quilted pod idea

**jared rosmarin** · 03-22-2009, 00:16

I had an idea to a pod out of a sleeping bag and was wondering if anyone else had done this. To do this you would need to put a hole in the bottom of a sleeping bag. Then you double stitch it so you can put shock cord through it, making it so you can open and close the hole. You could then guide the sleeping bag so the line going to the tree goes through the hole. This makes it so you can use a sleeping bag, but none of it gets compressed. In theory this would also allow to make an under+top quilt out of an item most already have, but it could still be used for its origional purpose bc of the shock cord.

**turk** · 03-22-2009, 00:31

Yep, they are out there, and they work great.
Several people have made their own. But here is the most popular
commercially available one:
http://speerhammocks.com/Products/PeaPod.htm

I recently obtained a speer peapod, and having already 5 previous
underquilts and 12 top quilts and bags, I was shocked by just how well
the peapod worked for me.

In just 3 nights of testing it has risen through my gear ranks to the top
of the list and will likely get a good deal of use this year.
Very tough to find a more weight/volume efficient system for 20 deg weather.
One of the few items of gear I own that kept me personally warm right down
to the advertised temp limit. I am typically a bit of a cold sleeper.

The key to making one yourself is having an adequately large bag to start with.

**Crash** · 03-22-2009, 09:25

I put a hole in the foot & the head of my sleeping bag. the one problem I found is that the bag hangs low under the hammock and not up against you. I loosened up the ridge line on my HH and ran it through the bag to bring the underside up against me. this is great in cold weather when I then use a 2nd bag inside which takes up the open space.

**jared rosmarin** · 03-22-2009, 13:34

This method would be somewhat personal as I'm about 5' 8", but maybe for a 40 degree night a converted long 20 degree sleeping bag would suffice as a pod. My guess is that with some experimentation some kind of conversion formula would arise.