Down gear-help

**HitchHiking** · 08-23-2009, 23:09

Hey guys and gals

Ive got me self some 20 ounces of 800+ goose down and some questions

.

my plan is to make me self a top quilt and a 3/4 underquilt.

Now with the actualy making of the gear is not a problem.

What I struggle with is the amount of down needed to get to a certin temp. Ive seen the fancy graphs and what not but wanted to see what the thought round here with some of the people with experince.

I was thinking of going possibly 15 ounces for the quilt and then 5 ounces for the underquilt.

other suggestions for the weight seperations?

Im keen to get the quilt to take me to 0 degrees C (32f)

the underquilt im not to fussed on temp.

What are other experices with weight to temps? and any other suggestions for these.

Cheers dudes and dudettes

**te-wa** · 08-23-2009, 23:23

i do top quilts that use 9oz of down to get into the 32° range, possibly lower.
the size of your quilt determines the amount of fill. my 32° has 1" baffles overstuffed to 2" at least..

a 3/4 UQ used to get to nearly the same temps (slightly lower, on the safe side) is 8oz of down, your UQ dimensions will determine that actual fill power. Given the size of my UQ, 5oz of down would be 40° F at best...

we can also determine from what others have said regarding down density that loft isnt everything. 2" of loose loft is not as warm as a 20% overfill crammed into that same 2".

**tight-wad** · 08-23-2009, 23:33

The warmth rating of everything, quilts, sleeping bags, blankets, is so subjective. What works for one person may not work for you. There is a chart somewhere (? thru-hiker.com ?) that shows temperature / inches of loft for down. I seem to remember 0 degrees being a VERY fat quilt.

I made my quilt with 15 oz of down and 3 1/2" of loft. It has kept me nice and cozy down to 30, but I haven't camped with it below that, so I don't know what the lowest it can go. My top quilt has 9 oz of down, 2" of loft. I figure if I get caught cold sometime, I'll just stuff the space between the quilt and the hammock with leaves, clothes,pack, etc.

**gunn parker** · 08-24-2009, 00:45

Have a look at my Loft calculation sheetyou should be able to work out most things from the two tabs.
One tells you the supposed warmth from a certain thicknesses of baffles.
The other lets you change the size of the quilt and the size of the baffles and tells you how much down you need and the total weight of the finished project (approx)

**jeffjenn** · 08-24-2009, 04:00

Using the JRB quits as a guide it seems most of their 25-30deg quilts have 2" baffles overstuffed to 2.5" loft.
Depending on the actual size of you quilts I would think a split of 11-12oz for the top & 8-9oz for the uq may give the best results. (Opinion based on the 11ozs used in the JRB No-Sniveller)
http://www.jacksrbetter.com/Quilt%20...on%20Chart.htm
My advise would be to not short yourself on the underquilt. You can easily add a layer of clothing to boost the top quilt, not so easy for the uq.
Hope this helps!

**LostCause** · 08-24-2009, 04:14

I agree with the previous advice. Don't skimp on the bottom insulation.

I made an excel sheet similar to Gunn's but different in that it provides the approx amount of down needed for a range of sizes of quilts. I'm still working on making it super user friendly, but if you would like a copy - shoot me a pm with your email and I'll send you a copy of the current version. It's what I used for my short karo step UQ but it's not limited to just the karo step quilts.

For general loft - warmth reference, I just used this link to JrB's FAQ site. Almost the exact same info provided by Gunn and Jeffjenn. Are you going to be using a pad with the UQ?

**TinaLouise** · 08-24-2009, 06:41

I too agree with what everyone else has said. Check out all those sites and what you find out is that it comes down to is you're gonna have to do a little math!! That then gets you to the "approx" size that you'll be working with (size of quilt, height of baffles & amount of down) Then you need to know if you're a cold or warm sleeper, if cold then you'll need to look at overstuffing your quilts. The only other thing is that I've found that if I have really good under insulation, that my top insulation can be a bit lighter. If my bottom side is cold at night, I can't add enough on top to make me warm.

**sclittlefield** · 08-24-2009, 19:05

Originally Posted by TinaLouise

The only other thing is that I've found that if I have really good under insulation, that my top insulation can be a bit lighter. If my bottom side is cold at night, I can't add enough on top to make me warm.

I think that's right on the money - at least it's been my experience. With a warmer underquilt, the top doesn't need to be so warm. And as said, it's far easier to wear another layer of clothes to boost the top quilt rather than stuff crap inbetween the hammock and underquilt. That's a mess I prefer to avoid ('specially when it's been raining all day) if I can.

I envy your 20oz of down goodness. One of these days perhaps, but the budget is being stingy with me of late...

**HitchHiking** · 08-24-2009, 19:13

Thanks everyone, Im on holiday in Canada and have been getting all the materials on my wish list for when I head back to Australia. I have a long flight to figure out the maths and dimensions. Cheers for the opinions

**teletrekker** · 08-24-2009, 20:39

This thread got my noodle working and I wondered if there was a cheaper way to get goose down. I searched around and found 50+ ounces of 750fp down in a comforter for about $100 on ebay. Thru-hiker had 800fp at ~$22 for 3 ounces.

I'm pretty green at this. Is there a big difference in what they put in a quilt vs. what Thru-Hiker sells?