Fleece vs Down vs Fibre Plus UQ idea

[michael why]

Hi Guys

As a recent hammock convertee with a pathetic one night experience of hammock sleeping ( by the way my ground sleeping experience is only 3 nights in a tent , In the last 20 years anyway)

Anyway long story involving scottish loch's , canoes , camping ( being uncomfortable ) so once we returned home bought DD travel hammocks tried them out in Kielder with a roll mat stuffing in between , warmish but cold spots , put off by prices of underquilts so decided to make one

So , I took a lightweight synthetic single duvet made a pattern and basically lined the duvet with the edges cut off so its rugby ball shaped with camo goretex type fabric on the outside , ripstop nylon on the inside , the duvet had 5 baffles running down the longest length which by the time i trimmed to give the rugby ball shape left 3 full length plus a couple of smaller ones at the edges , opened up the 3 baffles and stuffed the contents of an old down pillow inside and restiched

It was really easy to make, unfortunately i didnt take any pictures during the build but will try and post a completed picture. I have yet to try it out so it could have been a complete waste of time but i have the bug and am ready to try V2 ( plus its a little narrow for me so my mate , who is a bit narrower than me has scored for a new underquilt.

I have not weighed it yet but i guess its just over a kilo , while i am sure the insulation is nowhere near as good as "proper" down or fibre insulation but it was cheap

So onto the actual purpose of this post , has anyone tried using a fleece material instead of down , I am thinking its a lot thinner and doesnt seam to compress that much in comparision to down or fibre, I could use more than 1 layer too without the bulk to increase the insulation

If anyone had good things to say about fleece i was thinking of stiching it directly to the hammock or making a new fleece lined hammock ( ha ha i am a wizard with a sewing machine now )

[Ramblinrev]

The compression factor is my problem with fleece. It does not compress well and ends up hogging a lor of space I would rather use for other things... like food. I do occasionally carry a fleece sleep kit but even then I can compress my polypro jammies into much less space than my fleece kit.

[Drop]

I don't hike so I'm not so worried about compresability.
I tend to take one or two of those fleece blankets you see in UK service stations along with me when I hang. I sometimes use it to deal with awkward cold spots, sometimes as a pillow, sometimes as an light overquilt when we have the weather. I occasionally drape them over my ridge line in an attempt to create a tent/sock compartment.
They are a bit short but cheap enough to play about with. If you truly have no shame then cut a slit in one and use it as a poncho.

I used to use one of those lined fleece picnic blankets as a groundsheet, nice to step out barefooted from a hammock without my usual poke about for footwear.

I like the sound of the fleece lined hammock. I've had mixed results just lying on it loose.

I brought up thoughts about using fleece before so it might be worth having a bit of a look through the archives.

[Youngblood]

Fleece has some good properties and has its place. But it isn't down and providing a lot of insulation for an outdoor sleeping quilt is not something it is good for... it is bulky and heavy for that application.

Fleece handles moisture well, is very breathable and is good insulation for lightweight jackets. It can be layered with a wind resistant outer layer to handle a wide range of conditions while you are hiking.

[Ogri the trog]

Sounds great Mike,
did you trim away the unused insulation or slit the stitching and poke what you would cut off further into the UQ?
I have made a pod type cover from a king sized duvet but all modifications so far have been to reduce the bulk and the heat that it will hold.
I'm not a serious hiker but if I need to carry it I put it into a dry bag and sit on it to compress the air out of it before putting it into my rucksack - but I have to sit on the rucksack to re-compress it when it comes to taking it out agian - I guess the next idea is to try using one of those "underbed storage bags that have a vacuum valve" maybe they would hold it all compressed for a little longer.

Great to hear about DIY stuff that works.

ATB

Ogri the trog

[Shadowmoss]

Regarding the 'underbed storage bags that have a vacuum valve' things, are you going to pack along a vacuum in order to compress it the next morning? Something to think about.

[michael why]

Sounds great Mike,
did you trim away the unused insulation or slit the stitching and poke what you would cut off further into the UQ?
I have made a pod type cover from a king sized duvet but all modifications so far have been to reduce the bulk and the heat that it will hold.
I'm not a serious hiker but if I need to carry it I put it into a dry bag and sit on it to compress the air out of it before putting it into my rucksack - but I have to sit on the rucksack to re-compress it when it comes to taking it out agian - I guess the next idea is to try using one of those "underbed storage bags that have a vacuum valve" maybe they would hold it all compressed for a little longer.

Great to hear about DIY stuff that works.

ATB

Ogri the trog

Hi Ogri

Yes once i had all the layers stiched i just trimmed away any excess to give a neat edge , It was built inside out so all my dodgy stiching is hidden apart from a slot on the bottom edge so i could pull it right side out. I did stitch a channel or loop right round the outside to take a shock cord ( left a little gap at the centre point so i can adjust the tension while in the hammock

[fin]

It sounds like you are basically going to be camping out of your car - in that case, the DIY quilt you built will be just fine.

As for the fleece, if you sew a layer of Nylon as an outer layer to the fleece, it will provide warmth and wind protection, although not as nice as a UQ. Something like this with a HF logo would be cool to have: http://www.wolfsportswear.com/stadium_blanket.html

or this:
http://mhsboosterstore.revtrak.net/i...folded-Big.JPG

[Ogri the trog]

Regarding the 'underbed storage bags that have a vacuum valve' things, are you going to pack along a vacuum in order to compress it the next morning? Something to think about.

No Mate,
the idea being that those bags are more likely to hold any leakage at bay - the dry-bag slowly reinflates until it is difficult to remove it from the rucksack. Hence I have to sit on my rucksack and perform shenanegans inside it to squash the drybag down again before I can pull it all out. A vacuum storage bag, once squeezed empty of air should hold the negative pressure until I remove it from the rucksack and open the valve.

Well, thats the theory anyway.

ATB

Ogri the trog

[Buckeyebuck]

No Mate,
the idea being that those bags are more likely to hold any leakage at bay - the dry-bag slowly reinflates until it is difficult to remove it from the rucksack. Hence I have to sit on my rucksack and perform shenanegans inside it to squash the drybag down again before I can pull it all out. A vacuum storage bag, once squeezed empty of air should hold the negative pressure until I remove it from the rucksack and open the valve.

Well, thats the theory anyway.

ATB

Ogri the trog

And if Ogri uses the travel version, he can roll out the air in camp to repack into the rucksack. I've been checking them out and they have potential for both water resistance and compression. Sadly, they are limited in size and shape (at least my local source for the travel version.)

b