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I was wondering if any of you have modified a sleeping bag into a TQ? It seems to me like it would be quite easy to do by removing the zipper and doing some sewing and maybe a few mods.
I am thinking of buying a Wal-Mart cheapy sleeping bag and trying it. I Am very new to hammocking and have never used a quilt before so maybe I am missing something. Is there something I am overlooking with this idea?
Nope, your completely on target. A topquilt is nothing more than a sleeping bag with some of the extra material and zipper removed.
A cheap bag can be used and perform fairly well. It won't be as light or pack as well as a top end down product, but it will work. Synthetic products do not compress as much as down.
If you can find a good down bag at a garge sale or even your local Goodwill-type store, even better.
A mummy bag is almost a TQ... I use a safety pin to fix the zipper about 18" up from the foot end. If it gets really cold, I could just crawl in it.
If I were to modify my synthetic mummy to be a TQ, it'd just me a matter of pulling the zipper, cutting off the hood-end, sewing up the footbox to the desired length and binding the edges to look good... Of course, on a Down bag, that might get to be a bit of work and be messy.
The work I've seen done on Down bags involved sewing lines and THEN cutting to minimize the amount of down escaping.
I considered washing my down bag first and partially drying it. That way the down would be all clumped up, and I could redistribute the down so that I only removed fabric and the zipper... The down in the hood could be removed and added to other areas of the bag as over-stuff, making it warmer...
Chocolatier modified a down bag into an UQ. His thread is here: http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=17039
I did a modification here.
I purchased a used down bag off www.geartrade.com
Cut out the pillow and zipper then sewed everything up. Just a little heavier than professionally made ones, but super warm and only cost me $85.
Go for it.