Sleeping bag zip question

Roger said:

It was a severely secondhand ex US Army bag with a centre zip
which seems to me a much better proposition than a side zip if zipping
into another bag is not a high priority.

Up to a point. Put the zip in the middle and it's in the /best/ place
to leak heat, which it will do having split the baffles just where you
want the best continuous insulation coverage.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Roger said:

It was a severely secondhand ex US Army bag with a centre zip which
seems to me a much better proposition than a side zip if zipping
into another bag is not a high priority.

Up to a point. Put the zip in the middle and it's in the /best/
place to leak heat, which it will do having split the baffles just
where you want the best continuous insulation coverage.

Isn't a centre zip the best place if you're a side-sleeper?

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck

Chris Eilbeck said:

Isn't a centre zip the best place if you're a side-sleeper?

If you're canting the bag as well as you, arguably, but OTOH if you do
that then the differential fill applied to most sleeping bags comes to
bite you. Less on the base of typical bags as compressed insulation is
much, much less effective, and it's mainly there to deal with cold spots
where you move around ("top bags" with a mat sleeve dispense with the
bottom insulation altogether, leaving it to the mat, but that leaves a
large space for air to move around between the edges of the mat and your
body). So if you sleep on your side with a a centre zip in front, your
back will be relatively cold...

I often sleep on my side, prefer to rotate myself in the bag. Even
though it's one of ME's EXL body-hugging ones it usually seems to work
okay, though I do wake up with the bottom on the top every then and now...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

I often sleep on my side, prefer to rotate myself in the bag. Even
though it's one of ME's EXL body-hugging ones it usually seems to work
okay, though I do wake up with the bottom on the top every then and now...

I sleep on my side, sometimes rolling onto my front. I tend to rotate
within the bag. When I wake it is a game of hunt the zip. It is never
where I expect it to be...
--
Phil Cook, last hill: Angletarn Pikes via Beda Fell.
http://www.p-t-cook.freeserve.co.uk/May07/martin9.htm

Phil Cook said:

I sleep on my side, sometimes rolling onto my front. I tend to rotate
within the bag. When I wake it is a game of hunt the zip. It is never
where I expect it to be...

I can generally narrow that down to "not where I left it"... ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Phil Cook said:

I sleep on my side, sometimes rolling onto my front. I tend to rotate
within the bag. When I wake it is a game of hunt the zip. It is never
where I expect it to be...

I can generally narrow that down to "not where I left it"... ;-)

Pete.

More like 'I'm trapped!'.

Some years ago, got a Buffalo bag to use for sleeping in various dubious
halls etc. before rides. As a hall is generally 2-season at most and dirty,
a Buffalo bag could just be washed easily. I actually tried it in the shop,
as the sizes changed at 6'3" and I wanted to know if I'd fit in the smaller
one (the biggest one would have taken up almost all of a pannier).
Trouble is, it's a bit snug, the zip is rotational, so I wake up somewhat
constricted and can't even get an arm out, never mind find the zip.
I still don't understand why I can go caving and enjoy it but start to
panic when trapped in the bag (or even a cag. stuck a bit). Perhaps i
should wear a pothole.
--
Peter.
If you can do it today, you didn't put off enough yesterday.

PeterC said:

I still don't understand why I can go caving and enjoy it but start to
panic when trapped in the bag (or even a cag. stuck a bit). Perhaps i
should wear a pothole.

I like potting in part because it's so delightfully absurd. One
/expects/ it to be ridiculous, and indeed it is. Merely going to bed,
OTOH, should not hold such expectations!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

I like potting in part because it's so delightfully absurd. One
/expects/ it to be ridiculous, and indeed it is. Merely going to bed,
OTOH, should not hold such expectations!

Perhaps that should be: "Merely going to sleep, OTOH, ..."

--
Giles

Quoted message said:

Peter Clinch said:

I like potting in part because it's so delightfully absurd. One
/expects/ it to be ridiculous, and indeed it is. Merely going to bed,
OTOH, should not hold such expectations!

Perhaps that should be: "Merely going to sleep, OTOH, ..."

Damn, you beat me to it...
--
Peter.
If you can do it today, you didn't put off enough yesterday.

toad said:

IIRC didn't you bollock two rather fit looking lads for not having the
correct kit? Double standards?

I was once walking the Rhinogs in December, in sub-zero conditions and hail
showers, heavily kitted out and stopped for a nice cup of tea from my
flask...

....when a group of fell runners jogged past, wearing surprisingly flimsy
clothing and carrying hardly anything.

"Good luck to them" I thought. I wish I was that fit.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/
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