Just emailed the vendor and its 50% alpaca, 30% wool sheep 20% acrylic. Would probaby have gone for a 50:50 alpaca:wool, but not keen on the acrylic, but I assume this makes it more robust.
Graham
Blankets vs sleeping bags
- Thread starter myotis
- Start date
-
Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
Just emailed the vendor and its 50% alpaca, 30% wool sheep 20% acrylic. Would probaby have gone for a 50:50 alpaca:wool, but not keen on the acrylic, but I assume this makes it more robust.
Graham
I suspect that the acrylic is just to save money as wool and alpaca are quite robust on their own.
Keep checking though, because I'm sure you can find something for a reasonable cost as alpaca tends to be an overlooked outdoors material. A few years back the same was true of merino and it could be had for a reasonable price... today, though, ouch...
This one looks promising, not 100% but 60% alpaca and 40% wool, but carriage seems rather high.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Stunning-Alpaca...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262
Buying Alpaca would appear to be an expensive business, I have found two blankets via "Peruvian Connection' an online store. I can vouch for the quality of their wares having purchased some items for my fiancée, sadly there isn't a lot of change from £200 for these two...
Alpaca Throw Blanket
Alpaca Twin Blanket
However they are 97% alpaca and 3% cotton, with dimensions of 65x86 or 57x75.
Alpaca Throw Blanket
Alpaca Twin Blanket
However they are 97% alpaca and 3% cotton, with dimensions of 65x86 or 57x75.
Yes, that one does look promising.
You might consider this in 100% alpaca:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-100-ALPACA-...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262
The width is right, the length is a bit short -- however, the price is low enough that you could sew two together to get the right length and have enough left over for a scarf or something.
Don't know what shipping would be, but it might be reasonable if they'll combine.
That is pretty much how I was taught to wrap bodies some years ago
Blankets come across as another 'I'm a bushcrafter so I must' bla bla bla. If blankets are so good why did people stop using them?
Yes i watched the vid.and my first question was Why is this guy trying to lay himself out?
must be a nurse thing...
suppose different peeps come to the same solution (best way to securely wrap up a human )
To go off on one I have noticed that the way hospital staff in different parts of the country perform the tradition/ritual of wrapping the dead in a sheet varies massively. There's a phd in that for someone maybe...
Graham, once you've managed to sort yourself out with a blanket, Dave Canterbury of Wilderness Outfitters, has some ideas about how to cart one around...
The last half of this video is worth a look.
Interesting, but a) coming from Britain, I think I would be putting the tarp on the outside and b) as I said in an earlier post, I was thinking of it more of being something I would use from the car !!
But I still find these things interesting, and having seen how light and warm the better blankets might be, I might rethink that now.
Graham
It's $20 for shipping and I had also seen this one, but the throws seem to be a looser waeave and probably less suitable.
I am now beginning to fear this is becoming a personal shopper service for me, and maybe I need to just keep looking on my own before the Mods wade in.
I'm still grateful for the help and when I began this I didn't realise the full potential of blankets.
Thanks,
Graham
Thanks, that looks a bit like this one
http://www.50plushealth.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=4122
But I've also found these
http://www.great-gift-ideas-etc.com/category/alpacablanketsthrows/
Graham
Graham,
I had forgotten that you plan to camp mostly from the car. Since that's the case, I would skip the expense of the alpaca and just get a good, tight wool blanket. The main reason for choosing alpaca over wool is the weight/warmth ratio anyway.
Since you're in the car, you can carry 10 wool blankets if you like -- so why not go with wool? I still use wool sometimes backpacking too, depending on the forest I'm in.
By the way, the video shows the exact way we've been using the wool blankets as bedrolls here in the states since we were your colony.
I do the roll slightly differently in this respect: I use a 1.5" wide strap for the line around my shoulder (and through the roll) because using paracord for this gets pretty painful if you have to walk far or the contents of the roll is heavy.
And yes, in rainy weather, you'd put the tarp on the outside
Graham,
I had forgotten that you plan to camp mostly from the car. Since that's the case, I would skip the expense of the alpaca and just get a good, tight wool blanket. The main reason for choosing alpaca over wool is the weight/warmth ratio anyway.
Since you're in the car, you can carry 10 wool blankets if you like -- so why not go with wool? I still use wool sometimes backpacking too, depending on the forest I'm in.
By the way, the video shows the exact way we've been using the wool blankets as bedrolls here in the states since we were your colony.
I do the roll slightly differently in this respect: I use a 1.5" wide strap for the line around my shoulder (and through the roll) because using paracord for this gets pretty painful if you have to walk far or the contents of the roll is heavy.
And yes, in rainy weather, you'd put the tarp on the outside
But I've become alpaca obsessed now !!
It was using my Dutch army blanket (high quality tight weave 100% wool) and seeing how good it was, that partly prompted the original question to see if any one was still using blankets or if everyone was using sleeping bags.
I'm now keen to try an Alpaca blanket (especially as the last link I gave you had alpaca blankets at 0.75kg compared to 2.8kg of my current blanket) and see how they compare.
The alpaca+wool mixes seem to come in at around 1.6kg.
I had seen instructions for putting abed roll together before, and indeed in the olden days when I camped with blankets I did something similar.
Graham
BTW You have a PM
I have now orded two of these
http://www.great-gift-ideas-etc.com..._Blanket_Throw_Soft_Gold_and_Cream_Color.html
They work out, including carriage, at £63 each.
This is not exactly where I had intended to end up when I asked my blanket question, but having now slept under my wool blanket for a few nights, and become fascinated by the idea of a 0.75kg alpaca blanket with potentially the same or similar warmth to my current 2.8kg woollen one, I couldn't resist it.
I will pass on any experiences, but I have no idea how to make any valid comparisons other than in a a very general way.
Graham
http://www.great-gift-ideas-etc.com..._Blanket_Throw_Soft_Gold_and_Cream_Color.html
They work out, including carriage, at £63 each.
This is not exactly where I had intended to end up when I asked my blanket question, but having now slept under my wool blanket for a few nights, and become fascinated by the idea of a 0.75kg alpaca blanket with potentially the same or similar warmth to my current 2.8kg woollen one, I couldn't resist it.
I will pass on any experiences, but I have no idea how to make any valid comparisons other than in a a very general way.
Graham
Hi Myotis,i use a wool blanket also,i find sleeping bags restrictive as i tend to sleep on my front with my head resting on my arms,but when in a sleeping bag with my arms inside i tend to lay on my back and then i don't get any sleep ,so thats why i use the blanket instead.
As for carrying it i have tried a couple of methods and found this to be the best way to carry it http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34559. I can hike with it just like a rucksack without straps cutting in,the method on the You tube clip,i found, that all the weight of the strap on one shoulder drove me nuts,i had to keep swapping from one shoulder to another and spent more time cursing and less time enjoying the hike.
Anyway i'm sold on the blanket set up.
Cheers Stuart.
As for carrying it i have tried a couple of methods and found this to be the best way to carry it http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34559. I can hike with it just like a rucksack without straps cutting in,the method on the You tube clip,i found, that all the weight of the strap on one shoulder drove me nuts,i had to keep swapping from one shoulder to another and spent more time cursing and less time enjoying the hike.
Anyway i'm sold on the blanket set up.
Cheers Stuart.
I know those Dutch wool blankets -- I've used them before. Really warm, but yes, heavy.
I would LOVE to see the comparison between the two because if the blankets you've found (they look good) deliver on the warmth and quality, I'll definitely order one as well (my teenage son keeps stealing my existing blanket...)
A suggestion for the test: head out for a night and put the wool over you for 30 minutes or an hour and then switch to the alpaca and see if you get similar warmth after 30 minutes or an hour.
Stuart
I did see your original, and very good, post about your set up, I imagine the cover will add a bit of warmth as well.
Do you keep a fire going as well, or do you rely on the blanket. If so March in the borders can be pretty chilly, so was it a case of surviving, or were you comfortable with just a blanket.
Graham
There will be a comparison, but it will be more experimental. Probably a standard container with hot water under each of the blankets and my JRB quilt, where I can measure the temperature loss at set intervals, and get an an idea of the heat conduction for each of the materials. Probably use Tiny Tags as I have half a dozen sat here http://www.geminidataloggers.com/data-loggers/tinytag-plus-2
I will also have a go in practice as well, but given the air temperature will vary with time and you metabolism will vary with time, I wouldn't like to draw any conclusions from this, unless one was massively better than the other.
Graham
