DIY UNDER QUILT suspension similar snugfit

[headchange4u]

Pan,

I'm assuming that cutting the slit in the drawstring channel won't void you JRB warranty, right?

[Mule]

Pan, I am not sure if my No Sniveler bought last year about August and my Rag Mountain bought about Jan of this year has the new improvements. Do they?
I am interested in making my JRB quilts perform like the SF because your quilts are quite elegantly made and very light weight. If I could get them to snug up to my hammocks, all my hammocks, just right, I would leave the SF home more often, but right now I am using them only as over quilts. By putting multiple shock cords on the inner surface, I'll call the the black surface of the quilt and by moving them inward toward the center of the quilt by an inch or two, this may be the answer. This would pull the black side tight all over your body and allow the under side, the green side to sag naturally and maintain maximum loft. Seems that no matter what I do I cannot get both "no air pocket" and "no loft compression" at the same time.
At one time I thought shortening the black surface slightly all over the length of it was the answer, but now I think the width of the baffles will only be shortened minumally if I just move the loops in and add about ten more between them. The force generated by each individual bungee would be very small, but uniform over the entire surface of the black side.
By moving the loops inward of the edge it would virtually shorten the black inner and lengthen the green outer layers. This shift would only change the angle of the baffles by less than five degrees since the only thing that would change is the one baffle at each end; it would hang limply for the last inch or so and you would lose the effective insulation of that inch, perhaps.
I am not trying make a point that will cause trouble, but to put forth an idea that could make the JRB quilts almost flawless, in my opinion. I sincerely respect your expertise and experience with these products and I hope you see my ideas as honestly trying to improve on and already great product, no matter how weird and silly they might be. I am nevertheless convinced that "for me" they can be improved. Mule

[Youngblood]

The reason I tried this was to show that this could be done to a JRB quilt to make it come up like a snugfit every time. I may try that next. It will take making the pleats in one side to shorten the length of the fabric so that when it comes up in contact with the hammock and the person in it, it will not tighten up the outside layer of fabric, therefore, no compression of loft. Does that make sense?

You have the principles figured out. Get the shape right and use a suspension system that takes advantage of it so you get a nice snug fit every time. Any shaping should offer some improvement but the most improvement will occur when you get the shaping sufficient to allow for a more taut snug fit as that will be less susceptible to the compression and/or air gap phenomenon. The SnugFit design has shaping along both the length and the width, you can get compression if the shaping isn't sufficient along the length or the width when you pull the inside snug against you.

It took me a few tries with both the suspension system and the shaping when I worked out the SnugFit design. On the first one I made, I ended up tweaking the differential shape using some darts very similar to what you did to add even more differential in a critical area. That works but you are reducing the inside dimensions when you do that. Ideally you would like to keep the inside dimensions fixed and add to the outside to get the differential you want, but you can't do that when you are modifying something.

I tried several suspension systems too. What you are doing works well, I went with the Spandex after I had used elastic ribbons when I found some that was lighter weight and would do what I needed. The Spandex in my local fabric stores is thicker, more solid, and much heavier than the micro mesh you see on your SnugFit. The suspension system only needs to be strong enough to hold the weight of the quilt against the bottom of the hammock. When you use a more stands, you probably can use smaller elastic.

Looks like you are having fun with it and making good progress.

[Narwhalin]

I converted a synthetic sleeping bag with Primaloft insulation (only about .75 inch loft for 40 degrees) into an under quilt. I tried the old method of putting on four loops and a cinch tunnel with cord, but it would not come up tight to the hammock uniformly.
So, I sewed some hook velcro to match the Speer type velcro along the edges of the the DIY hammock, sewed on many loops on each end and sewed them only to the inside piece of fabric that will be touching the hammock. Then I cut individual bungees with loops at both ends so that just a small amount of pull would be on each one. I think there is eight on the foot side and ten on the head side.
Lastly, since it still didn't pull up as close as I liked, I put my sewing machine on the longest stitch I could and sewed pleats so that the inside piece of fabric would be shorter than the outside piece of fabric. (please excuse the sloppy sewing in the picture, this is just a test at this point) This is similar though simpler than the Speer Snugfit design, but it made it so when the inner layer is pulled up against the hammock using many bungees, distributing the force evenly instead of just a cinch cord and two bungees per end, the hammock came up tight to me and the hammock but stayed loose on the outside layer, leaving the loft intact completely. I slept in the hammock last night at 48 degrees and it kept me warm all over. Here are some pictures.

I am thinking of making a summer underquilt, and I am just baffled at all the different designs of underquilts everyone has made. I am thinking this is looking like what I want to go with, and I have some great fabric and climashield to work with.

Could I just make a quilt that is uniform on both sides, and sew in the pleats like this to make the inside fabric shorter than the outside fabric?

[te-wa]

im looking forward to my kit Pan, keep a look out for a blue envelope. thats a cool idea, Skinner. recycling at its best

[boarstone]

nice! Lots of people are interested in making use of sleeping bags as UQs.

Grizz

Yeah! Including me, I've been thinking of using one of my old 30* bags under my hammock so I can ditch the pad, I find the closed cell pad too cumbersome to roll and pack,-- w/an underquilt, I can roll quilt/hammock/sleeping bag all-in-one and stuff into bag compartment in pack. At camp, pull out and poof!...I'm in slumber/relax land in no time...I'm off to my labor-a-toree

[Peter_pan]

Pan,

I'm assuming that cutting the slit in the drawstring channel won't void you JRB warranty, right?

HC4U,

Void it! .... Naw... Heck it is a manufacture recommended and provide (Free Too) upgrade.... You don't get those too often.

FWIW, JRB quilts, which number in the thousands, are 0.001 warrantee claim free.....One side ladder loop went out without being properly reinforcement stitched..... My bad.

Pan

[Mule]

This drawing shows the way I attached the suspension making a sleeping bag or rectangular quilt hang much as the Speer Snugfit does. I do not think the pleats shown are necessary in a bag/quilt that is over an inch in thickness, but they were needed in my thin synthetic bag to quilt conversion due to not having enough difference between the inner and outer fabric surfaces. Mule

[Mule]

I will try to convert the Sketch-it file to something that can be viewed, sorry.

[Narwhalin]

Could one of the mods, or whoever put the Smugfit tag on change it to Snugfit?

I can't wait to see these plans!