I am fairly new to hammocking and as the weather begins to turn cooler, I have found myself needing some insulation. I have been using a cheap self-inflating pad that I had from my ground dwelling days. The pad was OK, but I kept reading posts on here about how much better underquilts are. I wanted give one a try, but didn't want to spend a fortune in the process. I had also read several posts regarding converting sleeping bags into quilts so I decided to give this a try.
I had two objectives with this project:
1. Obtain an UQ on the cheap.
2. Try my hand at DIY gear.
Now I haven't touched a sewing machine in about 16 years (home ec in middle school) so I decided to go simple and stick with a rectangle quilt. I started with a 40 degree Coleman sleeping bag that I bought at Big Lots for $12.
I wanted a full length (or close to it) quilt so I trimmed the sides and cut the zipper off the bottom leaving me with a 46"x71" quilt. I stitched the edges and finished the seams off with polyester blanket binding. This created channels on all 4 sides for bungee cord which allows me to adjust the tension and "shape" of the quilt. I used 1" webbing to form a loop on the corners to serve as attachment points.
Total investment: $35
Weight (including stuff sack): 2.5 lbs - Definitely heaver than what I wanted, but I knew I wasn't going to get an ultra light quilt for 35 bucks.
Check out the pics and let me know what you think.
I just finished tonight at 11:30 so I haven't had a chance to try it on the hammock, but as soon I do I will post pics and comments.
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