Altering Down Sleeping Bag

Hey, all, I'm kinda new to the forum, and I really enjoy reading the posts. I looked through a couple pages of searches, but didn't find what I was looking for.

Has anyone ever tried to remove the down from the bottom of a sleeping bag (to make it lighter)? Would it really be significantly lighter (as in 6 or 8 oz.)?

Thanks to Tango61's response to Anna, regarding the down quilt instructions (http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html). I started wondering if it would be easier to remove the down in a purchased bag rather than make a quilt.

In the winter, I really like having my bag's hood. However, as I understand from the article, we crush the air space beneath us, making the insulation somewhat un-insulating. Big Agnes bags, I think, already do this.

Just curious.

Unless the bottom of the bag has been baffled in such a way to be separate from the top of the bag, or you somehow manage to find a way to do that yourself, the top down will merely spread out and migrate to the bottom - you will be forever shaking it back into the top of the bag before use. Less trouble to buy or make a quilt, or a big agnes bag.

I haven't removed the down from a bag's bottom but I did move it up on one of my bags.

I pushed all of the down on the bottom of the bag upwards and then sewed the tube shut. This resulted in a rectangle on the bottom of the bag that was about 1 foot wide and 3 feet long that had almost no down in it.

This made the bag warmer but, of course, did not save any weight.

Thanks, everybody! You know, DJ2, that sounds like a neat idea. I'm handy enough with a sewing machine to do just that. Hmmmmmm. You're right that it would reduce weight, but warmth might be nicer to have.

UncleJoe,
Take a look at this link:

http://www.tothewoods.net/StuffingDown.html


JustJeff shows a way to put down into the quilt so I think you could use a similar means to extract it from the underside of the bag.

Tango61

Part of the issue is sewing up the cuts or seams that needed to be opened in order to remove the down.

When you are making the quilt, in the first place, you haven't cut the nylon or undone a seam where you are inserting the down.

To me, that is the biggest problem in doing this. Making sure that after you are done, down doesn't leak out and the bag isn't unduly weakened.