Three season sleeping bag vs quilt: DIY idea…

[Bill Rose]

Hi,

I'm starting to lighten my packing load and have a question about sleeping bags vs. quilts. I understand (after reading Ray Jardine's book) the virtues of the quit but I'm confused on why one can't simply take a sleeping bag and convert it into a quit. For instance, my current 3-season bag is a Coleman Exponent Klickitat 20 degree bag. It weighs in at 2 lbs. 11 oz., has kept me warm way past freezing and only cost me about $80.00. So, here's my question: If I wanted to lighten this bag further and create a quasi-quilt from it, would it be possible to do something like removing the stuffing on the bottom of the bag, which gets flattened when sleeping on anyhow, but leaving the soft bag-material to sleep on? You'd basically be removing a fair percentage of the stuffing, saving weight, but still maintaining many of the bag's virtues. In fact, if you really got creative with a sewing machine, you could pull off the zipper, remove part of the bottom fabric & stuffing, and create a quilt quite easily. Has anyone done this (or is three something indicative to quilts that I'm missing?)?

Thanks!

[Pilate de Guerre]

I have no experience doing this, but if you do it, make sure you are taking into account some of the quilt will need to wrap around your sides. Don't just take the top dimensions of the bag and think you're good to go. Take a look at the dimensions of some of the cottage industry bags and pictures of people laying in them if you need to visualize what I am talking about. Ditching the zipper is a good idea, with your new quilt it would just be useless weight. Looking forward to pics of your conversion! Good luck.

[Rob Vandiver]

In theory it sounds OK, as long as you don't move around at night. I toss and turn a lot, especially on a thin foam pad, and having the straps to secure my quilt to the pad are essential. You would save only the weight of maybe 25% of the insulation, which would still leave you with a pretty heavy quilt.
I just got a chance to try out my first quilt this weekend, the Golite UL 3 season quilt. I am sold on it. With the 40% off coupon it comes to $177. I don't make a ton of money, but after a lot of consideration, a decent sleeping system is worth every penny.

[Bill Rose]

Good points about pad straps and making sure the quilt has the ability to wrap around. I envision 1) removing the zipper and draft tube, 2) removing the stuffing on the underside, 3) creating a hollowed-out slip area where the bottom stuffing was to slip in a sleeping pad of some sort. That process would reduce weight, give me a nice area to lie on inside the bag/quilt, and provide a place to slip in a sleeping mat of my desired size. All for well under $100.00. If I try it, I'll let you know how it goes.

[Bill Rose]

I think I'll push this over to the DIY forum and see what people say.

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