By reading BPL for several months, you folks convinced me I should try a quilt because I mainly camp in moderate weather, and I sleep best on side with one knee out (impossible in a mummy!). I got the idea that quilt sleeping was more like a traditional bed, where the bottom mattress (the pad) stayed more-or-less put, and the top blankets (the quilt) stayed more-or-less put, and the sleeper could roll about, inside this envelope. So I purchased a RevelationX quilt (30 degree) and am in awe of it–but don’t fully understand it. I’m a little confused about how quilts work together with straps.
The quilt came with four straps. Two are elastic straps, each with two small “male” buckles, one on each end. The other two are webbing straps with three small “male” buckles along the length of the web strap. To mate with these, are two “female” buckles on each side of the quilt, at about waist and under-arm levels. [EDIT: My description here was wrong! See my post below, all becomes clear.]
My understanding is that you can either (1) strap the quilt under the pad (on warmer nights) and enjoy thrashing about, certain that the quilt will mostly stay put, or (2) strap under the body, keeping you warmer, but allowing less carefree movement during sleep (unless you rouse and shift the quilt). Method (2) seems widely preferred here at BPL, by those who strap at all. However it would seem easy to get tangled in the straps in a “strap under body” configuration, and I’m puzzled how you’d keep the bag on top of you, if it were strapped to your body, and you oscillated from side to side during sleep.
The elastic straps with a “male” buckle at each end seem to work well for strapping the quilt under the pad in moderate weather. I’ve strapped under a ProLite Plus and it worked well (except it was a little difficult to exit…you have to find a small buckle and press it, to get out from underneath the quilt).
But I have no idea how the three-buckle web straps work, or why, or how you’d use the web straps instead of the elastic ones. Why three buckles on each web strap? Neither do I understand how you’d strap under your body and be able to keep the quilt on top of you as you turn from side to side. Explain please? [EDIT: No, dummy, there are FOUR buckles, not three. It all makes sense. See my post below.]
