s'bag compression

[RIP]

I see MaM is rightly tickled with his lovely new sleeping bag - love the colours Stu .

Made me think again about how one transports one's potentially life-saving night-time cocoon, bearing in mind it's also probably one of the Big 3 expensive purchases. Equally applies to quilts of course, although I'm going to limit the discussion to down fill if I may please.

One particular thing I'm interested in is how much you compress your bag, to limit its packing size. Also interested in views on how much this affects that night's use - time to fully loft, potential damage etc. Have seen comments from Enlightened and Western Mountaineering that massive compression does no damage at all to down (it will snap feathers and synthetic though) but it may take a little effort to loft fully. Damaged baffles may be a concern.

As a starter-for-10, some time ago I made a lifetime-investment in a PHD Hispar 400 950fp for winter use. It weighs 790g and claims good to -9C comfort (I've had it down to -5c with no baselayer, no bivi bag, tarp only). I cart it around on my bars in a whale of a 13L dry-bag to much merriment from you lot. But it's quick to stuff, and lofts very quickly. However I can only just about see over the top of it as I career down a Welsh mountainside in the dark so maybe it's time to get squashing .

[middleagedmadness]

As you saw at the weekend mate I've got a 20l alpkit drybag on the front and the only thing in it is my sleeping bag (after a discussion with Stu on rtts about not using the stuff sacks that come with bags) does mean my bike looks overloaded as tarp ,mat and Bivi bag are in gorilla cages on the forks and everything else in seat pack ,part frame bag

[redefined_cycles]

I stuff my PHD (which was kindly sold/offloaded to me by IanFitz from here) either into a tough fully proof 11L (pretty sure it 11) Alpkit bag and into the Lion thingy harness on the bars. Alternatively if not using bar harness which I probs won't need for the 300 miler-Rd in a couple weeks, it goes into my Orlieb 17L seatpost BP bag... in option 2 I obviously ensure theres nothing yhat will cstch its lovely material

[Bearbonesnorm]

Generally but depending upon time of year and thus kit carried, I use a 13L dry bag on the bars. Firstly, my Schnozzle bag goes inside and acts as a liner. Next my quilt / bag gets stuffed in followed by my down smock and hat. Pillow follows and finally my mat gets rolled up and stuck on top of the pile. A final good ol' push down and the package is secured for later deployment.

Once my shelter's up, I tend my get the quilt / bag out, give it a quick 'fluff' then leave it gently doing it's thing protected by a bivvy bag until bedtime.

[Lazarus]

Lightest synthetic sleeping bag I can afford- squashed enough to get in bag but probably gpo 255 less in a compression sack
Winter into a 12 litre dry bag
Summer version 8 litre

Both bags also conatin the tent and the air bed.

I also tend to wear[ all my] clothes in bed , why carry a heavier bag when I have clothes to put on? TLS rule.

[RIP]

Ta chaps, nice to compare notes. I can feel the urge to do another kit "weigh-in" now . Might do it for WE. My sleeping bag drybag also has a down hat in it but that's all. Summer sleeping bag goes in 8L or even 5L drybag. Rest of bedroom goes in a separate 8L bag whatever the season, also on the bars with thin straps/clips - tarp, pole(s), pegs, bit of tyvek, pillow, schnoz, and mat. And yes I do wear a thin baselayer in bed - preferably those bam leggings with the fluffy rabbit's tail on....

[ScotRoutes]

As tight as it will possibly go.

As above, I try to unpack it as soon as I have somewhere suitable and let it breath as long as possible.

The theory of wearing additional layers in the bag/under the quilt is sound but it can delay/prevent the down fully lofting and can, in extreme circumstances, result in getting the down damp as any dew will form in it.

[Charliecres]

I squish as hard as poss and deploy ASAP for max loft. Seems to work. Depending on company I’ll wear all my clothes or just a merino negligee.

[whitestone]

As I've posted elsewhere (and probably too often ) I use a PHD Minim 200 with a Cumulus 150 quilt for the cooler times of year and from a formula posted by Gian the loft works out as roughly the same as a -6C bag. I can get these, a Schnozzle inflator bag and an Exped Winterlite mat plus a PHD lightweight down duvet in a Exped large dry bag (13 litre) with room to spare. At a bivy I get the bag & quilt out ASAP and let them loft in their own time so it may be twenty minutes before I get in.

Remember that the EN 13537 ratings use a dummy with a thermal layer (actually a track suit) so wearing your pyjamas is fine It also helps keep the inside of the bag clean and free from body sweat and odours.

Edit: our various down bags and quilts live completely uncompressed, not even in the "storage" bag some manufacturers supply.

[restlessshawn]

I have 2 snug pack synthetic bags which fit in either 13 or 8 dry bags on my bars , quite compressed. I like to just pack my bag with nothing else with it for simplicity

[Jurassic pusher]

I squash mine down so tight and then sit on it to squash it some more, I wondered why I`m always fricken freezing!
After reading this thread a re think is in order, a nice big dry bag required.

[TheBrownDog]

My quilt and underquilt (and down jacket and hat if Im taking them) go into an Exped drybag with a bleed valve and side compression straps (sorry about the giant picture there ...) I think its about 18l but once I get everything in there and sit on it, and compress it down, it's about 13l and a very tight little package that would be useful in hand to hand combat if needed.

I give it as much time as possible to loft, and never had any issues. I reckon that as long as you keep your down kit stored uncompressed, it lofts faster and more fully than if you store it even slightly compressed. Ive also had cheaper down bags that take ages to come back, and better quality ones, as Im lucky enough to have now, that just take shape better.

[benp1]

I can get my quilt, bivi and mat in a tapered alpkit dry bag

I'll happily compress a bag but it lives uncompressed when not being used (I have 5 bags and a quilt kept like this)

[ericrobo]

TLS

Stu mentioned a schnozzle bag (schnozzel) which was a new one on me, so I ended up having a word with the google...

I have a Klymit Cush pillow (not the sleeping mat, similarly very confusingly named.... why oh why )

It weighs 96 g

Exped Schnozzel bag weighs 54g

Why not use the Schnozzel bag to put the sleeping bag in, it’s waterproof, then use it as a pillow ?
Any issues here ?

Saving 42g

It won’t inflate my Klymit Inertia X-Lite but that’s no problem.

TLS

[whitestone]

Eric, the Schnozzel(le) bag is pretty big, a quick search reveals that it's 43 litres in size - that's a big pillow It's also much lighter and possibly more delicate material than the normal dry bag so you wouldn't really want to use it as a primary bag but it's fine as an extra protective layer inside your dry bag.

I just use one of my dry bags filled with whatever spare clothing and slip a lightweight buff over it to provide a softer material against my head.

[ScotRoutes]

An Exped pillow is one of my luxury items.

[Fat tyre kicker]

I'll have to check the size of my w/proof stuffsack (packed away at the mo)...
But as my winter bag is a Buffalo super bag it's like carting a small corpse round

[benp1]

I used to use a thermarest pump sack (the big yellow one)

I moved to the neoair pump - smaller, lighter, easier - win!!

[restlessshawn]

I use the schnozzle in my seat pack for clothes and then as a pillow with some clothes in and a buff over it. Works alright just don’t fill it up!

[Mbnut]

I have a 15L Ortlieb handlebar pack. iI tend to put an extra twist on the closures so I guess around 13L.

My Enlightened Quilt which is rated to -1 goes in and fills half but I then get my Rig7 tarp with pegs etc, Borahgear bivy bag, large Neoair Xlite mat with mini pump in. Then in go my warm hat and lightweight down jacket.

At which point a bit of muscle is employed to squeeze the lot in tight before twiddling up the end good and tight.

I reckon at this point the quilt is squashed down to around 6L.

I tend to tumble the quilt with my arms when I get it out and give it a bit of time to loft.

I did get it into a 2.7L saddle bag the other day..... pigging hard work though and I didn't like doing it.

At home it is stored loose and gets a playful tumble every now and again for no other reason than pleasure.

[RIP]

Yeah tried the schnozzle-as-pillow ploy a while ago - it was like resting your head on a mini water-bed! Most un-nerving. Couldn't get it to hold air overnight either. I've tried all sorts of pillow ideas - clothes-in-stuffsac didn't work for me, hence wouldn't work inside schnozzle either.

The Exped H/L pillow is only 40g and as Ben says is well worth having. But the first pillow I tried was an Exped pillowpump - pretty neat (pumps your airbed then itself) but heavy-ish at 130g or summat. So I swapped that for an Exped mini-pump (hard to find) at 40g and an Exped H/L pillow at 40g. Finally found a schnozzle (which everyone else was raving about at the time) so bought that as well, because it pumps much faster than the mini-pump, and it's now paired with the H/L pillow. Downside is I've re-gained 16g there of course in exchange for the speed . Clear as mud eh. There'll be a quiz about this later...

Next question is how do you install your pillow . After much experimentation, I now zip up my fleece, shove the pillow up inside to the neck end, then slide the whole thing down over my mat at the head end. It works a treat and the pillow stays put however much I wriggle around during the night.

TLS - indeed, but tempered by a little luxury at my grand old age.

[RIP]

"playful tumble every now and again for no other reason than pleasure" - I keep asking Mrs Perrin for one of those but to no avail . Actually, am interested to hear you say that, because I quite frequently wheel the bag out onto the bed at home and just lie in it for 5 minutes or so, luxuriating.

2.7L! That's pretty damn impressive Nige. Surely at that density it acts like a black hole, sucking in everything around it, never to be seen again.

[javatime]

Pillow installation... I use a cheapy from Poundland slid into a buff, then secure it to the mattress with a strap threaded through the buff and tight around the mattress. Shock cord also works but I am normally carrying the strap anyway for emergency luggage.or to stop the bike rolling around in the train

[ScotRoutes]

The Exped pillow has little loops so you can attach a piece of elastic cord and loop that around your mat.

If I'm using a sleeping bag and not a quilt the pillow usually goes inside the sleeping bag. Stops it moving around.