Sportsman Guide Sleeping bag Mod into a 15 oz Top Quilt

[Coffee]

For this project I used the SG rectangular sleeping bag (http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=129749). The starting weight was 28 oz. The website lists the weight as 21 oz. I think this is the weight of the mummy bag.

My goal for this project was to make an inexpensive summer sleeping quilt. The total cost of this project was $33. That was the cost of the bag with shipping. I already had the thread for this so it is not figured into the cost.

Step 1.
This shows the stock sleeping bag opened. This weighs 28 oz.

http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/files/7/9/SGRectSleepingbag.jpg

Step 2.
I wanted the final weight to be under 16 oz. That seemed to be the weight of a lot of the summer sleeping bags on the market. This would also get the weight down to that of most bag liners.

I trimmed 5" off of each side, the zipper and draft tube off of the bottom along with a few inches of material, and the draft tube off of the top. I tapered the bottom corners to save weight. Leaving them in would only increase the size of the foot box.

Note in this step how the bottom black material and the insulation was cut about 1.5" shorter than the top grey material. This was to save weight and inprove the edges. I double rolled the edges over. I made sure that when rolled they overlaped the insulation. This was to keep the insulation from moving inside the quilt.


http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/files/7/9/SGSleepingbagTrimmed.jpg

Step 4.

I sewn the edge seams all the way around. On the top edge I removed the draw string. I folded the nylon from the drawstring inclosure and sewn it to cover where I removed the top draft tube.

Step 5.

I sewn the bottom 24" of the quilt for a foot box. I could have left it open and used a zipper or velcro. Sewing it was the easiest and lighted open.

Below is a picture of the finished quilt. It shows the top and bottom views. The final version is only about 45" wide. I forgot to leave extra wide for the seams. It is also just long enough to come up to my chin. I am 6'4".


http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/files/7/9/SGSleepingBagModTop.jpg

http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/files/7/9/SGSleepingBagModBottom.jpg


The final version weighs in at 15 oz. 1 oz under my goal weight. If I was shorter I think I could get it lighter. It was kind of fun to cut away material and think "I'm not going to carry this piece, or this piece." With my warm bag weighing in at around 34 oz, I could not justify a summer bag unless it was a lot lighter than my regular bag.

After completing this I think it is really doable to make any synethic bag into a quilt. It should be similar for down. I also think it would be really doable to make an underquilt out of a sleeping bag.

This is going to be my summer quilt for my thru this year.

[Patrick]

hammock engineer,

Looks awesome, nice work. I like that color. You're right about turning one into an underquilt. I did that as my first prototype and it was fast and easy. I used a North Face Allegheny that I got cheap at REI and cut it to fit my HH. I still use it in the summer and it works great. Here's a link to a post I made about it on WhiteBlaze, if it's any help.

Very long post (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10035)

[Tango61]

Hammock Engineer,
I had to take a few of the characters out of the address to get to the link.
Here's what I used:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10035

yours had some extra stuff between the http:// and the www.


Love the post, btw.
Tango

[Coffee]

Thanks for the kind words.

Patrick was the one with the WB link and underquilt project. I don't want to take credit for that one. Although I am looking for cheap bags to do that to.

[Tango61]

How hard do you think it would be to make a down underquilt using a rectangular bag? SG has a 550 fill down bag for $99 that might work. Very heavy at almost 4lbs though. I think a down hammocks by Jeff and others might be beyond my sewing skills right now.

T

[Tango61]

Oops, sorry for the mix up.

Patric, great write up on WB.

[Patrick]

Whoops, sorry about that link. I fixed it. Thanks, Tango61.

It was a fun project. Very quick and easy. I would recommend making one from scratch though, as it's almost guaranteed to come out lighter.

[Bird Dog]

Great project.....MAN, I wished I knew how to sew....

BD

[Coffee]

BD, it is actually not that hard. Get an old machine and some cheap $1 a yard fabric. Minus a couple lessons from my mom and grandma and 7th grade home ec, I taught myself as I went. Start with some stuff sacks and move on.

[neo]

:) nice job,i used my guide gear mummy version of that bag as a quilt last
night with my thermorest 3/4 it was a pleasent rainy night in my back yard
59 degrees for the low,nice here in nashville:cool: neo

[The Breeze]

think i will jump on some of those tonight !

[blackbishop351]

Great project.....MAN, I wished I knew how to sew....

BD

If you get some free time, hit me up - you can come over and I'll teach you what I know. Granted, I'm fairly new at sewing myself, but I've had some pretty decent results so far so I guess I'm not terrible at it :p

[Coffee]

Breeze let me know if you need any help on yours.

[The Breeze]

thanks for the offer. I know I will, because I have never even seen one yet. I know I will have to make one because i hike mostly in the winter because i sweat eazy and hate bugs like skiters heheeh. I wish some one lived close so I could look at there setup.

[Bird Dog]

If you get some free time, hit me up - you can come over and I'll teach you what I know. Granted, I'm fairly new at sewing myself, but I've had some pretty decent results so far so I guess I'm not terrible at it :p

Careful what you offer. I may take you up on it BB. I would like to learn how so that I can modify/fabricate my own stuff. I know that it would save me TONS of money and I can have my equipment just the way I want it. BD

[blackbishop351]

Careful what you offer. I may take you up on it BB. I would like to learn how so that I can modify/fabricate my own stuff. I know that it would save me TONS of money and I can have my equipment just the way I want it. BD

Any time, man. It's a lot easier to learn than you think.

[Just Jeff]

Sure is - I hadn't sewn anything since 7th grade home ec, then I hopped on my wife's machine and my first project was a two-layer hammock that my kids still use. I fooled around with some scraps for about 20 minutes before starting...that's it.

And keep in mind that it doesn't have to be perfect...it's not like cabinetry or anything. Just stick it together and put a seam on it...it'll work until you get good enough to make it pretty. And still have you tons of money!

[ricegravy]

Discontinued Sportsman Guide Sleeping Bag.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=129749

>Message: When will you have some more of this item in stock?

>From: "SMG Products" <[email protected]>
>Dear Rice,
>Thank you for your email.
>Sorry but we will not be restocking these sleeping bags.
>If you have any questions, please contact us.


Oh Well. Any other option out there?

[Ramblinrev]

The technique will sork with any synthetic filled bag.

[Coffee]

Got to love bumping the old threads.

Like was said, will work with any synthetic sleeping bags. You could do it with a down bag, but I didn't want to deal with the hassle of the down. The bag I used didn't have much insulation to it. A very thin layer inbetween 2 nylon layers.

Pretty straight forward project, just cut and sew.