Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32 vs. Western Mountaineering Summerlite

"My homemade sweetie pie also zips in easily (when with wife)"

Barry P,

I'm tempted to make one of these with some departures from the commercial version. It should drop more than 2lbs. from our current system.

Can you say any more about your project? Materials, dimensions, weight, images?

Thanks

“Can you say any more about your project? Materials, dimensions, weight, images?”

Hello tippymcstagger,
Here’s some details:
-My wife is the sewer (that word doesn’t look right). She bought a micro-fiber twin-size nylon blanket at Walmart similar to this http://www.walmart.com/catalog/allReviews.do?product_id=5946503 . These are very similar blankets used in hotels.
-She opened up the WM Megalite. Looking down on it, it is shaped like a triangle. She laid the blanket on top and cut the blanket like a triangle (with rounded corners) leaving about 8” extending over the zippers, i.e., a big triangle (after the zippers were sewn in, this flap/left-over was trimmed down to 1-2”). The nice thing about microfiber is it needs no hemming since it doesn’t unravel.
-I called WM and ordered 2 zippers from them. You only need one zipper set but we planned on making 2 couplers. I remember paying something like $15/zipper. I ordered from WM because I wanted to make sure the zipper mates.
-Somehow my wife marked where the zippers are to be sewn on the blanket and sewed away. Sorry, I didn’t pay attention to this detail.
-She trimmed. It is nice to leave a 1-2” flap as a wind guard.
The weight is 9.0oz. So now we have a 33oz doubles sleeping bag. She carries the 9oz, I carry the 24oz. We share the foot box. In 30-50F weather, the Megalite lies on top of us. I shake most of the down to her side since she’s a cold sleeper. For warmer weather (>50F), we flip the bag over so the nylon blanket is on top. When the Megalite is on top, she also has the hood covering her head. She doesn’t mind it.

She made 2 couplers and both are interchangeable with our Megalite and Caribou.

If you’re patient, I can make some measurements and get pictures, but this will take me time.
-Barry

Just some reinforcement– What makes the SummerLite a superior bag is its much better loft and greater density of fill. No thin or cold spots to speak of, whereas I find the Phantom 32 does seem to have cold spots/areas of thin loft. Also, I think it's significant that while WM uses a full-length zipper for better ventilation, MH goes 3/4 zip to save a half ounce or something and still comes out heavier–even while it (apparently) uses less down than the WM. I've got 3 WM bags, including the SummerLite, and I love them all.