WOW!! Re: [pct-l] re: sleeping bag loft

[mardav at charter.net (Marion Davison)]

rjc wrote:

> Welll- what a wonderfully **obvious** idea!! wetting it!! of 
> course...it will dry
> (or toss it in a dryer and it will reloft) and you put it in wet?
> Why did not I think of that!! So much better than doing it in a tent 
> with a vacuum cleaner!!
>
> So please...what is your procedure? I imagine to wet first so it does 
> not fly
>  around the room, put the correct proportions in the tube?
>
> TIA,
>
> R
>
>
> At 08:20 PM 6/2/2005, Marion Davison wrote:
>
>> We got inexpensive ($100) down bags in 1993 for summer use.  We have 
>> put about 1000 nights on them since then.  We usually zip them all 
>> the way open, zip the two together in the middle and throw the whole 
>> lot over us as a giant quilt.  They have served us well in a tent at 
>> 25 degrees overnight (high sierras July and August, San Bdno's spring 
>> and fall)
>> Last year we sensed that they were not as warm as they once had been.
>> So we bought 6 ounces of 800 fill down from an online supplier 
>> (thru-hiker.com) and fortified our bags in the midsection.  That is, 
>> we opened up the 4 draft tubes that cross the chest and belly area 
>> and filled each bag with 3 more ounces in those sections. We did it 
>> with a "wet-the-down" system we devised to avoid wasting any down.  
>> We were really happy with the results.  We feel like our bags have 
>> been restored to new condition.  The total cost was about $50.
>> So you don't necessarily have to start over with new bags if you feel 
>> your bag is getting tired.  This project was done in less than a day.
>> llamalady
>> _______________________________________________
>> pct-l mailing list
>> pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
>> unsubscribe or change options:
>> http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
>
>
materials:
scale
hair clips (one for each  draft tube)
piece of pvc pipe, a few inches long, about 1 1/2 inch diameter
bucket
small containers, equal in size and construction (we used plastic 
freezer containers), one for each tube you will be filling.
seam ripper
sewing machine

Fill the bucket mostly full of water.  Carefully open the bag of down 
and push it down into the water so it becomes saturated.  Let it soak 
while you proceed.

Open the tubes you want to fill, one at a time, with the seam ripper, 
just large enough so you can insert the pvc pipe.  Close the tube 
temporarily with a hair clip.

Use the scale and the small containers.  Pick up handfuls of wet down, 
squeeze out excess water, put in containers.  Keep adding handfuls of 
down to containers in handfuls so that the containers are all equal 
weight when all the down is distributed.

Do one tube at a time.  Insert the pipe into the opening, stuff the wet 
down from one container thru the pipe into the sleeping bag.  Reclose 
the tube with the hair clip.  Continue, filling the rest of the tubes 
one at a time.

Take the bag to the sewing machine and resew the tubes at the end, one 
tube at a time.   The hair clips keep each tube closed until you are 
ready to sew.

Let the bag hang to dry, then fluff it in a clothes dryer on the cool 
setting.

llamalady