Questions

“I need the benefit of your expertise, por favor.

Last week the boyfriend and another guy and Cindylu and I went hiking in Grand Canyon. We took out nice down sleeping bags. The moisture in the air soaked the bags on the last night even though it did not rain.

So... what should we have done to keep the bags dry? Cindylu's bag was wet even though she was sleeping under a tarp. Does a bivy type thing fix this? If so, what kind? I looked last night at synthetic bags but they are so big I could not get one in the pack. Does primaloft squish smaller than polarguard?

Thanks in advance for your comments, Mary”

“ive had a polarguard for a while, they are great, but more weight? Is it worth it?? I just invested in a down sleeping bag.”

“havnt used it yet but also i do have abivy!”

“Wow-
Questions to you Mary-
Were you bags rated for much lower comfort level than the air temp you ran into? Were you down near the river?
I am grasping at straws but I think sweat may have condensed on your bags,or a fog may have formed near the river and got the surface of the surface of the bags.
I have a bivy-it ain't the answer. Mine sweats up from my breath something fierce when it is cold.”

“Do you use a small, compression bag to hold your down sleeping bags? Some of them are water resistant. You might use a plastic bag as an outer cover.

Paul”

“The bags are WM Ultralight--they are rated to 25 degrees. The low temp that night was probably 45. We were not cold but if we had had to stay out another night it would have been a bummer.”

“Should have got the Dry-Loft. Try treating the bag with a water-proofing. See what WM suggests.
I have a couple of bivys. My Mtn Hardwear is mesh at the hood, so condensation is not a problem. They are about $50.oo on sale.”

“Joshman , did you go on the hike from the approach trail to neals gep last weekend??”

“I just read up on Dry-loft. It seems it is not on the extremelights. They do say mine has DWR. Is there some kind of spray one might use to enhance the DWR?”

“Im going to add to the ??

How would every one go, Dryloft or not for all year bag 15 D. with a down bag?”

“If your bag has a DWR shell, I'd have to say that the moisture was most lilkely from your body. Sounds like the DWR may have prevented the escape and caused the buildup of moisture.

However, DWR is good with liquid water, but does it prevent moisture *vapor* from penetrating?

Then again, if EVERYONE's bags got wet, I'd tend to concur with the outside moisture theory. Wherever there's a high to low moisture gradient, the moisture will tend to permeate into anything that's drier than the ambient moisture.

I could just be rambling?!?!”

“I'm a little confused about where the water came from. Were the rest of you folks out under the stars? It sounds more like condensation from dewfall than from perspiration or exhalation. (but it got Cindy Lu even under her tarp... ) Am I still missing something? PROBably, *G*.

I'm sure some spray-on DWR would help. It's usually a good idea in general. The Western Mountaineering folks should be able to suggest something suitable.

Dryloft is a type of light-duty Gore-Tex membrane, correct? My moldy old Purple Haze has a Versatech shell, but that's just a 'water resistant' high thread-count fabric.”

“Maryphyl in your post you said "The low temp that night was probably 45. We were not cold but if we had had to stay out another night it would have been a bummer"

A lot of folks (and a couple interesting poaragraphs on WM's web site) suggest that down really DOESN'T lose all its insulating capabilities when wet. SO, my question is, did you NOTICE that your bags had lost some insulating ability, or, were you CONCERNED that they had?

I ask because I have a couple down bags & (fortunately) have never had them get very wet (I pack them is one of those waterproof compression sacks inside my pack, and also usually carry a bivy sack).

Same q for anyone else who has had a wet down bag... how bad was it?”

“The ground was super saturated--it had rained all day. Hank was in his tent with another kind of down bag. I think he stayed dry. Cindy was under the edge of her tarp with the "door" open. Robert and I just slept outside. Cindy's bag is the same as ours.”

“hmmmmmm... the plot thickens.”

“Yes! I had a military dawn and feathers bag. With the cover it weighed 13 pounds. New to BP-ing, with a cheap tent, it seemed to rain inside the tent as much as outside. And the water was flowing through the tent as well. It was very cold, windy, and I was quite worried about hyperthermia, but the bag kept me warm.

In the morning to get out of the mtn.s before serious flooding, I had to ditch the bag. It must have weighed 40 pounds with all the water in it.

Paul”

“We were not cold. We got rained on last Oct-(on the last night again) and REALLY soaked Robert's bag--not mine. He was warm then too. The problem lies in putting the wet bag in it's stuff sack and then it is just like rolling up the laundry for ironing--the moisture gets evenly distributed throughout the bag. I got a really wet one a couple of years ago too. It was a warm dry day the next day and it dried right out. I was not cold that time either come to think. Hmmmm maybe I don't have such a big problem.”

“This title did not work very well for me either!!”