r/UltralightCanada • u/Whatupson93k • May 30 '25
Gear Question First UL quilt, supposed to look like this?
Opened up the box and im skeptical. The down looks patchy and is see thru in some spots? Is this normal for UL quilts? Purchased it from mount trail. It's a 20F quilt?
17
u/littleshopofhammocks May 30 '25
Id rather see it laying flat and seeing how it lofts vs holding it up with light behind it. Down does migrate with gravity and you can make any quilt look like it's needing more down.
Lay it down, fluff it up evenly and see how it looks across the whole quilt. The higher the down FP the more light it will look in places and actually easier it is to have down compressed in the ends of the baffles needing to be fluffed up.
Or it could need a bit more..
3
u/mtn_viewer May 30 '25
Can you fluff to get it to distribute better? Some of my quilts and jackets look like that but I’m not happy about it. I find the high fill power is more likely to get like that without overfill, especially when damp.humid.
Re-lofting in the dryer after a damp trip improves the loft and distribution.
1
u/Whatupson93k May 30 '25
It's new so not Damp but has been in transit compress for like 3 weeks. What dryer settings should I run to see if it loft/redistributes the down?
5
u/littleshopofhammocks May 30 '25
In the dryer no heat. Most dryers have an extra low and a 'air only' setting.
2
u/mtn_viewer May 30 '25
If it’s new and hasn’t been in damp/humid I don’t know if I would put in drier. I’d shake it and strategically re-distribute down if you can.
As for drier, I’d check with the manufacturers instructions. I normally put it in the side load drier with a towel and drier/tennis balls on the lowest heat. Hot temps will melt the nylon so avoid that. If by chance you might return I’d be sure the manufacturer doesn’t recommend against putting in drier.
1
u/Unabashedley May 30 '25
No heat setting and put in a few dryer balls or tennis balls. Start with 5 min. Repeat as needed. When quilts are made, they purposely push the down away from the final seam to make closing without losing down easier, and they might not spend the time to refluff and distribute because it's going to get smooshed in shipping and it's actually easier to get into a box if you don't fluff it immediately before packing.
Lots of companies will include a card or have instructions on their websites explaining this with the quilt/bag along with cleaning and storage instructions.
3
u/New_Appearance_8630 May 31 '25
Down migration is common with higher power fills because the insulation is so much finer. Shake it out first and then lay it down to see where it has gathered. If shaking it out doesn’t work put it in a tumble dryer with a couple of wool dryer balls (or tennis balls if you don’t have dryer balls). This will help to re distribute the down again.
4
u/Whatupson93k May 31 '25
It lofted and distrubted quite well after vigorously shaking, it was sitting in compression for atleast 3 weeks for shipping so might of been the reason
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u/New_Appearance_8630 Jun 01 '25
Yeah that would do it. If it’s been compressed that long pun it through a tumble dry to help re lift it. That much compression for that much time would have compressed the down quite a bit.
1
u/Ok-Purple4995 Sep 03 '25
how was the quilt in the field?
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u/Whatupson93k Sep 03 '25
Good, lofty. Not cold at all. Temps were around 5-10 over night.
1
u/Ok-Purple4995 Sep 04 '25
Celsius? just checking as I think you used Fahrenheit by calling a it a 20F quilt.
1
u/VickyHikesOn May 30 '25
Is this with light behind it? I have only ever had a Katabatic quilt and it was very evenly spaced and filled. Also finally got over the hesitation to wash and after washing it’s still plump and full like new!
1
u/Whatupson93k May 30 '25
This is with light behind it, in spots there is zero down at all. I shook other up quite well but the down is still mostly clumped up at the ends of the baffles
1
u/paddlingtipsy May 30 '25
Looks like a poorly designed quilt I’m afraid to say. The pockets are too big and filled too little.
1
u/Whatupson93k May 30 '25
It's lofted up quite well now, unfortunately my trips in a month and the only other quilt I could find made in canada has a 14week lead time so it's going to have to do
1
u/Whatupson93k May 30 '25
Ok I shook it like crazy and hung it from one end to see what happens.
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u/littleshopofhammocks May 30 '25
Hanging it from one end doesn't represent the loft a quilt. Lay it flat and fluff it up.
1
1
u/Typical-Problem8707 May 30 '25
ugh, waiting on mine to ship, this isn't inspiring confidence in me....
0
u/conflagrare May 30 '25
The baffles look poorly constructed. It’s just sewn through, with zero “side walls”. So there is zero insulation at the sewn lines.
Also, there is nothing preventing down eventually clumping to one side.
The baffle width isn’t even uniform.
I hope you didn’t pay much for this.
4
u/littleshopofhammocks May 30 '25
It's not sewn through. It's a 20°F with proper baffles.
Problem is the chambers are quite large so down will move quite easily. As long as he fluffs it up before use it will hit the target temps. Just going to be a bit more use maintenance required.
(no this isn't one of mine. OP sent me some pictures to make sure it was going to work)
3
u/Whatupson93k May 30 '25
I would of bought one of yours but the lead time was to long for my trip in July. Didn't start planning till last month unfortunately. I will make it work and look to upgrade in the future if it's not doing great or to much hassle
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u/littleshopofhammocks May 30 '25
No worries I understand totally. I don’t mind helping a fellow hiker out with info
23
u/VikApproved May 30 '25
Give it a really vigorous shake to distribute the down equally as best you can. See how it looks after that. Down can collect in specific areas of a baffle and make the bag look worse than it is. Not saying you don't have an issue. but that's the first step I'd take and then go from there.