What if your sleeping bag stayed warm on the bottom?

**Vonzo1974** · 04-20-2012, 18:57

I've been sleeping in my hammock in my bedroom for four nights. I'm surprised by how cold my back is in a 70 degree room. So I was thinking, what if you sewed a Klymit Inertia X-Frame Sleeping Pad into the bottom of a sleeping bag and filled the gaps with down? That would give loft and possibly negate the need for an underquilt. You would keep the air valve accesible, it would be packable, and since it seems flimsy it would probably be comfortable. I have no sewing skills and no money to destroy a good sleeping bag so I can't try it out. What's the next best thing to a personal test? See if anyone on HF has done it. So, anyone tried this?

**MAD777** · 04-20-2012, 20:16

I have no earthly idea whether it not it would work, but you get a gold star for thinking outside the box.

You would have to encapsulate the pad with downproof nylon. Strategically placed baffles would be required to keep the down in its designated spaces.

How thick is this pad? By the time you do all this, I think it would weigh more than a comparable underquilt (but I've been wrong before).

Also, I would worry that my body would compress the down in the larger voids in the frame. But I've never seen one of these in person, so that may be a non-issue.

Interesting idea though.

**Rob3E** · 04-24-2012, 10:52

Seems like most people find a normal width pad to be a little too narrow, requiring added width at the head end for your shoulders. This pad looks at least as narrow as most.

But if you could stay on top of it, I wonder if you would even need extra down. Just slip it into your sleeping bag and the gaps in the pad would be places where your sleeping bag would not be being compressed.

**tdilf** · 04-24-2012, 11:09

I think where the hammock comes up on the sides will still be cold because your pad will not be wide enough to hug you around the shoulders. I have a 26" wide pad in my bridge hammock and it is just barely wide enough for me and i have narrow shoulders.

**mattblick** · 04-24-2012, 12:51

Originally Posted by Rob3E

Seems like most people find a normal width pad to be a little too narrow, requiring added width at the head end for your shoulders. This pad looks at least as narrow as most.

But if you could stay on top of it, I wonder if you would even need extra down. Just slip it into your sleeping bag and the gaps in the pad would be places where your sleeping bag would not be being compressed.

I think Rob has it right that the extra down would not be necessary. The great thing about the X-Frame pad is that it supports you around the perimeter and the cut outs prevent your bag from compressing. In a hammock I believe that the loft of the bag will push up into the cutouts and provide the warmth/loft. As for staying in it, the X-Frame is cut such that it fits in your bag with you (as long as there is enough room for your girth) - so you won't need to worry about staying on the pad.

If you try this please keep us informed - I've been eyeballing that pad myself!

**sparkytxn** · 04-27-2012, 13:44

I went to thinking about this (only thing more frightening to utter is 'hey, watch this')... Have you considered seam seal? Rather than trying to get the baffles and stitches all lined up, I would think one could just glue the pad onto or into the bag?