Sleeping bag with pad

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duane

Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
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Location
Keene, NH
It’s a long story but I’m in the market for a 30 - 40 degree sleeping bag. Also, I’m tired of rolling off of my sleeping pad so I thought I’d investigate bags with a sleeve for a pad or some sort of method for attaching the pad. Any ideas?

I’ve looked at Big Agnes but I haven’t found any others.
 
When I first started sleeping in a hammock (Hennessey), I had trouble keeping the pad from squirting out and ending up on top of me. So I made a lightweight overbag from an old thin sheet sewn together on two sides to make a bag. Both sleeping bag and pad go in together and stay where they belong. Then I discovered Big Agnes bags with sleeves. I have two of them now and they work very well, except for sometimes chilly sides where the insulated part meets the thin fabric of the sleeve, but I do not consider this as a big problem.

If your pad top is very slippery, there was at one time a spray that provided a non-sticky frictional surface to the pad. I do not know if it is still available.
 
For the last couple years when I hammock camp, I slide the sleeping pad into the sleeping bag. I find this keeps it from slipping around on me in the night.
 
Here is a youtube video that names a few: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YD-WFoLW50, but quite frankly I would not want to buy any one of them. Instead, I would focus on getting a good quality lightweight sleeping bag and I would think how to attach lightweight elastic to my bag and run it around the pad. I have done a little bit of work on my gear and I know that some other backpackers do it a lot, usually in order to increase versatility while maintaining low weight.

For example, if you decided to use 3/32 shock cord or 5/8 button hole elastic I think it would require minimal modifications to your sleeping bag.
 
I switched from a sleeping bag to a quilt. It came with 2 elastic straps that attach to the quilt and go under your pad to keep it in place. I've never used them as sleeping directly on the pad keeps it in place and I much prefer the quilt now to a sleeping bag in any temp except winter cold. My quilt is from Enlighten Equipment, though there are others like UGQ, that make custom quilts to your spec.
 
30-40 is still quilt range. Most quilts have the option for pad straps as VTskier said. Another option is a UL bivy. On the rare occasion I go to ground I use a Borah Gear UL bivy to keep everything together and eliminate drafts.
 
It’s a long story but I’m in the market for a 30 - 40 degree sleeping bag. Also, I’m tired of rolling off of my sleeping pad so I thought I’d investigate bags with a sleeve for a pad or some sort of method for attaching the pad. Any ideas?

I’ve looked at Big Agnes but I haven’t found any others.

If you're now using a mummy bag, perhaps just switching to a rectangular bag will allow you to roll over inside the bag without rolling off the pad. Sierra Trading Post is one place that has good prices on bags and pads.
 
It’s a long story but I’m in the market for a 30 - 40 degree sleeping bag. Also, I’m tired of rolling off of my sleeping pad so I thought I’d investigate bags with a sleeve for a pad or some sort of method for attaching the pad. Any ideas?

I’ve looked at Big Agnes but I haven’t found any others.


The Big Agnes system works really well. IIRC most BA bags have something to keep an air pillow in one place as well.

As I have grown long in the tooth, I have become much more of a side sleeper. The larger chest area makes this possible without pinching the insulation.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I ended up buying a Marmot Never Winter 30 degree bag with four loops sewn into the sides (probably intended as a way to hang the bag). I used the loops to rig some straps from the loop on one side, then under the pad and attached to the loop on the other side. It worked very well. I also tried putting the pad inside the bag but it just wasn’t comfortable. The bag was on sale at EMS in Peterborough.

Thanks again!
 
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