Double quilt with draft flaps

[Colin Krusor]

My girlfriend and I have a double-wide down quilt that we use during the shoulder seasons, but we've been in need of a quilt for summer. This warm-weather quilt is made with a single layer of 2.5oz climashield apex. My girlfriend and I are both side-sleepers and we both toss and turn, so we find that our winter quilt often bridges between us and leaves open a space for cold air to enter at the top.

This quilt attempts to solve that problem with draft flaps and a bit of extra width and length. It is 80" long and 60" wide. The (black) inner shell is 5 momme silk, the outer shell is kelly green 8D, and the shell fabric on the sides is Thruhiker's Shield silnylon (to shed any condensation that gets onto the edges from contact with the shelter). There are plastic snaps to attach the quilt to the bottom edge of our double-wide sleeping pad, and three more snaps that secure the draft flap on top of the quilt (to permit cuddling up). The quilt weighs 16.2oz.

[Jeffs Eleven]

Colin—That thing looks AMAZING!!

Seriously.

To what temp does SHE find it comfortable? ~35/40F? What is the width?

That snapable draft blocker is really cool and I can see how it is adaptable from comfy/snuggly nights to chillier nights when you wanna batten down the hatches. You MUST give some reviews of this style of quilt. (or if its not original got any links?) Pleeease!?!?!?

[Daryl and Daryl]

This is one of those products that would sell itself as soon as people looked at it. Very, very cool!

[Colin Krusor]

Thanks for the compliments. We haven't used it yet (we have plans for next weekend), so I don't know exactly how warm it will be. I would guess, based on accounts from others about 2.5oz apex, that I will probably be warm enough under this quilt down to the low 40s, but my girlfriend will probably be comfortable to a minimum of 50. So, for us, I expect it to be strictly a warm-weather quilt.

Barry, I haven't seen a design like this before. I considered other solutions to the draft problem (two integral "hoods", for example), but this design (which reminds me of the butt-flap on old-fashioned pajamas) is the most versatile. We can pull down the draft flap and don hats or balaclavas on unexpectedly cold nights, or flip up the flap and wear nothing on our heads on warm nights. I'll post an update once we have tried it in the field.

[Daryl and Daryl]

Colin,

When you start the inevitable mass production and selling of this product(like most of us who post here) I suggest you offer it with an image of a famous person's body.

I'd pay extra for the quilt to have Arnold Schwartswhatever's body under my face and head, for example.

Daryl

[Colin Krusor]

I'll keep that in mind, Daryl. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a few extra lumps of insulation to make the muscles more convincing. Keep these ideas coming.

[Susannah L]

So, how'd it work out? In particular, how did the head cut-out draft flap work out?

[Colin Krusor]

Susannah, the flaps worked really well. I was concerned that they would either get pushed out of the way due to nocturnal tossing and turning (and wouldn't block drafts) or else they would constantly be against my face and I would find them annoying. We haven't had either of those problems, though.

We have a down double quilt for winter, but it is a VB quilt (o.34 oz cuben shell inside and out), it doesn't have draft flaps, and it has a simple rectangular shape. I'm planning on making another one this winter from TiGoat 8x10D nylon with Karo step baffles, a double-wide footbox, a tapered shape, and draft flaps just like this one.

[Derek M.]

Colin,
I'm curious to know how bulky your two-person synthetic quilt is when packed?

[robert van putten]

Colin,
You mention a double wide sleeping pad?
What do you use?

My wife and I use two thermarest prolite pads tied together with string…

[Colin Krusor]

Derek,

I'll take a photo of the packed quilt over the weekend.

Robert, we use two Synmat UL7s that I sewed together along a side seam. The side seam is about 1/2" wide on the UL7s, so I just overlapped these and sewed through them with a straight stitch. It works great, is plenty strong, and doesn't affect the airtightness of the pads. Also, because they roll up together into one stuffsack, this is a tiny bit lighter than two separate pads, and because of the relationship between a cylinder's diameter and its volume, the stuffsack for the double pad is hardly bigger than one of the stuffsacks for one pad. And one cylinder packs more efficiently than two, so it is almost like eliminating a pad from a pack volume standpoint.

I guess I sound like I'm trying to sell you something. I'm just pleased with how it turned out.

[Stephen M]

Very nice setup Colin :-)

[robert van putten]

It sounds like a great double pad solution.
My wife carries our quilt and sleeping pads, and she has taken to just rolling the pads up together and stuffing the roll down into her pack, sans stuff sacks.

It is a bulky but light load for her. She typically uses a Jam 70 to carry it all.

I was just wondering if there even was such a thing as a double pad out there somewhere. My wife and I could probably sleep very well together on a 35 inch wide pad.

[Derek M.]

Robert,
I've recently wondered why there is no double wide pad on the market, given that there are such lightweight construction techniques for pads these days. Bulk would no longer be that much of an issue with the new generation of inflatables

I mean just imagine a 35 or 40 inch wide neoair xlite. Something like that would be so great for couples. Also, one continuous pad would feel a lot bigger than two joined pads since there would be no "edge collapse" effect in the middle and you'd actually have all that useable area.

I actually can't believe that Thermarest, Big Agnes, or Exped hasn't come out with something like this because it would be something that they could probably severely overcharge for for the first year after its release while the backlog of couples looking for a good sleeping pad solution finally found it and all the other manufacturers scrambled to make their own version.

Maybe I'm overestimating the demand for something like this because I want one so bad, but I do know that there are a lot of couples out there who backpack together and could presumably use a solution like this…

I'm sure it won't come out until years from now, and by that time I'll have already put so much effort into my own solution (custom-sewn ultralight sleeves, etc) that I won't end up buying it anyway!

Such is life ;)

[Colin Krusor]

I agree that an ultralight double-wide pad is long overdue. In my opinion, though, the best design would segregate the two chambers (with separate valves for each half). Otherwise, the side occupied by the heavier partner would be flattened while the other side heaved up, and every movement of either partner would bounce the other. The easiest way to segregate the two sides would be to seal through along the middle, but this creates a chasm in the middle and negates one of the major theoretical benefits of a double pad. I don't know how to solve that problem.

[BlackHatGuy]

"The easiest way to segregate the two sides would be to seal through along the middle, but this creates a chasm in the middle and negates one of the major theoretical benefits of a double pad."

Why not just have one of the middle baffle chambers a complete tube? Baffles would have to be vertical for this.

[William Chilton]

I was browsing ZPacks website this morning when I came across the pad joiners on this page
I don't know how long they've been around, but I haven't seen them mentioned before.

[Jeremy U]

What a great design! I just might copy you on this.

I’m amazed you get by with 60″ width. Can I ask about your builds? I plan to make a two person quilt for my girlfriend and I who are both 5’7 and 130-150 lbs. I think we can get by with much shorter, but 60″ seems narrow!

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I think a way to join two pads is better than one big pad. My partner disturbs my sleep with his violent bouncing around. He would bounce me right off a shared mattress. He’d steal all my blankets, too.

We don’t share a quilt. If I scooch up next to him real close that warms me up well enough. If we were going to do anything more than sleep, it’s going to have to be in the warmer part of the day, not during a cold night.

[Colin Krusor]

I think I agree about joining two pads. Mostly because pad preferences seem so idiosyncratic, and you might prefer different kinds.

Since I posted about that quilt a few years ago, my nighttime thrashing and twitching has gotten a lot worse. I also tangle up the blankets and kick them off the bed. I take a medication called Mirapex to control it. I can only share a quilt with my girlfriend when we camp because of the Mirapex. She sleeps better now when we’re camping and at home. I lay still at night, and I don’t steal the blankets anymore.

[Jeffs Eleven]

Boy I was excited about this quilt lol.

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