First DIY topquilt finished

**TyRod** · 02-19-2019, 12:47

Very Cool!! I hope to give that a shot one of these days.
So where about are you hammocking down at the Gorge? I've never been down there and have been wanting to go really bad... PM if you want when you have time, thx.

**JoeBobJr** · 02-19-2019, 14:30

I am a electronics systems designer, so thorough planning on the front end was unavoidable. I just can't help myself as the gears are always spinning in my head. I didn't trust myself to just cut the fabric, so making a full size template on tyvek laying out the baffle lines on it was my answer to that. I then transferred the baffle lines to the fabric using 1/4" painters tape I got on Amazon. I did that so that I would able to keep everything straight when sewing, but it turned out to be the thing that made all the difference for the project. Sewing along the painters tape edge adds enough structure to the Membrane fabric that I can actually just sew it instead of hoping my machine doesn't eat it. It wasn't an original idea as I found the tape trick referenced all over this forum for layout, but the added "weight" turned out to be just as important.

I did use NS50 no-see-um for the torso baffles and won't ever do that again for baffles as it was by far the trickiest material to work with. To me the slight weight penalty of bumping up to .67 netting I used in the horizontal foot section baffles is more than worth the work-ability trade off for anything other than large pieces like bug nets.

I did use the shop vac to transfer the down as just stuffing by hand would have been a huge mess. I changed to a larger 6hp vac than the one shown in the pic, as the little one can only pull a few grams up into the tube before it is clogged. I simply put a piece of netting between where the vac hose and hard tube slip together so that the down gets trapped in the tube. Once you have a good amount in the tube you weigh the box with your down again to see how much you have transferred to the tube. I then separate the hard tube from the hose, slide it down into the baffle a few feet and then blow hard through the tube to push the down into the quilt. I repeated that until I have the weight of down into the baffle that I estimated using CatSplats calculator.
Again not my new idea, but something found searching this forum and asking for advice.

I am about 2 hours from the RRG and exploring it has become my main backcountry spot. I used to go to the Hoosier Forest, but the logging practices up there leave me pretty mad on the drive home. There are various RRG guides online and I love the shortcut the internet can provide sometimes. However. once I realized I wasn't going to find what I wanted online I got a copy of both Jerrell Goodpaster's official and unofficial trail guidebooks. They have has been the most productive way to do my homework on the Gorge, with my best night out on a trail I would have never found had it not been for his Hinterlands book. $23 well spent. Find them at Lostbranch.com. I would also get a copy of the OutrageGIS mapset for the Gorge.