Adding overfill to a Golite Ultra 20 quilt?

Let's see. I called Golite, and they told me there were baffles between the top and side/bottom, but a forum member told me that there weren't. That's a big help, isn't it? The way the side/bottom seemed overfilled, I'd probably have to vote with the forum member. And I got a great deal a while back on some LuxuryLite bags that had underfilled chambers ($39), so I have been practicing opening seams, and adding down to the underfilled chambers. I checked my GoLite before I returned it, but I couldn't really find a seam to cleanly open and add down. Maybe I didn't look close enough. Guess you could always cut it, add the down, and patch it. I though about that too……

Matt, Sounds like a number of us are on the same quest. Thanks for finding the amount of down fill on the ultra, I had not been able to find it. I agree that the ultra is probably not as warm as an Arc Alpinest, but probably warmer then an Arc Specialist. This now makes sense…8 oz on Specialist, 9.5 on Ultra, and 11 oz on Alpinest. Mayebe call the ultra a ~25 degree bag based on Nunataks rating scale.

I will say I am happy with my ultra and I think it is one great bargain. As to the baffles, I can confirm that my ultra has 2 lengthwise baffles that run from the head to the toe box. This creates 3 chambers across each of the "normal" baffles that run across the bag. I believe Nunataks only have the cross baffling creating only single chambers. At the chest the side baffles are ~12" each and the center baffle is ~26". This does prevent the down from sliding to the sides. If you were to add down I think you would want to do it to the center section only which means you can not open up the side seams and get access the center. I just can not see a way to get into the center chambers. I do think the quilt would perform significantly better with 2 oz of extra down… say like the Alpinest.

Jamie

Joe and Jamie –

Thanks for the responses – its nice to know now that there are two baffles running from head to foot, as that could have been a major hang up later on….looks like i'll just have to order a down/momentum quilt kit from thru-hiker.com to get what i want at a price i can stomach.

matt

I know the one I sent back was obviously overfilled on the sides. It was drum tight, and you could see thru places on the top.