Quilts in the woods?

SpookyPistolero

SpookyPistolero

Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
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I'm not a big fan of sleeping bags. They weigh a ton and take up tons of room. Of course, they're not always necessary until you get to pretty cool temps, but still are a bother.

I'd like to learn more about the kinds of quilts people are taking into the woods with them. As I understand it they are primarily a creation from the UL crowd, but I'm not above stealing ideas!

-How cheap can you get a decent quilt for a where?
-Does a milspec poncho liner fulfill this role well?
-Do folks who use one find that it keeps them drastically less warm or that it's more trouble than it's worth?

Thanks for yer thoughts, folks!
 
Poncho liners are great. I use a mountaneering knee sack. It compresses down very small, and is down. Nice piece of kit.
 
Not sure I understand. :confused:
You can get very lightwieght 2-3 lb. sleeping bags that will not absorb moisture like a cotton quilt and pack down into the size of a catalope.
I've never felt a terribly light quilt nor can I see them not taking up a huge part of a backpack.
Great for the bedroom, just not sold on them as a woodsy bedding.
 
I dont even use my sleeping bag, only thing I use when its cold, is a poncho liner, and a poncho. If it gets colder, I'll put on more layers.

Peter
 
comoha said:
Not sure I understand. :confused:
You can get very lightwieght 2-3 lb. sleeping bags that will not absorb moisture like a cotton quilt and pack down into the size of a catalope.
I've never felt a terribly light quilt nor can I see them not taking up a huge part of a backpack.
Great for the bedroom, just not sold on them as a woodsy bedding.
Click to expand...
I agree.

Every quilt I have ever owned was very heavy, and plenty bulky when folded or rolled.
Most sleeping bags are not near as heavy and can be compressed down to a suprisingly small package.
And quilts take forever to dry once wet.
 
I live and hike in Florida, where it's rare that temperatures get below 40 F, and are more usually around 60 F. Also, I sleep in a hammock.

That being said, my favorite quilt is the Brigade Quartermaster Thinsulate Poncho Liner. It's got a great warmpth to weight-and-volume ratio.

Colder than 60 F, I usually have multiple closed-cell foam pads underneath me, and may add a bag called a PeaPod that wraps around the hammock -- particularly underneath it. But the poncho liner is usually does the job for covering the top of me.

That top vs. bottom insulation is a facet of all outdoors sleeping, I think. You don't need loft and bulk underneath you. Any you try to put there gets flattened anyway. Hence the closed-cell foam.

I cut a six-foot length of that foam into two pieces about 2 x 3 feet each. I roll them into a tube and slide that inside my otherwise frameless backpack to create a frame. In camp, the two pieces can be arranged side-by-side or in a T shape for good shoulder coverage.

Bear

(Maybe not the Bear you meant, but a Bear nonetheless.)
 
I use and make quilts. I post this type of stuff on the Backpacking forums usually. I use them with a small poncho tarp and bivy, sometimes. The 4 pictured here are rated to 40 Degrees and weigh about 10 oz. for a person up to 5'9".

-RB

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Mine is not pink
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Don't wait, start quilting now!

I've been using quilts for about 5 years now -- mostly in Nothern California and Oregon in all seasons -- and I can't imagine sleeping in a bag any longer.

No single thing has made my trips more comfortable.

These days my main quilt is a Western Mountaineering Aspen (now called the Alder) which is a rectangular down bag that you can open all the way to create a quilt with an enclosed foot box. It's rated to 25 degrees -- the rating is pretty close -- and is down (1.5 pounds, sweet!)

I use either a closed cell foam pad under it or -- better still -- a big agnes insulated inflatable pad and sleep pretty warm in all circumstances.

If I'm in REALLY cold weather, I bring along a poncho liner and double up. Also, if I'm in my hammock I use the poncho liner as an underblanket.

I find this approach to be super flexible for all conditions and super comfortable.

If you want to make your own, see this: http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/make-quilt/index.html -- I think I'm going to try this over the winter when I finish some bow making projects.

On thing to be aware with a quilt is this: your head/neck/shoulders can get a little cold. For me, sleeping with a stocking cap and a neck gaiter (always have them on hand anyway) takes care of that but YMMV.

One last benefit of a quilt -- if you take your sweetie with you and lash the sleeping pads together (they shift otherwise) you can curl up together under the quilts.

Seriously Spooky, do it. You'll be glad you did.
 
Aren't these quilts pretty-much the same thing as ultralight sleeping bags? Ultralights can be as light as 10-16 oz. and don't use zippers to decrease the weight.

I imagine that cost is the real difference since the ultralight sleeping bags can be incredible expensive?
 
bearthedog makes some sweet quilts, I will try my hand at it some day. For now I carry a swedish army wool blanket along with a poly "velux" blanket. Together they are warm, relatively light but pretty bulky. I move and roll around a lot when I sleep and mummt bags always felt like torture devices for me.
 
Kevin is a bad influence.....he now has me interested in a Woobie.

I can see it being very useful, although pricey. I am considering making my own as well. Climashield is readily available.

Let us know what you come up with.
 
Thanks for the thoughts guys! Anyone got sources for economically priced ones? May just go with the poncho liner, I suppose, if nothing is readily available. I don't think I have the confidence in my stitching/etc to put together one of these out of nylon!

I believe I'm going to have to give these a try...

BTD- That's a sweet one!

comoha said:
Not sure I understand. :confused:
You can get very lightwieght 2-3 lb. sleeping bags that will not absorb moisture like a cotton quilt and pack down into the size of a catalope.
I've never felt a terribly light quilt nor can I see them not taking up a huge part of a backpack.
Great for the bedroom, just not sold on them as a woodsy bedding.
Click to expand...

The kind used for this purpose aren't the huge, 10 lb ones that are quilted by old ladies. Generally these are synthetic/nylon/silnylon that are made into a more weight-effective design than a bag. I believe a main notion is that when you lay down in a bag, all the material underneath you is just getting compressed, and is therefore not insulatory, and is therefore not worth the weight. Hence cutting it out and ending up with a quilt.

Thanks for the thoughts guys! Anyone got sources for economically priced ones? May just go with the poncho liner, I suppose, if nothing is really available.

BTD- That's a sweet one!
 
I'm certainly not trying to criticize Bear's work, because I think they look excellent and super functional.

I'm just having a hard time of understanding where the distinction is drawn in this case between a quilt and a bag. The quilt in bear's design above is attached to form a bag, but not connected right to the bag entrance. Seeing all the responses from the anti-quilt crowd - they seem to have a preconception that the quilt is that thing that hangs on the quilt rack in your grandmothers house and is made with bits and scraps of your old underwear, socks and cutesy pajamas.

So, for the ignorant folks like me here, perhaps we can start with how one defines an ultra-light quilt. What are its characteristics that make it different from a sleeping bag? Why are the design elements related to creating an UL-quilt preclude making a sleeping bag of equivalent weight.

My own understanding in this matter is that there really isn't a difference in performance, but that a quilt can be made by a person to their specs at a lower cost point than an equivalent ultra-light bag. Then again I could be wrong.
 
kgd said:
So, for the ignorant folks like me here, perhaps we can start with how one defines an ultra-light quilt. What are its characteristics that make it different from a sleeping bag?
Click to expand...

Good point. My assumption upon first seeing this thread was that we were talking about poncho liners or their equivalent (e.g., USGI Poncho Liner, Kifaru Woobie, etc.)
 
bearthedog said:
I use and make quilts. I post this type of stuff on the Backpacking forums usually. I use them with a small poncho tarp and bivy, sometimes. The 4 pictured here are rated to 40 Degrees and weigh about 10 oz. for a person up to 5'9".

-RB


Mine is hot pink
Click to expand...

Ok these work for little people, What do you do for grown ups?
 
SpookyPistolero said:
The kind used for this purpose aren't the huge, 10 lb ones that are quilted by old ladies. Generally these are synthetic/nylon/silnylon that are made into a more weight-effective design than a bag. I believe a main notion is that when you lay down in a bag, all the material underneath you is just getting compressed, and is therefore not insulatory, and is therefore not worth the weight. Hence cutting it out and ending up with a quilt.
Click to expand...

Wow, thats all new to me. :o Never heard of these modern quilts. Thanks for getting me up to speed! :thumbup:
 
comoha said:
Wow, thats all new to me. :o Never heard of these modern quilts. Thanks for getting me up to speed! :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Relatively new to me too! The idea just recently started to tickle my fancy so I thought I'd get some of the folks around here to get me caught up! :thumbup:
 
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