Thoughts on quilts

[Dogwood]

I toss and turn and love my quilts. The reason I love my quilts is because I toss and turn. I found mummy bags too restrictive, except in deep Winter, for some reason. I have an Eddie Baueur -30 bag and its pretty roomy.

Finding a sleeping bag too restrictive, or for that matter a pad attached quilt, which from observations and personal use is often how non hangers use non zippered quilts(?), can be a result of inappropriate specking out/matching product measurements, taper, etc in relation to one's body, how one sleeps(rotisserie, side to side, mummy coffin like on back, stomach), etc. That's why sleeping bag companies make different sized bags and why quilt companies do likewise. And, as had been said by sleeping bag companies umpteen times if you sleep a certain way (fetal position, etc) there are bags made specifically for you MB Stretch, Nemo bags, BA larger girt/hip/footbox sizes, longer lengths, etc.

For those rotisserie sleepers enjoying quilts I assume you're quilt width/girth is wide enough appropriate for your sleep habits, pad maybe is wider if you shift around a lot, pad attachment system (if you're combining your quilt with a pad) is sufficient and maintained in cold weather, or you're not so concerned about drafts because you quilt inside a closed shelter or tweak with a liner, bivy, dedicated sleep clothing(jacket, pants).I'd like to see more happy rotisserie sleepers using quilts sharing more specifics about their sleep system and conditions on how they eliminate drafts.


I think Joe Valence at ZP sums it up on opting for a quilt w/ individually appropriate body measurmenst:

• The dimensions of the bag are measured with it opened up, stretched tight, from one edge to the other. If you already have a bag to compare, measure the same way.
  
  To measure your body use a string or cloth tape measure around the thickest part of your chest including your arms. Add 8" or more for wiggle room. If you like extra wiggle room size up in width!
• Length:
  
  We have found that a hoodless sleeping bag works best if you can pull it up around your ears on cold nights or bundle it up around your neck to seal out drafts. You'll want to sleep in a warm hat, your jacket hood, and/or a Goose Down Hood in extreme cold.
  
  The length of our sleeping bags is the same as always (medium is still medium and so on), but now our sizing chart indicates which length will come to the ears of the wearer, rather than to the neck. The listed length of the bag should cover the ears of a person that height. The length factors in space for your feet, length to come around your body girth, and around the shoulders.

Maybe I missed it but where are these important details in making quilts work well in that supposed 15* Amazon quilt offered in Etheses's link? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01NA...0ZL&ref=plSrch Aren't these factors in how well one sleeps in a quilt? They sure do in sleeping bags. If we get a sleeping bag excessively too big we may have a harder time body warming all that extra air space, no? Get a sleeping bag too narrow in girth/hips/feetand we can feel like we're trying to squeeze ourselves back into a toothpaste tube.

[Dogwood]

Joe Valesco

[egilbe]

On cold nights, below the rating, I wear my hooded down puffy with my wool beanie. There is a draw cord that cinches around the neck. I use the pad straps and buckle system. Buckles are a bit on top, so the edge of the quilt is snug against my sides. Its a wide quilt so any gaps are filled in by loft of the insulation. It works surprisingly well. Its roomy, its warm, I have no complaints.

On our double quilt, it works the same way, but I have a furnace sleeping next to me to keep me warm. She compains shes cold while at the same time putting out 50,000 BTU's. I don't understand it. The only time I was close to sleeping cold with her, was when we camped at Perkins Notch one windy late November and it snowed during the night. We were still using our tarp so the ventilation was a bit too much. Thats just one example where shelter and site selection has a large effect in temp ratings.

[Dogwood]

Thx Egilbe. Good you mentioned one of the benefits of a double quilt. Does your wife/ Gf have similar sleep habits as you? I could see that double quilt use being a problem if both of you roll side to side sleep all night , if the quilt is not wide enough or attached well enough to you? double pad? What was your tarp and tarp config? How often do you sleep at your single and double quilts lowest temp rating?

[BuckeyeBill]

I am a hammock user and i have a Warbonnet Blackbird XLC. With it I use a Warbonnet Mamba 20* Top quilt. In the summer time I still use the Mamba, but switch out to a 20* 3/4 length Warbonnet Yeti. In cold weather I use the Warbonnet 20* full length Wokki which was designed specifically for the Blackbird hammock. I also use the Mamba when I am using my Tarptent Notch. I am very happy when I switched to quilts as they have served me well.

[egilbe]

Thx Egilbe. Good you mentioned one of the benefits of a double quilt. Does your wife/ Gf have similar sleep habits as you? I could see that double quilt use being a problem if both of you roll side to side sleep all night , if the quilt is not wide enough or attached well enough to you? double pad? What was your tarp and tarp config? How often do you sleep at your single and double quilts lowest temp rating?

Exped synmat hyperlight duo, 20* EE Accomplice, SMD Haven tarp with the inner bugnet. Tarp was as low to the ground as I could get it. We both roll over quite a bit and snuggle against each other. In almost everything we are polar opposites, but we sleep well together and have similar hiking speeds. Can't ask for a better hiking partner.

Single quilt is a 30* EE Prodigy wide long. Works well with my S2S comfortlight insulated mat. More of a Summer quilt. Never been cold, but in three years, only used it a few times when the gf couldnt go hiking with me. I carry it for day hikes in the Winter, but never needed to use it. Hopefully, never will.

[Dogwood]

Single quilt is a 30* EE Prodigy wide long. Works well with my S2S comfortlight insulated mat. More of a Summer quilt. Never been cold, but in three years, only used it a few times when the gf couldnt go hiking with me. I carry it for day hikes in the Winter, but never needed to use it. Hopefully, never will.

Down to 30* or perhaps upper 20's how often? This is using a tarp too?

[egilbe]

Same tarp, high 30's, low 40's.

[fastfoxengineering]

Quilts are great. I prefer the toasty goodness of a zipped up bag/hybrid quilt though. Less fuss. Trap in that precious thruhiker funk body heat.

If your gonna buy a quilt. Get it from a reputable manufacturer. Test it out.

Don't by a 20* quilt and go out in the woods in 20* weather right off the bat. You'll probably freeze your butt off.

There's a learning curve. I've found with quilts I need to always go real wide to block drafts and such. At that point an extra few ounces to zip it up in the cold is worth it to me.

But don't listen to me. I'm a wimp in the cold.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[Miner]

Until last year, I was using the original 2008 Golite Ultra 20F quilt which some thought the loft was a bit lacking for a 20F quilt which may explain why Golite made the quilt heavier in later years. It also would be considered a narrow width with the way EE and others size their quilts today. I used it on the PCT with Gossamer Gear's Torso Pad + their 1/8" Thinpad as my sleeping pad and a MLD superbiy with temperatures down to 17F and never felt cold. Since then used it numerous times around 20F without issues. But I admit to sleeping warm as I've successfully stretched my 40F quilt down into the 20's successfully when got in unexpected cold weather.
I've used it with and without a bivy and never felt drafts were much of a problem. Though when its cold, I tend to use the bivy which tends to removes most peoples draft issues who have bad sleeping habbits. Even when I didn't use the bivy, I early on had trained myself to automatically retuck it under my body when I flipped over to the other side while half asleep. Unlike many, I quickly realized that I despised quilt straps as I found bringing the pad into the quilt just creates extra empty space making things colder. I much preferred tucking it under my body which is also likely why I found using a narrower size adequate.

After tearing a baffle last year, I finally replaced it with a 950 fill EE quilt which is warmer than my 800 fill Golite ever was. I went with the regular width which is wider than my old GoLite quilt, but I don't see the benefit of it with the way I use it.

[Ethesis]

Quilts are great. I prefer the toasty goodness of a zipped up bag/hybrid quilt though. Less fuss. Trap in that precious thruhiker funk body heat.

If your gonna buy a quilt. Get it from a reputable manufacturer. Test it out.

Don't by a 20* quilt and go out in the woods in 20* weather right off the bat. You'll probably freeze your butt off.

There's a learning curve. I've found with quilts I need to always go real wide to block drafts and such. At that point an extra few ounces to zip it up in the cold is worth it to me.

But don't listen to me. I'm a wimp in the cold.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

I am just wishing for easier ways to test things.

Though I have thought next of using my down mummy bag as a quilt since it unzips.

I just don't want my wife to end up under geared.

[Ethesis]

And Miner -- thanks. You encapsulated a lot of what I was thinking.

That helped.