hello everyone,

I recently bought the REI halo +25 bag, but i have one concern...

when i solo, i sleep in a Nemo Gogo, which commonly gets condensation on the inside. this was never a huge problem with my synthetic. i would wake up in the morning and the top of my bag would be damp but it never soaked through and it dried quickly.

from what ive heard, getting your down bag wet is the last thing you want to do... is this a something to really worry about (the amount of water i was mentioning)?

if so, is there tricks that any of you use to prevent this? ie bag cover

Thanks

I don't know about the REI Halo, but most down sleeping bags (at least the higher end models) have a really good DWR (durable water repellent) finish. You can test this at home with a spray bottle. Spray a section of the outer shell of your sleeping bag with a fine spray. Watch it for about half an hour and see if it soaks in--it shouldn't! If it does soak in, spray the outer shell with a good DWR (Durable Water Repellent) treatment (see next paragraph) and dry the bag in the dryer (low heat).

When it's time to clean your bag, carefully follow the directions on the Western Mountaineering website. The instructions include how to renew the DWR finish.

Try to get more ventilation into your tent--don't close it up! Here's a good article on managing condensation in a single wall tent.

In addition, be sure the sleeping bag and all insulating clothing stay dry in your pack. Inevitably at some point you will encounter a heavy all-day rain and/or slip and fall during a stream ford. Pack covers will not keep your pack dry under either circumstance. A poncho or Packa won't keep your pack dry either when it's off your back or in case of immersion. Stuff sacks are not waterproof--dump one into the bathtub and see what happens! Either use a waterproof dry bag or a waterproof pack liner (be sure the closure is waterproof). Many use just the pack liner (check it daily for holes) and no stuff sack. I personally prefer to use a dry bag for my sleeping bag and another for my insulating clothing, and ditch the pack liner. Either method will work.

In addition, don't unpack your pack during a rain until you have the tent up, so you have a dry place to unload it. This means keeping the tent at the top of your pack or in a side pocket so you can get at it without exposing the interior of your pack to the rain. Do the reverse when packing up, and have a way to keep your wet tent separated from the dry stuff inside your pack.

Like OM mentioned, it does sound like you need to work on getting the ventilation working on your tent. Even then a little moisture on the bag surface is no big deal; you just need to get it dried out every day if possible. Sometimes you have to take a lunch break in the sun and pull the thing out for 30 min or so.

All of my down bags are somewhere between 15 and 40 years old. The main thing you want to avoid on trial is to have the down completely soaked. When it is like this it has very little R-value (no loft) as it stays in wet clumps and is VERY difficult to get dry. I had an experience where the bottom third of my bag was soaked. It was a difficult trip and there were a couple of days where we were hiking up to our hips in quickly flowing water. Best to avoid the kind of situation where your sleeping bag gets really wet and when the opportunity presents itself put the bag out in the sun.

Because of low foot clearance in my MYOG tarptent, I routinely pull my DriDucks jacket over the foot of my bag.