A ton of progress on the top quilt has been made; I will upload progress photos once I finish it (hopefully tomorrow). You'd think I'd have learned my lesson the first time, but I will once again be stuffing down in the middle of June in Texas...
At this point, I've got both sides cut out & baffles laid out, the baffles cut/spliced and attached to the inner (black) face, and am halfway through attaching the baffles to the outer (blue) face. Total of seven baffles in a Revelation-style U-shape scheme (so thirteen 'chambers' in practice. Unlike the Revelation, I am leaving a 4" channel across the top of the chamber ends so down can be moved around after completion. I still need to attach the last three longest baffles, and make & attach the 3" 'skirt' piece that goes around the perimeter to join the two faces (the fabric was not wide enough to allow this, and I don't want a shrimpy triangular chamber profile from the inner being joined directly to the outer).
From there, I will add a drawstring channel 4" from the head end (where the chambers open up) that will cinch around the shoulders & seal the chambers while forming a bulky draft collar. From there I will begin sealing up the quilt with standing seams. The last seam will be the head end of the outer layer to the inner above the chamber openings, where I left a little extra fabric length. Before the down is transferred from my existing UQ/TQ and the seam is closed, I will apply 24" of grosgrain to the left & right sides by the feet, which will be fitted with Kam Snaps for the footbox closure up to my knees. A drawstring channel will be attached to the standing seam on the upper/outside end at the bottom to create an insulated closure for the footbox. There are no plans to use this with a pad, but I can always add tie-out gussets to the standing seams along the perimeter (I may add a couple that attach the hammock body to help keep it in place)
I recently got to test all my gear over Memorial Day at Lost Maples;
-The lighter pack load-out I'm working toward was fantastic; a 32L is so much handier and pleasant to hike with
-I'm still uneasy about running a single 3L water bladder in Texas, but it's been so wet here that refilling wasn't even a concern and I never came close to running dry without being in easy reach of water.
-The hammock was very comfortable, and setup was fairly easy once I remembered my stupid knots (I've only done them a hundred times...you'd think it'd be ingrained by now)
-My monolite half bug net* setup worked pretty well, though I definitely need to tie the sides to the hammock so it isn't blown around (was a very windy weekend)
-The tarp may need some work. I'm nearly convinced at this point that I need to chop out the catenary ridgeline, since it makes setup very sensitive & finicky; either that or get much longer tarp end tie-outs so I can pitch it higher on the tree straps above the hammock ridgeline (or do a structural ridge line). That said, once I finally got the magic combination of tensions, the thing handled 35mph gusts above the box-canyon like a champ for a good 12 hours, apart from making a ton of noise. I also need to add door tie-outs to complete that project
-Underquilt worked very well, no wind-chilled spots (it managed to get down into the mid sixties, just enough to be necessary). This hammock is a little too large for the JRB standard shock cords, so I need to work on the suspension a bit
-Gotta get that ridgeline organizer built, since it's the only way I ever remember to bring earplugs; the wind gusts were ridiculous & made sleep very intermittent. Tied-out doors would have also helped a ton with that.
*It's basically the DIY gear supply 'Hugnet,' but with a second grommet/hole; between the two holes, there is enough space to hang a ridgeline organizer inside the net. Rather than a strand of shock-cord going to the ridgeline to suspend the net, I have attached a second short ridgeline that hangs down using Prussiks so it can be slid around & adjusted for height, and two cord-locks position the net along this sub-ridgeline. The organizer will of course be designed so it can be mounted to the 'real' ridgeline as well as the lower bugnet support. I found that wind blew the hanging net over my face annoyingly, so I will add some elastic tie-outs from the net to the cords that run along the sides of the hammock
It's not perfect, but we're getting there
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