Any innovative quilt design ideas that would work better than an EE Enigma?

[Geoff Caplan]

Hi

Thinking of ordering an EE Enigma quilt for ground sleeping. It looks like a refined design at a tempting price..

But before I pull the trigger, does anyone have any quilt design innovations that they feel are superior to the EE offerings and would justify a MYOG project?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[William Vogel]

Ive seen some quilts made with a Chevron design that look fantastic and would probably work great. It looks like it would be difficult to do, though.

Which is a great reason to try it!

[Paul S.]

No personal experience, but I just saw this post about the Nunatak Arc quilt that has a neat looking neck baffle.

Nunatak Arc Quilt… More pics from Ultralight

[Edward John M]

Something I have been thinking about for a week or two

No down in the bottom of the foot area if ground pounding at nite, cut and fill a footbox but on the underneath a double layer sleeve cut to fit your mat. Only needed at the bottom quarter ot third, I find with blankets my feet get cold slipping off the mat, this would stop my feet moving away from the mat.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

There are quite a few tweaks beyond what an Enigma is, that would increase performance. Tim at EE has plenty of them up his sleeve. But to implement them increases material costs (in some cases) and labour costs (in most cases) rapidly increasing the price. One of the big reasons for his baffle design, apart from the fact that vertical baffles like that work, is that its very easy for them to fill, bringing down the cost of labour for each quilt, and also, the sew time is reduced vs other designs.

Some ideas…

Cuben edge tubes (with a lower amount of fill. The cuben will keep the edge tubes drier, and warmer due to the VB effect. Edge VB tubes won’t impart any issues with comfort/humidity). Edge tube could be sewn through without an issue on a 30F+ quilt.

Cuben panelling on the base of the footbox (similar to above), essentially VBing the base of the footbox.

Cuben baffles (mainly expense, here). Tulle baffles (lower than the weight of the lightest cuben) in some low stress areas.

Possibly substituting Apex or Climashield Gold (would be my choice if you are going to the effort…) in the base of the footbox. Probably performs better when compressed than down. Definitely performs better wet (though for most this isn’t ever an issue).

Playing around with straps/cords. The EE straps are very functional, but depending on your usage, pad, etc, this is a place that isn’t hard to save weight.

More careful sizing to the individual, including careful tapering. This is risky as its not hard to get it a bit wrong, even with experience. Might take several iterations. Messing around with tapering, makes baffeling for Tim’s current design much harder and more complicated. Complicated baffles (different sizings, measurements, etc) add much to time.

I think a 30F “Reg”/Reg length quilt that isn’t a complete VB, is possible at 10oz. I spent a stupid amount of time drawing up plans for one (and started aquiring materials) a couple of years ago. But all the miniscule tweaks required made it a daunting process. I offered it to Tim (was  willing to pay whatever it took for it), but Tim just didn’t want to take it on. Too much of a headache, which I totally get as I didn’t want to actually produce it as it was too much of a headache! Even for someone as skilled as Tim it was going to take something like 40hours of work to cut, sew, stuff.

There are a lot of other ways to save weight, outside of trying to beat a down 950 EE Enigma, that are fare cheaper per gram, and/or easier to MYOG. Chances are most people have plenty of them to exhaust before they need to go down this kind of path.

[Daryl and Daryl]

http://sectionhiker.com/therm-a-rest-haven-sleeping-bag-first-look/

 

Thermarest Haven concept is one alternative.

I have one and it works well.

Saves about the same amount of weight as a quilt but, for me, is warmer due to the good draft free coverage of the upper torso and head.

MYOG path would be to remove zipper from existing bag and sew that hole up.  Then make a hole in the bottom of the bag.

Bag was not a commercial success and was discontinued.

 

[Sam C]

The problems with innovation are that at some point it becomes old news, and is in general, subjective.  Can the Enigma be improved upon?  Sure.  Does it need to be?  That is a personal assessment.  How it should be improved upon is also of personal opinion.

“Superior innovation” should not be a reason to MYOG.  Instead, building a piece of gear that fits you and your needs should be the main motivation for any MYOG project in my opinion.

Until you use an Enigma, or make your own quilt, you won’t know what aspects need to be improved upon, anyways.

[Geoff Caplan]

@Adam – thanks for some thought-provoking suggestions – I detect the voice of experience!

I like the idea of using cuben for an outer baffle and the foot panel.. I’m less taken with the idea of synthetic for the foot box unless I could make it replaceable as it would likely give up decades before the down.

I guess I could save an ounce or two with cuben baffles if I laid out the $$$ – I know that Z-packs use them in their bags. But there are some reports of them giving up more quickly than mesh so I’d have concerns about longevity.

As for tapering, I’d use a Karo Step baffle, I think, as anything more complex would be too intimidating for my skill-level. So I’d have a lot of freedom with the shape.

I did consider copying Tim’s old cuben quilt idea, but compared with modern shell materials the saving would be marginal, the longevity questionable and the cost difficult to justify. Plus there’s the rustle factor and the less-than-pleasant hand of cuben against the skin.

@Edward & @Daryl – yes – I’ve been playing with the idea of using some kind of sleeve to keep the quilt on the pad. My feet do tend to slip off at times, particularly on a sloping site. But I suspect there are reasons why no-one has got this approach to work commercially – for example it’s difficult to draw up your knees when reading on your back,and it greatly reduces the flexibility that’s one of the main attractions of a quilt. In the end, simplicity is probably best here.

@Sam – I think we’ll have to agree to disagree. As Adam points out, many of the commercial and cottage designs are constrained by economics. MYOG gives us the opportunity to try things that are too difficult or bleeding edge or specialised to work commercially. My shelter and pack projects are both motivated by needs and preferences that are so individual that no-one is going to offer a commercial solution, so I have to do it for myself. Plus I enjoy innovating, which is surely half the point? I guess we all need to sew our own sew…

 

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