Originally Posted by
Youngblood
There is some magic to differential shaping for an underquilt application. When you talk about differential shaping on a curve, or radius, you can have several classes of differential shaping. Most of us are familiar with an exact differential on a radius as shown in the first attached sketch. But there are some interesting properties one can obtain with various types of differential shaping. I have tried to demonstrate some of those that I could define in the second sketch. The SnugFit uses exaggerated differential shaping to allow it to be held snug against the underside of a hammock with minimum sensitivity to compression caused by that contact. That differential shaping is achieved fundamentally by curved baffles along the length of the underquilt and by radially spacing them along the width of the underquilt. To better fit in the crucial tush area and to get more uniform insulation, there are compound curves along both the length and the width as well as variable thickness in the baffles. All this calls for darts to make all that fit together. It gets rather complicated, but that is the general jest of the shaping.
Of course shaping is just part of it, because you still need to hold it up against the bottom of the hammock along as much of the surface as you can. That is where the full width suspension system comes into play.
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