Re-filling a sleeping bag with Down

[Osik]

Hey all

I've a WM Summerlite bag that is a few years old and is a little light on down for Tassie use. I was about to buy a new bag/quilt, but before pulling the trigger, thought that first I should consider purchasing a pound of down from tiergear, opening up the seams on my existing bag, and using the methods described in the quilt making threads for re-stuffing the bag, load the bag up with a heap more down.

The footbox looks a little tricky, but it seems that I should otherwise be able to leave the baffles intact.

Wondering if anyone has done this, and if so, are my thoughts on the right track?

[Strider]

When was it last washed? Dirty down makes a huge difference in inhibiting its capacity to loft.

[Osik]

Thanks for the quick reply Strider. I washed it recently with downwash, and whilst it helped a good deal, the bag was only ever designed to be taken to 0 deg. Recently camping on snow, with a thermal liner, bag definitely didn't cut it.

[undercling-mike]

Simon just started selling by the ounce so buying a bit of down for overstuffing the bag just got easier. The manufacturers usually only recommend around a 3-4 ounce Max overstuff due to the fixed baffle height but that is quite a lot of extra down and should make the bag noitcably warmer.

The baffles that can be accessed from the zip should be easy to open and re-seal but the footbox and hood might be harder. I'd say give it a go and let us know how it turns out.

[Strider]

Perhaps speak to WM about the possibility of sending it back to them to add the overfill? Might even work out cheaper?

[andrewa]

Nup, if you have some basic facility to use a sewing maching, just DIY. A very easy project.

If any problems, please ask me.

A

[GPSGuided]

A question. If one is to re-fill a down bag, wouldn't it be better to replace rather than to supplement the old with new down? In other words, better to remove the old down completely and then refill the compartments. Right?

[andrewa]

It depends on the down quality that was originally in the bag. WM bags use good quality down, so I would just top it up if it wasnt warm enough. Simonm at Tier gear sells down.

The only reason to refill a bag is if the down has deteriorated, but such an issue is only likely to happen in an old bag, which will have been made with older heavier fabrics in the first place, and you then have to question whether it is worth keeping the shell, with the associated weight disadvantage.

A

[Osik]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. I've just ordered some down and thread (thanks simonm!). I ordered a whole pound as I wouldn't mind trying a few other small projects (ie pants/vest). It's been over ten years since I last touched a sewing machine, but will take photos and post the results here. The bathroom will no doubt become the feather quarantine station.
Thanks too andrewa for your offer of assistance should I require. Looking forward to the project already.

[andrewa]

For what's worth, here's a link as to how to fill a down quilt without having to be locked in the bathroom.

viewtopic.php?f=53&t=7919&p=175761&hilit=Andrewa#p104011

A

[Osik]

Hey All

My down order arrived a couple of weeks ago from tiergear but life's been busy so it wasn't until yesterday that I got round to refilling my bag. Was surprisingly easy, especially after following the link that andrewa posted. The steps I followed more or less follow the last link so I won't re-post the details in any great length but happy to answer questions.

I initially created a down collecting device by taping some shadecloth over the end of the vacuum cleaner nozzle. The tape was wrapped around until I could slide a cardboard tube out of an alfoil roll onto the nozzle with a half decent seal. I filled each baffle in turn by unpicking half the seam along the zipper of the baffle, filling the cardboard tube with down, pushing the down into the baffle, and taping it shut. I filled every baffle from the top of the zip to the bottom (decided to leave the footbox and hood as my feet and head tend to overheat anyway, especially if a beanie or socks are worn). I then resewed the seam before repeating the process on the other side of the zip.

I didn't bother weighing the amount of down going into each baffle but it felt that it was pretty consistent as the tube would only take so much down before the vacuum lost the power to draw more in. I added approximately 150grams of down to the bag, I forgot to take a 'before' photo, but the difference was massive, and I've plenty of down left for other projects. Best of all, almost no mess, a few stray feathers. No quarantine required!

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the encouragement to give this a go, pics below.

Last edited by Osik on Mon 18 Aug, 2014 10:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Osik]

[beean]

Nice work mate, looks like a really neat job.

It might be worth grabbing the down through the material and moving it around to distribute the new stuff a bit.

[simonm]

Great work. Sounds like it went smoothly.

[Orion]

Did you remove the old down? If so, how did you do that?

[Osik]

The existing down looked pretty alright (I had washed it in downwash and dried to slowly + dryer with tennis balls recently) so I left it in.
If you wanted to remove the old down, I suspect the easiest way would be simply vacuuming it out.

Saw that last night was going to get rather chilly so tested the bag out, definitely warmer so success all round. I suspect I've caught the diy bug, already looking forward to new projects.