Turn anything into an underquilt for less than $10

**berk** · 05-14-2016, 15:45

Alright, I'm guessing I'm about the 100th person to "discover" this, but couldn't find anything with a quick search, so I thought I'd share.

For less than $10 you can turn any blanket/sleeping bag/piece of fabric into an underquilt.

Materials:

10' of 1/8" shockcord (available from MakeYourGear.com, diygearsupply.com, and many other places, for about 20 cents/foot)
4 - tarp grabbers (98 cents each at my local hardware store)

Cut the shockcord into 2 5' sections. Tie a tarp grabber to each end. In the middle of the shockcord, tie a loop just big enough to fit over the "knob" at each end of your gathered end hammock. Connect the tarp grabbers to the corner of your blanket/sleeping bag/piece of fabric. You can play with the connection points to achieve a more snug fit if you want, but the corners worked good for me in my 11' hammock, with a standard sized fleece blanket from my son's room. I suspect if you use a heavy sleeping bag, you'll get some sagging - may need to double up the shockcord, or make up another connector to snug up the middle of the bag. This would also work great with a lot of the inexpensive down throws available at WalMart/Costco/etc.

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**Speedogomer** · 05-14-2016, 15:58

I did about the same set up once with a fleece blanket. It was probably 65 degrees as a low, and I didn't even use any top insulation, just wanted a layer to keep my butt warm. Worked just fine.

**UncleMJM** · 05-14-2016, 16:03

Great simple solution to a problem that most of us really complicate.

**Strauberry** · 05-14-2016, 16:32

The one thing I did to my underblanket was to put some thin painters plastic on the bottom.
Since fleece doesn't block the wind I thought the plastic would help in windy conditions.

**FourRingCircus** · 05-14-2016, 20:09

Very nice! I had to rig some up under my kiddos hammocks in their beds, wasn't nearly as clean or pretty as this option :P

**Milwaukee Dan** · 05-15-2016, 15:45

Simple elegant solution.

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**dink712** · 05-15-2016, 20:18

Well...I think even my cub scouts could make simple summer UQs with this easy setup...thanks for sharing!!

**BigE94** · 05-16-2016, 16:15

Originally Posted by UncleMJM

Great simple solution to a problem that most of us really complicate.

Ain't that the truth? I never would have thought of the tarp grabbers. Nice!

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**willic** · 05-16-2016, 21:08

Last Summer at Boy Scout camp, it got cole... Mid to low 60's. I had a 50° tq, but no underquilt. I went to the camp shop and bought a $15 fleece throw much like the blanket you used. A little rope and I was super toasty! It's really amazing how that little can do so much!

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**laghang** · 05-21-2016, 12:22

You may be the 100th person to "discover" this but it's news to me! I knew I could rig up a blanket but your solution is ideal for me. 1.) I don't have to commit a blanket for permanent UQ use, 2.) I can spend very little on an adjustable set up, 3.) I can figure out if I want to try to get by with a sleeping pad or commit to getting an underquilt. Thank you for sharing! I'm off to get supplies to make it!