Sleeping bag to an underquilt

[wlaroche]

I have been making a UQ out of a 20 degree down mummy bag. I laid out a 44" x 66" rectangle spot in the middle of the mummy bag. Then separated the down in the area that was to be stitch making the edges of the UQ. Once the rectangle was stitched, I put a new vac bag in the shop vac and made small incisions in the areas that would be discarded. From these incisions I was able to suck up most of the unused down (this was a little tricky because the vac wanted to suck up the fabric plugging it from picking up the down). Once most of the down was sucked out, I cut off the extra fabric. Cut the extra fabric off outside and let the little bits of down float away in the wind. A couple of times it looked like it was snowing. Next I attached some channels for the suspension to the hammock. I used a quilting edge cover, it is made out of cotton so I hope it won't shrink with use. Then I strung the shock cord through the channels and tied it off.

Was able to put it on the hammock tonight and try it out. It really heated up quickly but it was setup in the basement. I will try it outside this weekend. The UQ is probably to heavy for the shock cord. The shoulders, back and parts of the legs still make contact with the UQ, butt there is sag in the darriere.

The finished thickness is about 5-6". I think this is going to be overkill, but until I hang I am not sure.

[Catavarie]

Toasty warm looking UQ. That thing should keep you warm to some right low temps. For the sagging but issue, you could fix a few different ways. The easiest is probably by adding loops to the middle of the side channels and using a bit of shock cord to tie off to your hammock's ridgeline. Or you could add loops to the corners and using shock cord pull the UQ tighter up under you. I find that the channel suspension sometimes lets my UQ sag in the middle causing a bit of CBS.

[Resqsarge03]

Very nice. Trying it out in the cold should tell you what adjustments you need to make.

[wlaroche]

I weighed it this morning and it is whopping 45oz. to heavy for what I need, but might be nice if I do any winter camping. I thought it would be heavy but not that heavy.

If you are going to do this, watch what you get for a bag.

[Boston]

When it comes to weight, there really isn't much replacement for quality down. That's the trade off for cheaper gear .

[Roessletb]

It looks great! Good job!

[Redoleary]

Beauty! Nice work.

[mark2906]

Thanks for this post. I'm going to try the same thing with an old rectangular 20°F down sleeping bag with the help of someone who knows their way around a sewing machine. In addition to channels at each end, I'm thinking of creating channels along the length of the UQ and running bungee through them, maybe making a continuous loop and hanging at either end. Would that "cure" the butt sag issue? Also, I've been thinking about spraying the outside of the sleeping bag with Camp Dry or some other waterproofing spray. Any thoughts on that?

[AceShooter]

Been thinking about doing this, just wasn't sure if it was feasible. Looks good and think I will try it out.

[potshot]

Nicely done. Did something similar with a 20 degree down bag and had saggy middle too. I finally added adjustable corner shock cords to help keep it stretched tighter and closer to the bottom of the hammock.