pondering insulation for a DIY underquilt

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pinkimark

Member
Feb 20, 2012
13
0
United Kingdom
Good Evening,

So after 4 generations of under quilts made from old sleeping bags (2 x summer and 2 x winter for me and my wife) I've finally got round to building one from scratch this weekend. The shell is construction from Pertex (I some available for free) with draw sleeves along all sides, shaped to fit my DD jungle hammock.

So, now I need to decide what I'm going to use as the wadding! and more importantly how much, I'm drifting towards thinsulate from Profabrics.co.uk, but I'm not 100% as I've had not experience with it, I'm also not sure how many 1/ 2? layers I should use - I want to be able to use my blanket most of the year round, so needs to be able to cope down to freezing comfortably - I'm happy adding something more for more extreme temperatures.

does anyone have any experience or advice on this front?

Once I'm don't with the build i'll post some photos and a pdf download of my template which I'm happy for anyone to use.

Cheers

mark
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
There's absolutley no way that you want to use glass fiber insulation in/under any bed, for any reason. With load, the glass breaks up into a myriad of short, spear-like fragments. Most unpleasant in your skin.
I'd look at some of the stiffer plastic foams (visit an uphoulstry shop) for the best selelction. Cut it into rectangles and sew up a cloth skin so that you can fold the length into a short stack.
 

dewi

Full Member
May 26, 2015
2,647
12
Cheshire
There's absolutley no way that you want to use glass fiber insulation in/under any bed, for any reason. With load, the glass breaks up into a myriad of short, spear-like fragments. Most unpleasant in your skin.
I'd look at some of the stiffer plastic foams (visit an uphoulstry shop) for the best selelction. Cut it into rectangles and sew up a cloth skin so that you can fold the length into a short stack.

Did not know that... I do now :)
 

Scotty Von Porkchop

Tenderfoot
Dec 31, 2013
51
4
Lake district
www.ebay.co.uk
Having made a few under quilts I think there's only really three contenders: climashield, primaloft (silver is easier to build with) and down. Thinsulate is more suited to high compression areas like boots and gloves.

Climashield and primaloft are really easy to to sew together into a basic usable UQ but to stop the compression with differentials etc is a bit of an art form. Probably the best place to buy is from extrem textil in Germany.

Down is much easier to get perfect as the down forms around the hammock easier but there's loads more sewing. A decent down pillow can be used, I've used a £30 on from tkmaxx that was very good, just check it's virtually fatherless. Or again buy from extrem textil.
 

pinkimark

Member
Feb 20, 2012
13
0
United Kingdom
thanks for the quick responses guys.

Firstly, as my day job is the building industry, a little OCD in me feels the need to point out that *most* loft type insulation these days is rock or mineral wool - rather than glass fibre so a lot less nasty, although still nasty and I wouldn't put in out door gear. That said, now that you have me in my work brain, we work with these fantastic products called tri iso - http://www.insulation-actis.com/produits-actis.php?p=3&l=1&rub=52 - think survival foil blankets layered with some insulation - could be very interesting!!

I hadn't thought about re-purposing army sleeping bags for down - I written off down due to cost, but I may now visit my local army surplus and see what they have!
 

dewi

Full Member
May 26, 2015
2,647
12
Cheshire
Really? Have you ever been in a loft and got itchy as hell? Imagine sleeping on that? Lol.

The stuff in my loft is wrapped up in plastic... I just presumed it was like a dense cotton wool... gone back to the link and read the 'glass' bit in the description, so it should have been obvious really.
 

rorymax

Settler
Jun 5, 2014
943
0
Scotland
Tempting to make ones own quilt, I would wait for the OP (pinkimark) to complete his first, he has offered to PDF a template for the quilt and make it free for use.

I'm sure he will have other tips and info along the way.

I'm personally looking forward to seeing the final product.
 

pinkimark

Member
Feb 20, 2012
13
0
United Kingdom
The shell of mine over all is 1200mm wide by 1600 mm long, which when i lay in my hammock seems to cover my shoulders down to my feet - just. it could do with being possibly a tiny bit longer. However because I have a jungle hammock, which has webbing straps 1600mm appart on each side to take the spreader poles I wanted the underblanket to sit between them nicely.

I am writing up some instructions on what I did to make my under blanket, including how i measured it up, hopefully I can post them latter in the week, along with some pictures after the weekend once I've been out to the woods with it to see how it performs over night.
 
Thanks, it'll make a change from making handbags!
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MaddogMatt

Member
Oct 9, 2015
16
0
Suburban West Birmingham
Been thinking about this, never spent a night in a hammock before but just (20 mins ago) took delivery of my new DD front line hammock. I think first (back garden) underquilt will likely be made from radiator backing foam (the sort used to reflect heat back into the room) and some large sheets of bubble wrap! Gaffer taped seams etc. I know it won't pack down well for carrying but I might end up with a semi permanent back garden hammock 'tree'.

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