I’ve been thinking about making a 50F Summer Quilt and have been bouncing around in the pages on the this site, thru-hiker.com and Ray Jardines site looking for ideas. I don’t think it is worth it to get the kit from Ray as you pay an extra $25 for instructions over getting fabric from thru-hiker.
I figure for my first bag, I will get 2nd’s nylon so that if I screw up I’m not out too much. I thought a summer bag would be the best start as well since I would be working with less insulation.
My questions are:
1. Are there any patterns out there that I can follow? I am 6’4″ – 180 lbs. I’m figuring 80″ long, 54″ wide at the top and 38″ wide at the bottom. Should it be just a straight taper from top to bottom or do you start the taper a couple feet from the top?
2. Should I do a zipper at the bottom or should I just sew it? Pros and Cons of each?
3. Recommendations on insulation type and thickness? I’d like to stay as light as I can, but I want to be reasonable. I’d like to be able to use it down to 45-50F.
Realistically I’m not going to get this done for my trip this summer, so I resorted to purchasing a 45F sleeping bag from REI for $45 that comes in at 20 oz.
I figure I can remove the zipper from this and maybe a few more mods and get it down close to 1 lb. I thought it was a pretty good deal. Who knows if it really is a 45F bag, but there’s only one way to find out. This will help me get an idea for loft and what I need for that temperature range for when I make my own.
