Has anyone used the Extreme Cold Army Bag

[nogods]

hey - all you vets - thanks

[neo]

Has anyone every tested an Army issue "Extreme Cold sleeping bag" in a hammock. Only reason I am asking is that they are rated for -10 to -30 and the insulation (down/synthetic) is sewn into the heavy duty canvas fabric in such a way that doesnt seem to be affected as much as typical bags by compression. This bag is around 11 lbs and very bulky so it would only be used in car camping or canoe camping trips, and maybe in ?kayak bulkhead?

i used the m1949 mountain down bag rated @ 10 degrees in the single digits
its maybe 5 lbs neo

[spursfiend]

Howdy yall! I found this old thread after kicking around an idea in my head and I figured I'd run it up the proverbial flagpole.
I've also have and use the M-1949 (though not often in south Texas!) and got to thinkin...
Has anyone tried modifying one to make an underquilt? They should be plenty long (mine's about 84") and wide enough (64" at widest, 32" at foot); they are relatively inexpensive at surplus stores and ebay; and the materials are durable (mine belonged to my dad when he was in the army in Alaska almost 40 years ago). I was thinking about picking up one (without sentimental value) and opening the foot box and the head and adding straps similar to Speer's universal UQ.
I'm VERY new to hammock camping and have never run a sewing machine so I will be soaking up sewing knowledge from my grandmother. She can't sew anymore, but is more than willing to tell me what to do! I just have to try to figure out what I want to do...
Any ideas? suggestion?

[blackie]

i did mod a 49 bag into a under quilt..i just attached a little bungie cord to the necessary places and slung it under my HH..i folded the extra length over and tucked it back under for more warmth..it was bulky as hell but worked fine

[Just Jeff]

Kickass Quilts' first model was a modified synthetic The North Face sleeping bag. Patrick added a few improvements and invented the KAQ Potomac. You can find original pics of it on whiteblaze.net to give you ideas for your project.

And several people here have done this project as well. I'm sure you'll get plenty of encouragement and a few tips on it soon.

[fin]

Howdy yall! I found this old thread after kicking around an idea in my head and I figured I'd run it up the proverbial flagpole.
I've also have and use the M-1949 (though not often in south Texas!) and got to thinkin...
Has anyone tried modifying one to make an underquilt? They should be plenty long (mine's about 84") and wide enough (64" at widest, 32" at foot); they are relatively inexpensive at surplus stores and ebay; and the materials are durable (mine belonged to my dad when he was in the army in Alaska almost 40 years ago). I was thinking about picking up one (without sentimental value) and opening the foot box and the head and adding straps similar to Speer's universal UQ.
I'm VERY new to hammock camping and have never run a sewing machine so I will be soaking up sewing knowledge from my grandmother. She can't sew anymore, but is more than willing to tell me what to do! I just have to try to figure out what I want to do...
Any ideas? suggestion?

I was given two of these, and one developed several nasty small tears that would spew feathers every time I moved it. So, I cannibalized the down from the ripped one and overstuffed a UQ with it. My yard looked like chicken armageddon - puffs of down and chicken feathers EVERYWHERE! The plus side is that the UQ I made is AWESOME - it's a HeatBox, and these have a fair amount of great down in them! Recovering the down is another story.

I have often contemplated doing the same thing you are talking about, but
1) the cotton cover on these things is very fragile when it ages, and 2) when you go to open the footbox, the differential baffling they used is, well.... baffling. They sewed baffles to BOTH sides of the fabric (inside - inside, outside - inside, offset) and sandwiched them together, or at least that is how it appeared as I was ripping seams. So where they sewed the footbox, it it really convoluted. If you open the footbox enough to where you can hem the end where you want to cut the bag, you will have feathers flying everywhere.

I don't have a good answer for you, other than the things are heavy, the fabric is iffy, and it's a mess. I would probably recommend sewing a down-proof quilt of your own, and try to recover the down from your M-1949 to stuff your new quilt if you have the stomach for it.

[Just Jeff]

To save part of the down mess, you can sew two lines about 1" apart along the place you want to cut the bag. Then cut between the seams...each seam will hold the down inside. If you cut closer to the spare part, you'll have enough fabric left on the quilt side to turn the raw edges in and make a good hem.

Be sure to shake the down into the quilt side before sewing that part.

Not sure how this will work with low-grade down that has feathers in it, but here's how I do my down projects:
http://www.tothewoods.net/StuffingDown.html

And as mentioned, cotton doesn't do well long-term for outdoor gear. Turning this bag into an underquilt will give you a pretty easy project to understand how they work and what the issues are, but I bet this is just the beginning...you'll make at least two more from scratch before you're satisfied.

[neo]

Has anyone every tested an Army issue "Extreme Cold sleeping bag" in a hammock. Only reason I am asking is that they are rated for -10 to -30 and the insulation (down/synthetic) is sewn into the heavy duty canvas fabric in such a way that doesnt seem to be affected as much as typical bags by compression. This bag is around 11 lbs and very bulky so it would only be used in car camping or canoe camping trips, and maybe in ?kayak bulkhead?

I used the M-1949 mountain down bag less than 5 lbs rated to 10 degrees
paid 15 bucks for it.not bad for car camping and over nite short hikesneo