FINISHED!!! Fleece TQ w/ Weathershield

[Jedediah300]

Good job, now you'll be nice and toasty

[c0wb0y_hubs]

I haven't been up the mountain yet, but we've used it a fair bit inside.

It's on the cusp of being too warm for inside use, which makes me hopeful that it will be good for some chili nights.

[c0wb0y_hubs]

I know several of you were interested in how it works and if I liked it, so I thought I would resurrect this dying thread.

Going out this weekend. The lows are suppose to be in the high 30's and low 40's. The wind is suppose to get up a little too. I'm going to test it out, but the sleeping bag is going to be on standby.

[harrellt]

WELL??? How did the fleece topquilt work out AND how much did it end up costing you?

[breyman]

I'd like to hear the verdict, too. That looks toasty! Also, any guesses on what temp it'd bring you down to, with appropriate bottom insulation?

[Brute1100]

I'm curious as well... I could use a 44-50* top quilt thing...

[Karl]

That looks like an excellent piece of kit.
Good execution of a good idea!

[RockChucker30]

Good work!

[c0wb0y_hubs]

Sorry for the delay.

The first night of my gear testing was a little uncomfortable. The issues were not just with the TQ, so it's not totally to blame. My hammock had a bit too much sag, which added to the discomfort. I had my sleeping bag on standby and at about 4:30am decided to grab it due to the early morning chill. The temps were in the high 30s, so I would have to rate my DIY TQ and UQ at about 45deg and up.

All things considered, it is exactly what I was attempting to design...something for those cool spring and fall nights, but not so crazy hot that I would need a second lighter TQ for summer.

The second night of the trip, I put my sleeping bag footbox inside the footbox of my TQ, and I layered up a bit more. Now that was crazy comfy! I only woke up once when nature was calling.

The TQ design IMO is a great DIY design. I am extremely glad I decided to add the thin layer of silnylon to the outside. It totally keeps the wind from penetrating, and it keeps all the body heat inside.

Overall design thoughts:
1. I may need to add a few more buttons on the footbox. My feet kept finding their way out between the drawcord and the single button installed currently.

2. Length and width are great

3. Cost.....I don't remember the cost, but I do know that I got the fleece at Joann's during one of the 40% off sales, the silnylon was a mystery fabric from Savers, and I already had the button and paracord. It was cheap enough that I wasn't like.."Dang! I thought this was going to be cheap". There are cheaper ways of making a light-duty TQ. I wanted to test out this idea, and I am really glad I did.


One down side

In addition to body heat, it will also traps in all barking wood spiders and buck snorts

[PappyAmos]

Looks really great and envy your sewing. Roger on the barking spiders, etc. - haven't found a TQ that doesn't have that problem.

C