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Claustrophobia, quilt owners’ secret shame?


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Home Forums General Forums General Lightweight Backpacking Discussion Claustrophobia, quilt owners’ secret shame?

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Viewing 23 posts - 1 through 23 (of 23 total)
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  • #1312157
    ROBERT TANGEN
    Spectator

    @robertm2s

    Locale: Lake Tahoe

    Come on, all you quilt owners, fess up, every time you are zipped into a sleeping bag, it feels like being nailed into a coffin, lowered 6 feet into the ground, and tons of dirt poured on top of you. “Let me out! Let me out!” you scream silently. That’s the only reason you chose a quilt over a bag, wasn’t it?

    #2063703
    Sarah Kirkconnell
    BPL Member

    @sarbar

    Locale: Homesteading On An Island In The PNW

    Pretty much.

    I nearly always sleep with my bag, opened up, over me, quilt style. HATE mummy bags. More like python bags, squeezing you tightly. Like who sleeps with their legs jammed together? I am a bed hog ;-)

    #2063714
    William Chilton
    BPL Member

    @williamc3

    Locale: Antakya

    Yep. Used to use a bag, read about quilts and thought, that's for me. I find quilts much more comfortable.

    #2063723
    Marko Botsaris
    BPL Member

    @millonas

    Locale: Santa Cruz Mountains, CA

    "every time you are zipped into a sleeping bag, it feels like being nailed into a coffin, lowered 6 feet into the ground, and tons of dirt poured on top of you. "

    Well in several decades it never has – until you just put that image out there. Thanks for that :-0

    But really, no. Personally I'd go with the womb metaphor. There is nothing so cozy and protected feeling as being in a 10 or 15 degree bag, under a tarp in a snowstorm with the hood hole cinched down to about 4 inches. Guess I have more prairie dog in me than you.

    #2063727
    Dale Wambaugh
    BPL Member

    @dwambaugh

    Locale: Pacific Northwest

    +1 on a mummy bag. There are plenty of choices and sizes, so no need to feel constricted. I use mine like a quilt in warm weather and have the option to burrow in if the temperature drops. Same in hammock or ground shelter to me.

    If mummy bags seem claustrophobic, how do you deal with a bivy?

    #2063729
    Marko Botsaris
    BPL Member

    @millonas

    Locale: Santa Cruz Mountains, CA

    Yeah, I have to admit I don't like a form fitting bag, so that may be part of the issue. Maybe the OP's initial experience was with a closer fit. If I feel like a mummy in a mummy bag then I pass on the bag – I always go for the "wide" version. Even prairie dogs need room to turn around.

    #2063747
    Stephen M
    BPL Member

    @stephen-m

    Locale: Way up North

    I use quilts above 35F amd wide bags below it.

    #2064196
    John Martin
    BPL Member

    @snapyjohn

    Locale: Pacific NW

    Never claustrophobic then I had an MRI. Now need a minimum of a two man tent for me and a even better a three.
    Mummy bag are the things of nightmares.

    #2064198
    Jeff Sims
    BPL Member

    @jeffreytsims

    Locale: So. Cal

    part time claustrophobic here…

    Sometimes it is fine and once in while it sucks…

    had – Megalite and Kodiak

    have – reg/XXL 30 Enigma and wide/Long Revelation 10 +3 oz. down

    I love the freedom and ability to regulate my insulation to the situation. Happy Camper!!!

    #2064209
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I'm a tosser, i'm a turner, i'm a midnight caloric burner. i sleep in a quilt all night lonnng. Oooh oooh ah oohh.

    I'm a ultralighter, i'm a big weight fighter, sure don't mean to hurt no one… well you get the point.

    I think if the quilt is wide enough, you can take it down quite low. Last time i went out it was pretty cold for these parts (low around 0*f and quite windy), i would have been toasty and fine, had i not had to share my quilt with someone who was way under prepared for that kind of weather and temps. I mean WAY under.

    And just like at home with my wife, i would wake up in the middle of the night wondering where or where did my blanky go, look over and wrapped around the other person. Oh the joys of sharing.

    #2064215
    Scott S
    Member

    @sschloss1

    Locale: New England

    I'm a bivy user, so no claustrophobia for me. So, you know, maybe people like quilts because they're several ounces lighter than the equivalent temperature rating in a mummy bag? Just maybe?

    #2064250
    Kevin Burton
    BPL Member

    @burtonator

    Locale: norcal

    I'm actually more comfortable in a bag… less cold spots.

    I use my quilt with my hammock so it's kind of mandatory. Otherwise it's a pain dealing with a sleeping pad.

    I'm going to be sleeping in down pants this year. So I'll have my down jacket + down pants.

    So hopefully fewer cold spots.

    An added bonus is that I can just jump out of bed without getting cold.

    #2064284
    Eric Blumensaadt
    BPL Member

    @danepacker

    Locale: Mojave Desert

    I use my WM Megalite down bag as a quilt when it's warm enough to do so because, yes, it IS more comfortable than being all zipped up in a mummy bag. I hook teh foot of the opened Megalite over the tapered foot of my MSR Prolite mattress and it stays on.

    But OTH, I've slept in a mummy bag long enough that I can turn over in it in my sleep without rolling the bag. And when it's, say 24 F. outside, I NEED the Megalite's mummy bag efficiency to stay comfortable.

    So I use my 3 season mummy in two modes – maybe 3 modes when I pin a mummy-shaped down "topper" on it and put an insulated jacket and pants on me for 0 F. temps and sleep well in "the 4th season".

    #2068168
    brian H
    BPL Member

    @b14

    Locale: Siskiyou Mtns

    as I see it…a mummy bag IS a quilt when opened up.
    i sleep under one this way approx 120 nights/year.
    there aint much diff really.
    the hood and zipper are like 'accessories'.

    i have always enjoyed the restrictive, fetal-womb feeling in a down mummy, when its cold out. hmm…i wonder what Freud would say…

    i have yet to own a quilt but am looking 4ward to it.

    #2068190
    Pete Staehling
    BPL Member

    @staehpj1

    Claustrophobia is not an issue for me, but I too use my mummy bag zipped open a lot of the time. Many nights I start on top of it and as it gets colder/windier get under it, get in it, zip it, and last pull the face hole drawstring pretty tight. I do not feel you get that same level of adjust-ability with a quilt. With a quilt I need a bit more insulation to make up for the lack of efficiency compared to a lighter mummy bag with a tight fit and a hood. So the weight winds up being about the same.

    #2068204
    Ken Thompson
    BPL Member

    @here

    Locale: Right there

    Semi rectangular bag. I think these offer the best of both worlds. I am biased with my size 15 feet though. Standard foot boxes in most bag are too small. Can unzip the top zip and have a quilt with a foot box. Can unzip it all the way and have a flat blanket. Can zip yourself up inside and not be too constricted. Never looked back, or thought I have made a poor choice. Doing this since the late 80's.

    #2068309
    Sarah Kirkconnell
    BPL Member

    @sarbar

    Locale: Homesteading On An Island In The PNW

    Bivies are so…..yuck. Tiny, and useless to me. Yeah, I get claustrophic totally in them.

    #2068327
    spelt with a t
    BPL Member

    @spelt

    Locale: Rangeley, ME

    Eh? No. I like having my head free with a separate hood. Side sleeping in a bag and getting a mouthful of hood all night (and alternately cold ears) is annoying. But not claustrophobic.

    I like that I can adjust the width of a quilt. I toss and turn a lot. With a big bag I can turn inside the bag, but there's extra space. With a tighter bag, the bag turns with me but is uncomfortable. With a quilt, I can wrap tight, loosen to roll over, and snug back up again. Much more like how I sleep at home and less disruptive.

    #2068335
    Miner
    BPL Member

    @miner

    Locale: SoCAL

    I moved to a quilt purely to save weight since you don't have the weight of the material underneath you like a sleeping bag or that hood thing. 20F down quilt under 19oz? Sold! If it was due to Claustrophobia, then I wouldn't use a Bivy sack part of the time since I cowboy camp.

    #2068353
    William F
    Member

    @wkf

    Locale: PNW

    I have an EE Rev. X quilt (30 degrees) that I use for 3 season hiking mainly here in the PNW. I had Tim leave off the zipper and snaps when he made it. Not so much for weight savings but because I hate rubbing up against zippers/metal stuff (maybe I'm crazy). It's a regular length and wide, but I'm a small guy at 5'8" and 150 lbs. I really appreciate the extra room myself. He left the cinch chord at the bottom, which is all I really need to get the quilt around my feet and legs if it get's too chilly. Because the quilt is already kind of curling in underneath me at this point, its very simple to tuck the quilt in under butt/back a bit and it retains a lot of heat.
    I switched from a bag to a quilt because I like how I can move freely under it, and really its a lot like sleeping at home in my own bed. One thing that bothers me a bit (and why I'm going to do a MYOG down hood) is to cover my head/ears/neck from drafts/cold air. Like others have noted, turning around in your sleep to different positions in a bag can be really annoying and uncomfortable. I don't hike in really cold weather much and when I do I prefer a bag because a quilt is too drafty. However, 95% of the time I'm hiking in what I consider optimal quilt temps ranging from 25 degrees to 45 degree nights.

    #2069075
    Diane Pinkers
    BPL Member

    @dipink

    Locale: Western Washington

    As a side sleeper and a toss-and-turner, bags never made sense for me. Always ended up with the hood over my face, my legs tangled up, would wake up and have to spend time getting it all straight again.

    The quilt is way easier for me, rarely get cold spots, and I wear separate head insulation. If I wake up cold, it's usually because I've been on my side with less surface area contacting the TAR Neo-air. Flipping onto my stomach or back seems to warm it up better.

    #2069134
    Diane “Piper” Soini
    BPL Member

    @sbhikes

    Locale: Santa Barbara

    I'm only claustrophobic if it's hot and there are mosquitoes and the only way to stay safe from them is to be sealed inside a quilt or a bag with my head under dying of heat prostration.

    I don't find bivies claustrophobic at all. Mostly they're like some annoying blanket thing that doesn't provide enough protection from drafts and don't stay put as you roll around.

    What I do these days is bring two quilts. One is 20 degrees and the other is 45. The 45 can be laid completely flat. It's an extra blanket. It prevents all drafts. I can cover my head with it when it's really cold or the moon is too bright. The other day I totally overslept and woke up well after sun-up because I kept looking and seeing only blackness and forgot the blanket was over my head. It's really nice to feel super toasty warm, as warm as at home in my bed. The extra quilt is a JRB wearable so I just save weight by not bringing a down jacket and wear the quilt instead. So much warmer around camp than a down jacket.

    #2069806
    Larry De La Briandais
    BPL Member

    @hitech

    Locale: SF Bay Area

    "As a side sleeper and a toss-and-turner, bags never made sense for me. Always ended up with the hood over my face, my legs tangled up, would wake up and have to spend time getting it all straight again."

    Yup, me too. I've used a quilt at 25 degrees (it was around 25 all night long) and it was fine. I wore my syn "puffy" with hood and pulled the quilt over my head. I wore the "puffy" instead of draping it over me as I didn't want to take it off when going to bed, too cold! It all worked really well (my first winter BP trip ever) and I was almost too warm. Now if I can just find a good pillow…

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