Best Make Your Own Gear Sleeping System?

I would say a climasheild Apex quilt with momentum.
Apex is relatively cheap, easy to work with, no down hassles, dont have to quilt it, about like 550-600 down for weight vs warmth.

Once you have your pattern set up, you can make one in about +-4 hours
depending and you dont end up with down everywhere.

Quilt is lighter and preffered in a hammock. If you are a side sleeper or a flip flopper a quilt works better.

Depending on the size and type of momentum it should weigh about 12-14 oz for a 1+ season quilt with 2.4 oz apex.

In extreme cold I do think a down mummy bag is better on the ground since you can close it down around your nose, but as a side sleeper, I am constantly fighting with the hole.

Zachary,

Let me start by deflating your implied assumption … there is no gear solution that is best for all folks. There's too much variability in people.

That said, you'll find a lot of quilt fans here, including myself.

I have no experience with the elephants foot + jacket idea but I have the impression that it tends to be a failsafe solution used by mountaineers for unplanned bivying. The idea being to stay alive (as opposed to being comfortable).

Another approach used by some folks who expect to have cold evenings and mornings in camp is to bring a sleeping bag or quilt that is inadequate for the expected low temps plus insulated jacket and pants (sometimes booties too). Use them to be comfortable in camp and also wear them to bed. This approach tends to be not favored by folks who's style is to hike from dawn to dusk and have little or no idle time in camp.

One last thing … I heartily applaud your start on the make your own gear path! I believe that the RW quilt kits are decent and affordable option. You also can spend more but get a lighter piece of gear at places like thru-hiker and quest outfitters.

Thanks Troy and Jim,

I have looked at the thruhiker down quilt plan at http://thru-hiker.com/projects/down_quilt.php, and I do like that quilt. But, there isn't enough instruction for me. I am not quite clear on how to determine the appropriate size for the quilt and the pattern to cut out (the picture looks like it is tapered but I can't find any mention of it in the directions). So if anyone could point me in the direction of a more complete set of quilt making directions it would be greatly appreciated!

-Zachary

Your height plus 10 inches should be long enough.

I am about to be posting instructions for a quilt I just finished.

It is a 5 oz Apex and 1.1oz nylon quilt I made for my 12 year old brother. I bought 1 yard of Apex from thru-hiker and 2 yards of nylon from bwdd. The dimensions worked out well for a 12 year old full quilt or a 2/3 quilt for me. The only thing is its kinda narrow cause I only used one yards width. I'm scrawny so that worked fine but it wouldn't for a lot of people

This was my absolute first myog project and I thought it turned out really well.

I'll try and post my instructions this weekend