Favorite quilt-to-pad attachment strategy?

[Philip Tschersich]

I have a quilt in my possession (Zpacks 40*, box foot, no zipper closure, open 3/4 along the bottom, some cord loop tie-ins along the open side), and am toying with strategies for attaching it to my thermatest neoair pad. I can sew, and can order stuff off the interwebs, so having parts on hand is not an impediment. Some folks seem to swoon over EE's system, and it looks decent enough. The straps/buckles that come with the Zpacks quilt are okay, but don't attach to the pad to keep the quilt from shifting/rolling over: they just partially hold the open side closed. I'm a side sleeper and do tend do roll around a bit, so I'd like to keep the quilt oriented on the pad to some degree. The quilt does not have enough foot box volume to slide the pad inside.

Cheers.

[jimmy b]

We have a pair of EE quilts and the strap system seems to work very well. Quick to adjust, pretty easy to snap in and out of. I do a fair amount of moving around and I find it easy to not leak air from the system with the EE quilts. These are our first quilts so I cant vouch for other systems.

jimmyb

[Richard May]

I'm toying with this too. I use a CCF pad and am considering sewing some loops through the pad (anchored on the bottom with buttons to keep them from pulling through) that could be used with mitten hooks to attach the quilt.

I think attaching only one side would do the trick for me.

[Philip Tschersich]

I could make something like EE's system easily enough, and I also have a lot of mitten hooks laying around (and 1/8" bungee is easy to find). Maybe I'll mock something up for kicks. Anyone else have a fool-proof, easy to enter/exit, draft-free system?

[Owen McMurrey]

"fool-proof, easy to enter/exit, draft-free system?"
Therein lies the issue, I think.
You need to be able to lock it in place after getting in.
My Katabatic quilt has a very effective attachment system, but even that isn't foolproof-recently broke one of the clips that locks on the cord around the pad.
The problem with mitten hooks(which the Katabatic also has) is that they'll slide along the cord easily, so will need some kind of stopper to hold them in place. That could be as simple as a knot in the cord, or another strand knotted in the appropriate place, but I haven't tried it.

[jimmy b]

"The problem with mitten hooks(which the Katabatic also has) is that they'll slide along the cord easily, so will need some kind of stopper to hold them in place."

Good point. The EE straps use a flat elastic and buckle that they thread in a kinda reverse manner so that it causes more friction. IE it doesn't slip when moving around. Still easy to move intentionally by lifting and sliding.

It might pay to just pick up a set for $3.00. Could save you time and money sourcing the small parts and reinventing the wheel. The flat elastic may also prevent rolling of the elastic. Not sure about that however.

jimmyb

[jimmer ultralight]

I would think that this quilt to pad situation would be best served by Velco strips at points along the pad to quilt overlap.

Sure can't weigh any more than straps and buckles.If its thought through properly, it should be just as functional.

[BlackHatGuy]

Philip, can you use any of the below? If so, PM your address and what you want and I'll put it in the mail.

.

[Philip Tschersich]

I do appreciate the offer for the bits and toggles, but I have a pretty insane stash of that stuff already. Cheers though.

I think I have an idea that is minimalist, sits close to the pad, and is adjustable but with plenty of friction to stop slipping. I'll post a pic when I get it together. Getting some EE Kits would be a cheap/proven fallback.

I'm still open to ideas though….

[Lori P]

I am a side sleeper. I use quilts, and while one of them has loops in place to use I don't try to attach it to my pad. it's now second nature to just roll over, tuck it back in, and go back to sleep. I would be afraid of tearing something in my sleep.

It would also be colder (hard to warm up the air gaps inside a quilt that is not tucked in tightly).

[jimmy b]

"It would also be colder (hard to warm up the air gaps inside a quilt that is not tucked in tightly)."

Using an 'adjustable' strap system should not be colder. It simply allows the quilt to be anchored making it stay put when you roll around from position to position. You can adjust the quilt to be tucked in as far as you like up until the edges of the open side of the quilt meet if you like and if the quilt is properly fit. If you can do without, your better off saving the weight though as Lori does. In the warmer weather where venting will be necessary I will leave the straps at home.

Something else I would like to try is making a short set of connectors to simply clip the back side of the quilt together making it more like a bag without a hood and see if I roll independently of it while turning on the mat. I'm not completely confident however that it will work as well as being anchored. One of the things that impressed me about using a quilt was that I don't get twisted up in it like a hooded bag.

jimmyb

[John G]

Just put the pad inside your bivy sack.
If you end up pulling the quilt to one side when you roll (which is unlikely), then anchor the top edge of the quilt to the bivy sack near the top of your shoulder when laying on your side. You could test it with double sided tape, and install a button and cord loop for something permanent.

[Randy Martin]

I agree with Lori, I just don't find it's that big a deal to re-tuck the sides as needed. I have a Katabatic Gear quilt for summer. Since it's a shaped quilt with the elastic it easily "wants" to stay snug to my body. My EE 10 degree quilt isn't shaped and so may require a bit more to keep it tucked, but still not difficult. I think the benefit of quilt to pad attachment becomes more important when you are pushing the limits of your quilts temp rating and needing to prevent any unnecessary loss of heat. I don't push the temp limits of my sleep system.

[M B]

Favorite quilt-to-pad attachment strategy?

Gravity

[R Banks]

I've found for me personally I like having a wider quilt and foregoing pad attachment. I appreciate the simplicity and I find that it's warmer since I can just tuck it under me. I used a long/wide Zpacks quilt(no zipper no strap attachment) during the PCT, And it worked great.

[jimmer ultralight]

What kind of pad did you use under that Zpacks quilt?

[Philip Tschersich]

I appreciate the constructive comments so far.

I have made a system that passes the "flopping around on the living room floor" test so far, and it's super simple and seems secure. I'll take some pics tomorrow in the daylight.

I'd like to do an attached, mechanically 'tucked' quilt to start with before I go commando. :^)

[Michael Driscoll]

I saw a Nemo Siren once and adapted there system with a bungee cord.. it has 4 D rings up each side and the cord x-crosses back and forth under the pad… easy to get in and out and only needed when the temps drop…

[Owen McMurrey]

For you DIYers, you might replicate this sytem, or use UGQ's parts($11.95 purchased alone-shown at the bottom of the pages for their Top Flight quilts) in addition to sewn loops of your own.

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwbOtNDuvOI

Scroll to bottom here for the parts:
http://www.undergroundquilts.com/50tq/default.html

[Philip Tschersich]

Those UGQ parts look cool. That's almost exactly what I made with parts on hand. I use a bullet-shaped zipper pull toggle so I don't have the T part, but the effect is the same. I may order a set of those anyway. Nice link.

[Owen McMurrey]

Yeah, I'm debating having my 50F Flight Jacket quilt updated with that system.
I don't normally think in terms of attaching it, as it's a summer quilt, but can still see it being worthwhile, since I tend to push temp ratings with all my stuff.
I got into low 40s and very windy in the NC mountains last summer when upper 50s were forecast, and there was a lot of tucking and retucking with that quilt since I move around a lot.

[Philip Tschersich]

Here's what I did with the stuff I had on hand.

I threaded some tactical zipper pull toggles on some 1/8" shock cord, and love-knotted that to some Lawson glow cord (since I didn't need stretch below my pad). The toggles hold great on the shock cord and on the quilt loops. I made 2 of the identical size so I wouldn't have to figure out which went where on my tapered Neoair SL. 7g each.

[jimmy b]

Philip,

Where did you purchase the tac. zip pulls?

[R Banks]

Hey Jimmer,

I used a gossamer gear nightlight pad and polycro groundsheet the whole way, love this setup.

[Philip Tschersich]

I got a pile of them from milspecmonkey.com a while back. Look under the DIY hardware in their store. I shaved the bottom side with an angle grinder with a flap wheel to reduce the thickness a little. You could probably also find them on eBay.

Edit: link

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