Quilt fixing. Why?

Do you connect your quilt to your mat?

  • Never

    Votes: 18 56.3%

  • Sometimes

    Votes: 11 34.4%

  • Always

    Votes: 2 6.3%

  • One side only

    Votes: 1 3.1%
  • Total voters
    32
Mole

Mole

Thru Hiker
Reading the Cumulus thread regarding connecting quilts to mats.


I don't feel the need to connect quilt to mat at all.
Seems to me it creates more issues than it solves (how to, setup faff each camp, restriction in use) and negates many advantages of a quilt.

I.e freedom of movement, sitting up with quilt around me, easy venting, easily wearing quilt before/after sleeping and if needing to nip out in the night.
I don't fix my quilt to the bed at home. I don't fix my sleeping bag down either.
If it's done to stop draughts, then IMO your quilt is too narrow or you need batwings like on the Rayway quilt.

Convince me otherwise?:bear:


I describe how I use mine on another 'rant' here:
http://forums.outdoorsmagic.com/showthread.php/62239-Quilt-fixing-by-an-experienced-user

As for having the edges of the quilt under the mat!o_O
 
Shewie

Shewie

Chief Slackpacker
Staff member
Strapless for me, I can see why some bother but it takes away some of the flexibility for me.
 
Mole

Mole

Thru Hiker
I have a couple of cinch cords from side to side of the quilt under me, but they aren't attached to or around the mat. I just cinch them up to help keep the edges under me if it's colder.
 
Enzo

Enzo

Thru Hiker
I don't attach, but can see why you would, to stop your perhaps undersized mat from pinging out from under you
 
Teepee

Teepee

Thru Hiker
Shirley, fixing the quilt creates a void? I've never tried it, have considered it (for a few seconds) before when spindrift was flying around the shelter and laying on the bed, quickly realising it would create as many additional problems with voids, gaps and discomfort.

Tuck the quilt under the mat?. ...:o o::wacky:
 
Padstowe

Padstowe

Thru Hiker
I used to connect the katabatic quit to the mat in winter when I first got it 7yrs ago, with the cord & mitten hook set up it has but tend to just tighten the straps under me if needed now.
So do i click sometimes then?
 
craige

craige

Thru Hiker
Not for me. Only time I ever think it'd be worthwhile is if I'm lying on very uneven ground feel like I might roll... then I get a giggle thinking how I'd end up wrapped up in a quilt with my pad on top of me and no way out.
 
WilliamC

WilliamC

Thru Hiker
Our twin Zpacks quilt we connect at the centre of the head end (i.e. between our necks) to stop a draft getting in between the two of us when we move but never the sides. The EE Accomplice has a neck baffle (as does the new version of the Zpacks twin) so we never have to connect that at all.
theoctagon said:
Never when just using the quilt alone, in winter I have attached the overquilt to stop that sliding around/off
Click to expand...
Our winter synthetic overquilt attaches directly to the down quilt under it.
 
Clare

Clare

Thru Hiker
Marco said:
I could not agree more. The need for straps in general are a symptom of a too narrow quilt. Making a quilt narrower in order to make it lighter is false economy.
Click to expand...

This is probably the reason. When I turn I get draughts. With the fixing system in the Cumulus thread I can fix just at hip level or higher if I want to or not at all or just on one side. It's still going to be less constricting than a bag.
 
Mole

Mole

Thru Hiker
Clare said:
.... It's still going to be less constricting than a bag.
Click to expand...

That's what I don't get. If the quilt is attached to the mat, for me that would be more restricting than a bag I can move around/sit up in etc. I tried it in the early days of using mine and found it a PITA.

I can understand tying down in with a hefty winter quilt like the thicker katabatic type. But really, seems the main reason for one like that is to save weight as many other advantages are lost due to the need to attach.
 
ZenTrekker

ZenTrekker

Section Hiker
Firstly @Mole I don't have to convince you of anything.

Fixing or not fixing or even partially fixing a quilt is all down to personal preference.

There is no right or wrong way.
 
Fair Weather Camper

Fair Weather Camper

Thru Hiker
Given that I probably use a down sleeping bag as a quilt almost 80% of the time , I probably should get on with making an actual quilt with the clima-shield i got from Annie, and the fairly funky fabric, procured from rip stop by the roll.

I intend to make it a true oblong, with fabric only - 4" extensions down the two long sides, for tucking under, and a sleeved draw cord to cinch top and bottom if its proper cold.

Will make sure its wide enough to keep my wrigglesome form covered enough.

The true oblong shape will make it good, for folding in various ways, to facilitate yoga practice.

Because its all synthetic i'm thinking it will mostly be for potentially wetter times, and more likely, cycling trips.

Also going to put teensy loops at the corners of my skirt-towel, so that i can secure that with shock cord running under the mat - the ridges will stop it moving up and down - then i can use that as an undersheet between shoulders and knees - much nicer if you're sleeping :bear: in hot weather than direct on a sleepmat.
 
Enzo

Enzo

Thru Hiker
If its that cold, to me it makes sense to add 6" to the width and make it a bag, or at least make it zip/snappable up. 50- 100g to banish sub zero drafts without the fiddling of straps or other Band-Aids.
 
Mole

Mole

Thru Hiker
ZenTrekker said:
Firstly @Mole I don't have to convince you of anything.

Fixing or not fixing or even partially fixing a quilt is all down to personal preference.

There is no right or wrong way.
Click to expand...

Sure. It's not that serious.

But preferences usually have a reasoning behind them? I wrote about mine, and asked about others. The "convince me" was a light hearted invitation to anyone to put their reasoning for their preference to attach. Not a personal demand to any one person.

Also put the survey to see what people do.

I guess this thread isn't for you...
 
ZenTrekker

ZenTrekker

Section Hiker
Mole said:
Sure. It's not that serious.

But preferences usually have a reasoning behind them? I wrote about mine, and asked about others. The "convince me" was a light hearted invitation to anyone to put their reasoning for their preference to attach. Not a personal demand to any one person.

Also put the survey to see what people do.
Click to expand...

I've read your post on OM also. I think you need to distinguish between fixing a quilt underneath the sleeping mat and fixing it underneath your body (and on top of the sleeping mat). They are very different and I think you may have given the impression, to me anyway, that fixing a quilt to a sleeping mat means fixing it underneath the sleeping mat. The former does seem self-defeating, the latter is a possibility when . . .

1. The quilt is nearing its temperature limit and/or
2. You are a 'thrasher' and regularly kick the quilt off even if its Siberia outside

Because I'm a bit of a thrasher, I tend to secure just one side of the quilt (on top of the mat, not underneath) and leave the side I get into free. That way I know its going to stay put but I still have all the advantages of the quilt and its just like getting into bed at night. After all we don't jump into bed and pull the whole quilt off do we? (well if I did I would be a dead man!) we tend to to get in from the side.

The other advantage to a quilt that you don't really mention is that there is no wasted insulation below you thus saving weight and money for an equivalent warmth rating. So strapping a quilt to a mat all the way round is still better than using a sleeping bag (IMHO).

Finally if I do strap all of my quilt to the mat, I have a system that allows me to very quickly undo 2 toggles and I can flick the whole thing off me. As for sitting up, well I don't
 
Mole

Mole

Thru Hiker
ZenTrekker said:
I've read your post on OM also. I think you need to distinguish between fixing a quilt underneath the sleeping mat and fixing it underneath your body (and on top of the sleeping mat). They are very different and I think you may have given the impression, to me anyway, that fixing a quilt to a sleeping mat means fixing it underneath the sleeping mat. The former does seem self-defeating, the latter is a possibility when . . .

1. The quilt is nearing its temperature limit and/or
2. You are a 'thrasher' and regularly kick the quilt off even if its Siberia outside

Because I'm a bit of a thrasher, I tend to secure just one side of the quilt (on top of the mat, not underneath) and leave the side I get into free. That way I know its going to stay put but I still have all the advantages of the quilt and its just like getting into bed at night. After all we don't jump into bed and pull the whole quilt off do we? (well if I did I would be a dead man!) we tend to to get in from the side.

The other advantage to a quilt that you don't really mention is that there is no wasted insulation below you thus saving weight and money for an equivalent warmth rating. So strapping a quilt to a mat all the way round is still better than using a sleeping bag (IMHO).

Finally if I do strap all of my quilt to the mat, I have a system that allows me to very quickly undo 2 toggles and I can flick the whole thing off me. As for sitting up, well I don't
Click to expand...
Nah. Under the mat is definitely madness :p:angelic:
Well, in the OP, I did describe the OM post as "another rant" and talk about its subject matter in the final sentence. Maybe could have been clearer.

I'm not sure if I can add "one side only" as an option to the survey . I'll try. Or maybe @Shewie can do it?
 
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