$100 off purchase of new Enlightened Equipment Epiphainy-K through end of March

tim,

Seriously man if you do elect to try that new form of income generation, please take a good shower before working on my quilt :)

Tim,

I have two questions for you:
1. if you willing to reveal a bit of your ingenious integrated pump, would you share how it is made? is it just a tube of cuben that has an opening into the quilt (like the neck of a balloon) that you need to somehow tie off or seal, or is there a valve hidden in there that you must close/open?

2. Also, with some of your warmer weather quilts, like the 2.5oz APEX, what is the clamminess like? I know everybody is different, etc… but you must have a better idea than I do.

Let me also disclose that I am thinking about making my own 2.5 APEX quilt, and am looking for something a bit different than your quilts, mainly in the price range! but they are truly amazing and show a great amount of innovation on your part.

Thanks,
Will

Will,

1) The tube of cuben is sewn into the footbox drawcord tube where the shell and liner are joined. Inside the tube where everything meets there is a gusset of 4" nylon stripe. The nylon allows air to pass in and out and the cuben tube protects the stripe from moisture and allows you to force air in instead of waiting for it to loft on its own, which it will do in about 4min if you don't want to pump. There is nothing to tie, except once full of air i like to roll and tie the tube so it doesn't flop around. The quilt isn't air tight so the use of a valve would have just made pumping a requirement as there would be no passive air transfer.

2) Warmer temps are actually easier to regulate as venting doesn't chill you as easily as it can when it is cold. The colder it gets the more dialed in your venting must be, too much and you get cold, too little and moisture builds up. It also seems to have a lot to do with how you sleep. I sleep very hard and wake up little, even at home i can wake up soaked because i had too many blankets on(just today actually). VB isn't the best choice for someone like me in most conditions. However, i like to use VB when i am wet and cold and i wear all my insulation under my WPB rain gear and get real hot and generate a ton of moisture but it is all trapped between the cuben and the rain gear. This keeps me dry and very warm and i can sleep great. You can also reduce the internal moisture by wearing VB clothes under any insulation you want to sleep in. Wearing VB under or WPB over allows you to use a VB quilt with much less consideration to venting and still keeps your insulation dry. Thats what i do when i am cold, when i am hot you don't have to seal it very much and can just lay it on to and have all the venting you need.

Make sure you really compare the cost as i suspect you won't save much more than $60-$70 doing myog if you get it right the first time. I don't recommend myog to save money but instead because there is such pride and enjoyment gained by using gear you make yourself. If it is just about money really compare as the savings may not be that great.

-Tim

Just out of curiosity and trying to gauge which quilt would work for me I am wondering approx what the fill weight of the 40* and 20* is.

I'm thinking about the revelation and am a pretty warm sleeper so I was aiming for a 30* bag. By the weight of the 40* I might guess that it probably has around 8-9 oz of down?

Thanks

Seriously rad Tim.

Finally, ordered a Revelation, can't wait to get the quilt!

Just wanted to post that I am finally closing in on being caught up after the sale. The guy who last posted's quilt is in the mail! Hoping to keep the wait to 8 weeks and under from here out. Updated the site a little today. Going to be using both Momentum 90 and Intrepid 20D so there are a lot of new color options at no change in cost. will be using a new lighter nylon soon, so check back in a month or so.

-Tim