Thinsulate for UQ

**TheNumberSix** · 10-12-2011, 12:24

I don't know if anyone used thinsulate for an underquilt but I had some from another set of projects and thought I'd have a go at it. It is not light by any stretch but it is warm. I will try it out this weekend on a family campout. It seems warm...not downy warm but still really warm.

Check out my 1st look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCAxpGBw11w

**pizza** · 10-13-2011, 11:39

I'm sure it'll work but thinsulate is way heavy and doesn't compress down at all. Be fine for car camping.

**TheNumberSix** · 10-28-2011, 05:31

I meant to post this a week ago but as is frequently my case life intervened.

I tested the my thinsulate under-quilt and thinsulate top-quilt in the upstate of South Carolina. Really the central upstate in Chesterfield county. For this adventure we had a family camp out. I set up the hammock about 60 yards in the trees from where my goodwyfe and 4 kids were sleeping in our mondo-car-camp-tent.

We had a great day that concluded with many hours around the fire ring. We listened to the Clemson v. Maryland game on the radio and also the yip yip of the coyotes that plague my industrial farming in-laws. About an hour before I departed to my cocoon like exile away from the other campers began many coyote stories. When I retired to the hammock I did it with the security of my Glock30 and some paranoia.

I made both the top quilt and the shock corded under-quilt. My skills, at this sewing thing, are really weak and I am attempting to get better – Building big red silnylon tarp now- Maybe by next winter I will have enough skill and confidence to tackle something down.

The temperature dropped to 47 degrees and I was reasonably comfortable. I wore a blackrock hadron hat, cargo pants, t-shirt, wool socks, and wool cardigan. I really was comfortable but not as comfortable or as warm as if I had been sleeping in my Slumberjack sub zero rated sleeping bag. I awoke well rested and a bit snively-which is not unusual for me. I was set up in a cluster of trees at the rim of a 15 acre pond. I did not have a tarp nor any other wind block.

All in all this setup is not bad except it is too bulky, too heavy, and not as warm as I would like it. Because of the simple designs both quilts can be used for other tasks. For car camping and general short trek adventure it will work. As for hiking and extremes I am not there yet. I learn by doing so the lernin part of the experiment was well worth the time and cost of materials.

**streamline** · 10-28-2011, 07:30

Just an fyi, I found my down UQ to be easier than my climashield UQ. I grew to hate sewing through the thinkness of the all the layers with the syn quilt. Really all a down quilt seems to involve that is extra is sewing in the baffles, oh and getting my wife to help me dump the down in.