Need advice for choosing insulation.

[Kirkman]

Miguel my friend how are things out in Ca? When are you coming back to NY for some real winter camping. I have not bin out yet to many hunters in the woods to risk hanging in the trees. see you soon!

[Miguel]

Miguel - baffles are used only for down. Baffles are the vertical walls inside the quilt that form the chambers used to hold the down so it doesn't all shift to one place.

On sheet insulation, quilting loops are used instead of baffles. You're basically sewing the outer and inner layer together, thru the insulation, at various spots on the quilt. Since the insulation is in a sheet, these loops stabilize the sheet to the shell so there's no damage when you stuff it, and it keeps the shell from ballooning up on you.

Only when you sew the loop, you don't sew it tight b/c that would compress the insulation - that's why it's called a "loop." Let's say you have a 2" quilt - you want the loops to be 2" high, too. (Actually, I make my loops a tiny bit smaller than the thickness of the quilt.) You do that by using a piece of cardboard cut to the thickness of the quilt.

So to make your loops, put the needle and yarn through the quilt, then back up, so you can tie a knot (i.e. both ends of the yarn should be on top of the quilt, with the middle of the yarn running through all layers of the quilt). Then put the cardboard between the pieces of yarn so that, when you tie the yarn into a knot, it will tightly hold the cardboard inside the loop. You're basically setting the size of the loop so it can't compress the insulation. It's that easy.

Where do you put the loops? Make an imaginary grid on your quilt. Size of the grid depends on type of insulation and what you're using it for...quilts generally have grids with about 18-24" blocks. You put the loops at the grid intersections. So in all your quilt will have ~25 loops, including around the perimeter.

You can use anything to set the height of the loops - a ruler, a dowel, etc - as long as it makes the yarn come out to the thickness of your quilt. You also want to use yarn or similar and not thread, b/c thread will rip the insulation as it tries to shift.

Clear as mud?

Jeff

Thanks for that detailed explanation. It's now much clearer than mud but still a tad murky. I suspect it will be crystal clear to my wife once she's had the opportunity to read it. We'll check back with you if/when we become stumped.

My other concern is having it snug on the sides. We were thinking of having two bungies running through a tube from the ends to the middle with toggles backed up with barrel locks so you could easily adjust the tension while lying in the hammock. We would have the same type system on the ends for snugging it up. Does this make sense? I should also say this underquilt will be made for a Claytor Jungle hammock and I'm 6'2". How long and wide should the underquilt be? I'm thinking wider is better, to a point. Would 48-50" be too wide? Most of the designs seem to be a basic rectangle.......correct? I think that's about all my concerns.....for now. Again...I appreciate the help....I want to get it right the first time. Oh yeah....do you think I'll need three yards or will two be enough?

As Kirkman said...I'm in Southern CA for the winter and the nigh temps rarely drop below the upper thirties to low forties....even higher right along the coast.

BTW....ket's welcome Kirkman to the forum. I introduced him to hanging prior to my departure from the great state of New Yawk. He decided on a Claytor Jungle hammock and is a hardcore outdoorsman and winter camper. Right now he's using a pad system with wings. I'm sure he'll be waiting to see how I like my underquilt. I'm thinking the underquilt combined with a pad when it really gets cold will be the ticket. And yes....I'm am loving Southern Cali....mainly due to the oportunity to hang year round. We're heading out tonight to Palomar State Park in the Cleveland National Forest. Google it for more info...it's supposed to be pretty sweet.

Miguel

[slowhike]

yep, we certainly do want to welcome Kirkman to HF.
i'm glad you discovered the joys of hammocking! ...tim

[Kirkman]

Thanks guys glad to be here! Glad you are having fun Miguel.

[Just Jeff]

48" is fine for an underquilt - that's what JRB uses.

For your height, I'd say around 80" long for a full length quilt. You'll lose some length b/c of the curvature of the hammock, and you want some extra so you can adjust it so you're not confined to laying in only one place. You could get away with less if you're worried about weight, but it's easier to trim some off from a quilt that's too long than to make an entirely new quilt b/c it's too short.

The JRB quilts are rectangle. The Potomac is bathtub shaped and the Speer SnugFit is a very complex bathtub shape.

Elastic along the edges isn't necessary but it can help keep it snug. I was surprised at how much it helped the Potomac stay snug, actually - but the JRB fits fine w/o it. The Speer doesn't use elastic there, and by all accounts I've heard from people who have used the SnugFit it's the best fitting underquilt around. But it's certainly an easy way to get a great no-hassle fit at the cost of a little bit of weight - bungees and shockcord are actually pretty heavy. That said, I think I'm going to use shockcord as the suspension on my half-quilt...see the Warbonnet pics in the Underquilt Ideas thread.

Will two or three yards of what be enough?

[xirebos]

Don't know if you've already scoped these instructions yet, but this page really helped me get a better idea of what was meant by "quilting" thanks to the pictures that accompanied them.

[Miguel]

48" is fine for an underquilt - that's what JRB uses.

For your height, I'd say around 80" long for a full length quilt. You'll lose some length b/c of the curvature of the hammock, and you want some extra so you can adjust it so you're not confined to laying in only one place. You could get away with less if you're worried about weight, but it's easier to trim some off from a quilt that's too long than to make an entirely new quilt b/c it's too short.

The JRB quilts are rectangle. The Potomac is bathtub shaped and the Speer SnugFit is a very complex bathtub shape.

Elastic along the edges isn't necessary but it can help keep it snug. I was surprised at how much it helped the Potomac stay snug, actually - but the JRB fits fine w/o it. The Speer doesn't use elastic there, and by all accounts I've heard from people who have used the SnugFit it's the best fitting underquilt around. But it's certainly an easy way to get a great no-hassle fit at the cost of a little bit of weight - bungees and shockcord are actually pretty heavy. That said, I think I'm going to use shockcord as the suspension on my half-quilt...see the Warbonnet pics in the Underquilt Ideas thread.

Will two or three yards of what be enough?

Two or three yards of insulation. It comes in sheets, 60" in width.

Miguel

[Just Jeff]

If you want to patchwork the insulation together you can probably get away with 2, or even 1.5. But that'll be a bit of a hassle and could lead to bulges or cold spots. If you can afford it, get at least 2.5 yds and trim the excess width, so you have one continuous piece of insulation for the length of the quilt.

[Miguel]

If you want to patchwork the insulation together you can probably get away with 2, or even 1.5. But that'll be a bit of a hassle and could lead to bulges or cold spots. If you can afford it, get at least 2.5 yds and trim the excess width, so you have one continuous piece of insulation for the length of the quilt.

Jeff and others....as usual...thanks for the great advice. I'm ready to order and will post the results.

Miguel

[warbonnetguy]

2.5 yards would be enough for one layer, but depending on the insul you choose, you may want to use several layers of it. i stated a weight of 7.5 or 10 oz/yd. if you get 2.5xp, you would need 3 or 4 layers to get the needed thickness/weight.