Sleeping couples

[Anonymous]

My girlfriend has decided to start backpacking with me, she gets cold easy. Who makes a good 0 deg. down bag for two? Does ‘Feathered Friends’ system work? What’s your experence when camping as a couple?

[Bob Bankhead]

I’ve seen double quilts but not double bags. I doubt it would be feasible at a zero degree rating where you need an excellent hood system and insulation all around you all the time. It should work for much warmer temperatures though.

Get two identical bags, one with a left-hand zip and the other with a right-hand zip. When it’s time for bed, zip the two bags together and crawl in.

Advantages:
1) you each carry your share of the weight

2)you each have a sleeping bag with you in the event you get separated.

Disadvantages:

1)you have two separate foot wells since most zippers don’t go all the way down.

(2) you have an uninsulated gap at the top of the bag between your bodies. you’ll need to stuff a jacket or something there to stop the bellows effect and loss of warmth.

(3) you have no hood system to keep your heads covered. That means more bulk and weight for individual coverage solutions.

Having hiked and slept with my wife many times, believe me, the cuddling in a double starts out feeling nice, but you’ll both really be more comfortable and warmer sleeping separately.

Wandering Bob

[Vick Hines]

Two can sleep much cozier than one.

The Feathered Friends system works — if you mean using a semirectangular bag such as the Sandpiper as a top bag and the zip-on sheet for the bottom – with sleeping pads inside for cold weather and out for warmer weather. It works better if you reduce the foot volume by stitching a dart between the zippers around the foot. Phriteaux and I have used this system for several years. We love it.

One other modification we made was to hand stitch a 14 inch deep draft flap of lightweight fleece along the top drawstring casing. It has 2 head slits in it so it wraps around our shoulders to exclude drafts.

We’ve tried mated mummy bags. They are just not as good for us. They keep our feet separate, and sharing warmth is what it’s all about. A zipper is always under someone – usually the princess. They don’t have enough room for hanky-panky.

[Ron Bell / MLD]

My experience is that sleeping seperate is warmer too.
Nice until you go to sleep, then every time one moves the warm air gets pushed out and the cold sucked in.
If one person sleeps colder, they should just have a warmer bag.

In temps below maybe 40, anything large enough for two will have too much dead air to heat anyway… Then one person (you know which one) wakes up cold and the other gets a rash of BS ALL NIGHT LONG since it was ALL YOUR FAULT and i never wantedto go hiking anyway and this justsuckssobad that ireally wonderaboutourfuturetogetherand youshouldjustgetalifeandi’mgettingin the caranddrivingbackto what’shisnamesplacerightnow.theend.you know it’s true.

[Anonymous]

Ron at that point I would imagine you’d be praying for a hungry grizzly, ravenous wolfs or even a family of crazed ground squirrels to come along and end it all real fast…

[Anonymous]

Dear ‘Out in the cold’,

If your girlfriend sleeps cold then make sure she stays warm!! From a relationship standpoint it’s probably best if she has her own super duper extra warm and fuzzy sleeping bag, in the right color of course. Also make sure she brings loads and loads of warm clothes even if you have to carry EVERYTHING else. Then if she is still cold, well, no foul on your part(this might even hold up in court!)

Sincerely,

Abbey

[Author]

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