partial quilt, pad, and condensation help

[HillbillyHanger]

I tried out my new 20 degree partial quilt this weekend. Overall, very pleased. 32 degrees both nights and light winds. Used a 30 degree top quilt. I didn't want to risk being cold so I placed a fleece top quilt inside the top quilt. On the bottom I placed a from sit pad. I doubled up a small foam pad and shoved it in the end of the top quilt to seal the top quilt. Stayed warm. Ended up fold I g thr fleece down go my waist. I only slept in shorts and an under armour t shirt. This morning, the small pad on the end was soacked with condensation(?). The foam pad under my feet was completely dry. No sign of moisture. Was this because the end of the quilt was touching the side of the hammock? Ive read others say they have not experienced moisture with pads when the padz were inside the quilts. Any ideas what I did wrong? Tnx

[Shug]

You should try just the one pad inside the TQ. I have never had condensation since I started doing that.
Shug

[HillbillyHanger]

Tnx, I'll just try the one on the bottom. I did follow your guidance and made sure the under quilt suspension was over the top quilt. Stayed nice and snug slept well until that lost deer wandered into camp. Poor thing broke into a dead run when it heardme snoring

[genixia]

Vapor pressure.

Warm moist air has a higher pressure than cold dry air. The resulting differential drives the warm moist air into the cold dry air via the lowest path of resistance. In a topquilt with a shockcord footbox that path is via the small hole left. Usually that moist air exits via the hole and disperses outside the TQ. Sometimes some of it might hit a cold piece of fabric (hammock, tarp) and condense noticeably. My guess is that your pad did not seal that leak, but did insulate the bottom of your TQ from most of your body heat, such that the interface between the pad and the quilt chilled, and the moist air cooled and condensed as it was driven between the two.

A sewn footbox would stop vapor loss there completely. I'm undecided as to what would happen to the resulting pressure buildup. Would it drive out the top edge of the quilt? Or through the quilt?