Seeking advice from those who sleep/cuddle together: Quilt for 2 vs Quilts for 2

My partner and I prefer both having our own EE quilts. I get much colder at night and need more down. We both tend to just throw both of our quilts on each other in the morning and cuddle

Ive toyed around with the idea of purchasing a two person quilt but it just doesn’t make sense for us. I think connecting the two would be best. If you ever want to do solo trips it’s much more cost effective.

Just my thoughts =)

Some answers here

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/66248/

“We both tend to just throw both of our quilts on each other in the morning and cuddle.”

Holly,

how do you keep the 2 quilts together, so they don’t slip off?

Do you link the sleeping pads together?

Which quilts do you use?

.Sleeping Pad Straps .

. AMY LAUTERBACH’S solution

 Here’s what I did

Ah, also I/ we use a double quilt.  I have slept under it by myself and its sooo warm that way.  Of course I’m tucking it under me and stuff so no drafts.  Its like sleeping in bed except instead of getting pushed off the bed I get crammed in the corner

For an opposing opinion, my boyfriend and I cuddle at home, but in the backcountry we’ve chosen to have separate bags that do not match, and we sleep close together, but not within the same bag.  We have such different temperature tolerances while sleeping outdoors that we find it better.  We don’t worry about having our pads linked together either, especially because I use a quilt which may be strapped to the pad, whereas Bill uses a mummy bag.

I haven’t looked at double-bags, but if I was going to share, I would insist on having one with a draft blocker that hangs between the couple at the neck.  I can’t stand having cold shoulders, and even in the summer have a sheet or something tucked close to my neck. The gap between the sleepers shoulders would create an intolerable draft for my sleeping style.

At the risk of sounding like the “pack your fears” type, having two separate bags would allow an injured partner to have their own insulation while the intact partner hiked to help.

Sue and I have tried just about every variation.
* Double SB: lots of drafts down the middle. Sold it.
* Double quilt: lots of drafts down the middle.
* Separate SBs, no drafts, but limited sharing of warmth. Sometimes useful when travelling.
* Separate quilts: this works fine. If it is hot we sleep apart (daytime here at the moment is around 40 C; nightime is not much cooler). When it gets cold we first snuggle, then we start sharing two quilts. With two summer UL quilts we got down to -7 C one night, and we were OK.
In the snow we sometimes have two UL quilts plus a double-width overquilt. That was also very fine.

Cheers

I would use separate quilts on coupled pads. (My wife likes part of the bag under her, but I don’t really care using it as a quilt.) Using two individual quilts, and just throwing one side over the other will result in a LOT of extra warmth by having a double loft over both sleepers, but single loft over each side. With us, we often go out in September, October into Columbus day (November.) So, generating warmth at night is VERY important as the temp usually dips into the twenties, a couple times into the teens. We were both comfortable in our bags, the tent, and cuddled together in 40F bags. Nor did we notice the sleeping temp to much (she sleeps MUCH warmer than I do, also in her post-menopause 60’s, I wore my jacket, she did not.) We don’t go out in cold weather these days…

If you are solo hiking, it is much easier with individual bags/quilts as was mentioned. Note that we also had a pair of EVA foam pads over the NeoAirs in colder weather.

But for this method to work, you need to be very comfortable about cuddle temps (she gets too warm, I am comfortable, so she folds mine as a partition between us and drapes hers over both of us) arranging the edges over or beside you) and midnight pee trips (inevitably, we end up going out together since one wakes the other getting up.) We are working on our golden, so I guess you could say we are comfortable with each other.

Thank you, all, for the advice. I have decided to go with the EE Revelation, X-Wide (64″). I/we will use as a double quilt. We have a Costco-style down blanket to shove down the middle for drafts. For use on solo trips, with the “extra” tucked under. This will be my/our first quilt. Wish me luck.

http://maxneale.blogspot.com/2016/08/best-ultralight-four-season-sleeping-bag-feathered-friends-spoonbill-review.html?q=quilt

BTW, Max did a bunch of synth jacket reviews for BPL. But they were never published…

Admin… WHY?

I feel like I’m always late to every conversation on BPL! FWIW, maybe for folks with similar questions, even though Thomas has gotten his answer:

We have the EE Accomplice and love it. I was choosing between that and the ZPacks Twin Quilt. I think the draft flap is great, and ZPacks wasn’t worth the extra $$$ for a couple of ounces. We, too, sleep at different temps, but that’s the beauty of a quilt. Fran can kick her legs out and I can fold my side underneath me. We’ve been down to about 35* with the 30* Accomplice and haven’t noticed any drafts down the middle. We couple our XLites together with two of the straps that EE gives you with the Accomplice, but are thinking about using a third so they stay together even more. We don’t hike solo often enough to justify solo quilts. The Accomplice as a solo quilt would be doable if needed–you’d have a lot of material to wrap around you but it’d be like a queen-sized blanket. I’d be curious to see how 68″ works for some people–I think the Accomplice width (86″) is great. I’m 5’8″ and Fran is 5’2″ and the regular length is perfect. I probably wouldn’t go to the shorter version.

Nick, thanks for the input.

Most quilts last longer than most relationships.  Just sayin.

@Chad, that’s why I waited until we got married before finally ordering an EE Accomplice. ;)

Hahaha Jim. Good practice:)

I sleep hot. She sleeps cold. We use two separate quilts. If it’s cold we prefer the thermal efficiency of separate quilts. If it’s tolerable or warmer we connect our EE Revelation quilts with the elastic straps between us and then the elastic straps to our far sides going around and under then connecting between our pads. We can cuddle till we sleep or when we wake but can still thermoregulate our footboxes/snaps/zippers and even the neck snap.

We sleep at different temps but my wife has a hard time generating heat, so sharing a quilt greatly improves her warmth.  Extra down in a separate quilt only goes so far if you take a long time to heat it up.

I can always stick a leg out to vent.