wasn't sure how they work in the wild :-) Any details on your quilt? Thanks!
Incredible longevity for a quilt, amazing in fact. Plucking your own down too!
This is the original tread where I made a D shaped baffles in an UQ. I love this UQ and have been with me for 30+ nights and is really warm, tough and can be hung upside down to compress the down in hot weather
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ointless/page3
I was so impressed I made a couple of D baffle top quilts
This is the one I filled (through the waterproof zipper I added)
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DSC_0553.jpg
DSC_0554.jpg
Looks good, I assume that the short zipper on one of the baffles shown in pic 2 is the waterproof one you talk about. How do you fill all the baffles from there? I may need to try this method out. Thanks
Yeah just a nine inch waterproof zipper going along one of the baffles. I tend to make quilts with small openings at the end baffles so I can just shove in down until I'm satisfied with the fill, no calculator needed. Its also handy as a small seam can be opened once the down looses loft to refill it a touch. Obviously the down moves around more but it's never posed a problem. With a waterproof zipper I don't even need to unpick a stitch (although I've yet to test how this works, pics are of a rushed prototype) I was playing with the idea of selling quilt shell kits but didn't like the idea of having an area that my customer would have to sew up by hand, hence the zip.
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