I do a decent amount of camping in the winter here in Manitoba, but it gets awfully cold at night. The last trip I went on, it dropped to -35 degrees overnight. I always use quilts in the summer and shoulder seasons and love their simplicity and lack of constricting zippers. In the winter I use a -40 Mountain Hardwear Gost bag, and although it's very warm, I've always wanted that adaptability and simplicity of a quilt. When I saw the Sierra Designs backcountry beds, I thought that that would be a pretty good solution, but they don't make ones warm enough for our winters.
However, it occurred to me that the backcountry beds are essentially insulated over bags with a quilt inside. I figured, why not just use the quilts I already have and duplicate the entry and exit method that the they use. Not only that, but I had a synthetic quilt that still had some life left in the insulation, but the nylon was just a little too stinky after a thru-hike to be very useful anymore. So, I pilfered the insulation and put it to new use.
The bottom is silnylon and the top is 1.1 oz nylon, both from Ripstop by the Roll. The insulation is Polarguard 3D and it has 1.5" of loft. It's designed to have the sleeping bag inside the overbag so it is very generously sized to accommodate my Downmat 9, my two quilts and myself. It also has a little room left over for clothing if it's extremely cold.
My summer quilt is 1.5" of loft and uses 800 fp down and M90 from the-hiker. The warmer quilt is 3" of loft and is 900 fp down, M90 on the outside and M50 on the inside. They both have draft stoppers around the edge similar to those used by Ray Jardine. I will be attaching them together using velcro or buttons.
The weights are:
Summer quilt – 14 oz
Fall quilt – 18.1 oz
Overbag – 26.5 oz
Total – 58.6 oz, or 3.7 lb. That's lighter than my winter bag and a lot more versatile.
I made the opening a straight line so the gap would be smaller. I chose not to use a zipper because they're a nuisance with mitts on. I added two toggles to keep it more-or-less closed. My head pokes out of the top gap and I'll wear a down balaclava I made. If it's really cold, you can turn on your back, tuck your head in and breath out the hole.
In total, I have at least 6" of loft over me which should be warm enough for all but the coldest nights. I tend to overheat for the first half of the night and then get chilled for the second half because I'm damp. I am looking forward to being able to slide my feet or arms out from under the quilts but still in the outer bag to stay cool.
Summer quilt on down mat
Fall and summer quilt together
Overbag with mat and quilts inside
Opening with toggles
My comfy bed, waiting to be slept in.
