Hi Everyone.
I've only been hammock camping for a little over a year now, and I've been loving it. I hike and camp all year long, which in New York state, means that you had better like camping in the cold and snow!
Last winter was, of course, unusually mild. I went hammock camping last winter during one of our only snow storms. It got down to 17 degrees and it was very windy and snowy. However, mild winters are pretty unusual. In the Adirondacks, below 0° temperatures are not unusual. This year I wanted to be ready for whatever mother nature can throw my way.
I saw that Paul at Underground Quilts had a shipment of Resist Down which has a hydrophobic treatment. I was excited to try this on a cold weather quilt, because I've found that perspiration can affect loft, especially in the winter.
I was interested in having something that would protect me down to -20°F without having to layer quilts. When camping in the winter, I want to be able to set up quickly. Since tarps are more complicated than tents, I didn't want any more complication with quilts. I e-mailed Paul about my ideas for some super warm, sub zero quilts. After a few e-mail exchanges, we came up with the concept for the Thermal Reactor.
For the Thermal Reactor, we settled on a 1.1 RS outer shell and an M50 inner shell, utilizing the new Resist Down. I was interested in the M50 inner shell more for its additional wind and water resistant properties when compared with 1.1 RS - trying to keep moisture out of the down in order to maintain loft. Most of my quilts are green, so for something different, I went with a Platinum (silver) outer shell, with a black inner shell (the M50). If I get a sunny day, the black inner shell will be ideal to get some drying from the sun.
I asked Paul to put a draft collar on the top quilt. Something that is on all of my sleeping bags, but a first for quilts from what I've seen. Paul made the draft tubes extra large and knocked it out of the park.
Here are some specs for those of you that like such things:
Top Quilt:
Dual Diff Cut with 4 1/2" nanomesh baffles
M50 Black Inner
1.1 DWR Platinum Outer
Contrasting Stitch Work (Black on Platinum outside, Platinum on Black inside)
25 oz Hydrophobic Down
Oversized Down Draft Collars
Sewn Foot Box
Under Quilt:
Dual Diff Cut 4 1/2" nanomesh baffles
M50 Black Inner
1.1 DWR Platinum Outer
Contrasting Stitch Work
4 1/2" Nanomesh Baffles
24 oz 850FP Hydrophobic Down
Oversized Down Draft Collars
The finished quilts are awesome. They are big, but they stuff in a 10"x20" stuff sack and weigh a hair over 5 pounds. Slightly bigger stuffed size and a pound heavier than my 0° Marmot Col sleeping bag.
I'll attach some images below to show some comparisons. Folded, the quilts have 9 inches of loft. The top quilt has 10 inches of loft nearer the foot, which I'm happy with because my feet get cold easily. You can see in the photos, that Paul also put a draft tube on the foot box so that there won't be any cold feet on this camper ! The top quilt is compared side-by side with my 20° burrow which has about 4 1/2 inches of loft. The underquilt is compared side-by-side with my 0° incubator which has about 5" of loft at the head end. The difference in the size of the draft tubes is dramatic. The Thermal Reactor's draft tubes are twice as big. There is also a photo of my Marmot Col compared to the top quilt. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the Marmot Col has about 6" of loft.
Bring on the cold!
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Originally Posted by dragon360
. Outstanding piece of gear Paul and congrats on a fantastic (and of course, warm) set of quilts adkphoto.
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