Ideas for a low cost 20-30 degree (down) quilt

[Jeff M.]

So far I've seen the golite ultra 20. Any others? I want to give a quilt a try to see how I like it. I'm a side sleeper, so I think I may end up liking it more than my mummy bag I have right now. For use in SoCal and the Sierras.

[James Naphas]

JRB No Sniveler or Sierra Sniveler. $269.95 for either. They're probably 25F quilts. As a side sleeper I'd probably opt for the slightly wider Sierra Sniveler.

[>> Bender <<]

Ask in the great swap section. Someone is bound to have an inexpensive down quilt they can part with.

[Rog Tallbloke]

Roger Caffin did a good article on converting a mummy sleeping bag to a quilt. Given you are a novice quilt user, the extra width would be useful. I picked up a 4 season Marmot bag on U.S. ebay for $85. You could grab something similar, cut it down, and keep some of the down for another project.

Read up on handling down before you take the knife to it!

[Mark McLauchlin]

Why not buy a kit from thru-hike and try making one yourself?

Cheers

[Jeff M.]

I really liked the thru hiker quilt from what I saw online. I've considered making it myself, but I read through the directions at thru hiker and was a little confused on some of the steps. I have no sewing skills and think the quilt is a little much for my first MYOG project. Maybe I could find someone to make the kit for me, although it would probably be easier to just buy one. I'd like to make my own at some point.

[John Donewar]

Jeffrey,

Are you interested in a down or synthetic insulation?

Thru Hiker has the materials for both. Sewing and filling baffles with down could be a challenging task for a first attempt at a MYOG quilt. A synthetic using Momentum 0.9 oz Ultralite Ripstop for the exterior, Momentum 0.9 oz Ultralite Taffeta for the interior (liner) and 3.7 oz Climashield Combat insulation could provide you with a @16oz. quilt that could be good to about 35 degrees.

Copy and paste the link below to your address bar.
This is Tim Marshall's website.

http://enlightenedequipment.webs.com/prodigy.htm

On Tim's site he lists suggestions for sizes, approximations of temperature ratings of different insulations and has a downloadable quilt weight calculator for MS EXCEL.

MYOG is both challenging and satisfying. Warning! Once you start you'll be hooked on MYOG. :-)

Party On ! 2010

Newton

[Jeff M.]

I don't mind working with down and I would prefer it, since it will pack down smaller. In fact, the more I think about it, I'd really like to try the thru hiker quilt. But, for someone new to MYOG I feel like the thru hiker instructions I found online weren't detailed enough (for me) on the baffle construction to figure out how to construct the quilt. It may be that once I see the materials it would make more sense. Does anyone know if their kit includes instructions or if I could find instructions on the site here or elsewhere? I'll definitely check out Tim's website.

[Nia Schmald]

Make Your Own Gear – Down Quilt or Sleeping Bag by Roger Caffin

[Author]

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