Mod completed with a cautionary tale
Well after thinking about it for a while I decided to take the scissors to the bag and give it a go. After all, a nice down bag is no use if it isn’t getting used.
I started by taking the down out of the hood with the intention of topping up a few of the baffles that looked a bit low. I was amazed at how much down came out and how difficult it is to control the stuff!! I blatantly ignored Ramblin Revs advice on using an old tent and set about the job in the dining room. Well after the first few handfuls it became obvious that things were going to get messy :scared: even the airflow caused by slowly moving my hand was enough to send down skywards. Reaching into the now opened hood baffle was like an air piston, pumping fluffy goodness everywhere. I had intended to take step by step photographs but even after only a few minutes, I was panicking. This was going to have to be a damage limitation exercise :(
By the time I had emptied the hood, I had perfected (or so I thought) the transfer method and was managing to keep the stuff under some control, with frequent vacuuming of any stray bits. I used the leg of Mrs Roe's tights to filter the down and make sure I wasn’t wasting any. It is safe to say that I felt quite pleased with myself at this point, having mastered the fluffy stuff that everyone warned me about, I was doing good.
My complacency and smugness was my downfall, when while trying to vacume up the last few stray bits there was the almighty noise of my vacume cleaner choking as it proceeded to devour the plastic bag holding all of my prized down. The bag erupted all over the floor and the cleaner while I quickly turned it off. The result was like a sea of down; the dining room floor rippled with every slight air movement whilst I stared in disbelief at the mess I had made; horrified at the prospect of losing all the down.
It took me an age to salvage the majority of the spilt down, the stuff has a habit of clinging to everything. I decided that I would have to use the tights and vacume method to gather the rest, but, still in shock at how badly my luck had turned, I didn’t consider the fact that in order for a vacume to suck air in, it must also blow air out :scared::scared::scared: well it dawned on me the instant I pressed the power-on button, but it was too late and the remaining spilt down became airborne, turning my dining room into a life-size snowstorm. This job couldn’t get much worse. All I could think about was Rev's words of wisdom... next time I will take heed.
Anyway, after cleaning up (again!!) I started with the thread injector. This was my first time behind the pedal so I practiced on a few scraps before moving onto the nylon bag. The results were functional if not pretty; it would have been easier working with empty baffles but I was committed now and needed to finish the mod before bed. I found the rolled hem a bit tricky as the fabric layers slipped on top of each other, making the hem look a bit rippled.
I used the down I'd salvaged to top up some of the baffles. It seemed like each baffle had the same quantity of down regardless of its volume, so the longer upper baffles were a bit light compared to those at the foot end. A bit of guess work was needed when dividing it up, but it seems to have worked.
I sewed the foot box in a bit too long and had to un-pick 6" or so. Dimensions are 78" x 52" with 3.5" - 4" loft. It’s lighter than the original bag, but still weighs in at 34oz, which is heavier than I thought it would be. The down, whilst fluffy and uncontrollable isn’t comparable to the 800+ stuff used by Stormcrow or Warbonnet. But for my current level of hammocking, its just fine. Here are a few pics of the finished quilt.
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/.../P1000680a.jpg
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/.../P1000681a.jpg
http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/.../P1000682a.jpg
Would I do it again? I'm not sure. I'm glad I gave it a go and am happy that I now have a top quilt to see me through some seriously cold nights, but I could have probably made a lighter quilt if I'd started from scratch. It was the cost and availability problems that made me look at the bag mod in the first place, so it was the best option at this time.
Thanks for looking
Mark