Synthetic Insulation Sleeves

[gardenville]

Back in January of 2007 I made a pair of what I called "Insulated Chaps - Arms or Legs". You can read about them and see a set of pictures that show how I made mine at this link:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-...545/index.html

I used pre-quilted 1.8 ounce per square yard Primaloft One for my insulation and Pertex Quantum for the shell material. The "chaps" weigh 4 ounce each or 8 ounces for the pair. I can wear them on my arms or on my legs.

The synthetic insulation made this a very easy 'do it your self project'.

As a side note some medical problems kept me from being able to go on the hike I am talking about in the thread.


================================================== =====
Insulated Chaps - Arms or Legs - 01/04/2007

I am getting ready to hike about 60 days or so on the AT starting at Springer Mountain in a few weeks. To help keep my pack weight as low as possible I am trying to make a set of gear where each item will do at least two different things. I used my Tunic / Quilt for my hike in Oct and it worked well when it was below 45 degrees. I was able to wear it so it did not count toward my pack weight. The only down side was that when the temperature was between 32 and 40 degrees and windy my arms got a little cold. I needed something more than just my Patagonia #2 Merino Wool Crew to keep my arms warm.

Back in San Antonio - last week it got down to 32 in my backyard. I am taking advantage of the cooler weather to test my sleeping gear. I am using my home made Bivy, Climashield Combat Liner and my Tunic / Quilt inside the Bivy along with my Stephenson's Warmlite DAM. My feet got a little cold when I slid down the DAM and my feet were hanging over the foot end of the DAM. My legs also got a little cold but not enough to keep me awake. I am only wearing a set of #2 Merion Wool top and bottoms but have my modified #2 Merion Wool Hoody on and one pair of socks. I also have on pair of the new Patagonia Capilene Light Glove Liners.

This temperature was pushing the amount of insulation I had and I was real happy that I was able to stay as warm as I did. To add a little more insulation I decided to kill two birds with one set of gear. I would make a set of Insulated Chaps. I would made them in a way that I can wear them on my arms and under the Tunic/Quilt during the day. This will give me the extra insulation to keep my arms warm when necessary. The Insulated Chaps would be worn at night on my legs to add a bit of insulation to my stomach and leg area.

The Insulated Chaps are made from Pertex Quantum with PrimaLoft One (1.8 ounce per sq yard - pre-quilted) Insulation. The pre-quilted PrimaLoft One is really easy to work with. I have a clo value of 1.51 with the PrimaLoft insulation. The Chaps weigh 4 ounces each or 8 ounces for the pair.

The following pictures show my construction sequence and a with a few of me wearing the Chaps on my arms and wearing them on my legs.

I am going to make another Tunic / Quilt using Pertex Quantum for the shell material and Polarguard Delta for the Insulation. The Pertex Quantum will work better in the weather than the Silk that I used for my Prototype.











This should work out nice for a bit of extra light warmth for my winter hammock setup.

[Shadowmoss]

Neat idea. I was having a bit of trouble seeing how the cut worked around your neck, and still would like to see it in person to understand it better.

[Just Jeff]

Great project...looks useful. Thanks for posting.

[gardenville]

Neat idea. I was having a bit of trouble seeing how the cut worked around your neck, and still would like to see it in person to understand it better.

When used for your arms the lower elastic cord goes under the opposite arm and the upper cord goes around your neck. The elastic cord has small cord locks them on so you can tighten them to fit. Make sure the cord locks are to the front. I then put the extra cord under the material below my chin area and out of sight.

The cords can be pulled as tight as you want around your neck and or loosened up as necessary.

I just put the sleeves on my arms so I could try and explain how I did it. Now I am getting really warm.

The sleeves work "neatest" when worn with something like a vest over them. When worn on your legs a pair of shorts or maybe a kilt would make the look a bit neater if that makes any difference to the person wearing them. Both these ides could help stop cold spots from a lot of wind if that was a problem.

I am sure there are many other ways to snug the sleeves up to your body but I was looking for the lightest way I could do it.

As for seeing these in person - that might be a stretch. How close are you to Springer Mtn, GA?

[Shadowmoss]

As for seeing these in person - that might be a stretch. How close are you to Springer Mtn, GA?

Nothing a 4 hour drive wouldn't fix. Have Jeep will travel.

I have gotten to be too much of a weather weenie. I need to get out and realize that I won't be nearly as miserable now that I have the gear to manage weather.

[gardenville]

Nothing a 4 hour drive wouldn't fix. Have Jeep will travel.

I have gotten to be too much of a weather weenie. I need to get out and realize that I won't be nearly as miserable now that I have the gear to manage weather.

There is a slight chance I might be at or near Springer Mtn sometime the first of January. Having the right gear does make for a nicer time in cold weather. The key for me is clothing that has a lot of venting options.

I just got back from a 2 mile walk wearing the "sleeves" on my arms. It is 38 degrees with a nice cold wind blowing. I wore a Patagonia #2 Merino wool crew Hoodie next to my skin, then a RBH Designs Vapor Barrier (VB) Shirt, then the insulated sleeves and I wore my home made really light Pertex Quantum Vest over the sleeves. Gloves wool hat and stuff on my legs. I was just right as for being warm. Toward the end of the 2 miles I got warm in my chest area. The "sleeves" have a draw cord for the wrist so I opened that as far as they would open and pushed the sleeves up to my elbows. The RBH - VB shirt has zippers that go from the wrist to the elbow, I opened them to vent the heat and cooled off nice. The RBH Vapor Shirt has a lot of venting options and the pants have full 2 way zippers on the outer part of the legs.