[at-l] sleeping bags

[ellen at clinic.net (ellen)]

For the past 25 years I've used a down sleeping bag liner between mid-April and mid November -- augmented when it gets cold by a down jacket and long johns. I don't know what it weighed originally, but when I got off the trail in '93 it weighed around 28 ounces. I see a feather excape occasionally, so I assume it has lost some weight.

I wash it every few years. A couple of years ago I left it in a rotary washer in a commercial laundromat. When I came back an hour or so later, the bag was no wheres to be found. I left my name with the attendant in case some one had mixed with their laundry by mistake. That evening I got a phone call. While cleaning up for the day, she found the sleeping bag on the top of the machine's drum, where it apparently had stuck during the spin cycle.

It's a thin bag, nylon taffetta with sewn through "baffles," light weight and easily stuffed. But it's comfotable for me to about 40 degrees, and to freezing or below if I wear a down jacket with it. I have no idea anymore about the original cost, but I suspect it was less than $50. It's all I carried walking north in 1993, starting on April 13.

Weary

> ------------Original Message------------
> From: Mark Hudson <hudsom@us.ibm.com>
> To: at-l@backcountry.net
> Date: Mon, Oct-25-2004 7:10 AM
> Subject: [at-l] sleeping bags
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> <<Over time, moisture kept within the insulation baffles of your 
> sleeping
> bag
> can make a major difference in the capacity of the bag to maintain loft 
> and
> 
> minimize heat loss.  If you are not going to be living outside with 
> your
> sleeping bag for long, the difference may be minor??
> 
> One of the good things to do with a bag on a long hike is to run it 
> through
> the dryer on low at every town stop. This will help dry out any 
> collected
> dampness and seems to help with the loft. At least mine always seemed 
> to
> keep me warmer afterwards. And this goes for both down and synthetic. 
> Since
> I'm in the laundry anyway this isn't a big deal.
> As for my new bag, I'll be using a silk liner. That way I can wash the
> liner and not the bag. FF has a professional bag cleaning service (not
> cheap), but given the results I've had trying to clean my own bag in 
> the
> past when this one finally needs cleaning I'll pay for it.
> I wouldn't was a bag too much, unless it's a cheap one you're not
> particularly worried about. YMMV.
> 
> skeeter
> 
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