Sleeping Bags
Sleeping bags are the most important piece of camping and survival equipment after your tent or other shelter.
When you’re out camping, one-third of your time will be spent inside your sleeping bag. So if you don’t get the right kind of camping sleeping bag, you’re going to have some uncomfortable and maybe even sleepless nights.
A sleeping bag has to conserve your body heat while allowing natural perspiration to escape in the form of water vapor. So it has to be insulated, yet still be airy and comfortable to sleep in.
Basically, there are down sleeping bags — which use goose down or duck down as their filling — and synthetic sleeping bags which use light pieces of plastic or foam to fill the baffles (pockets that hold the fluffy filling in place). Both filling materials perform the same function of trapping air, which is then warmed up by your body. So, as long as that warm air stays trapped and close to you, you get to feel all warm and snug.
Don’t Go Camping With an Inferior Sleeping Bag!
If you feel too warm, you can open your sleeping bag. Unzip the thing bit to get a bit of ventilation and allow your body sweat to exape as vapor. The best sleeping bags have zips which can undo both at the head and at the feet, yet can stay closed in the middle if that is what you want.
That way you can fine-tune the warmth to your personal your comfort level.
Down sleeping bags have been the traditional choice of serious campers for a long time because down has tremendous loft. Those tiny feathers fluff up to trap lots of air and keep the heat from escaping. This is because they compress to a very small size when packed and they are light weight to carry. Down bags are also expensive, but most experienced campers agree it is money well spent.
Just think of your camping sleeping bag as a long-term investment, because if you look after it properly, your sleeping bag it will look after you for many years. Most of my sleeping bags have lasted for more than ten years. But you have to look after them.
On the down side (was that a pun?)… If your down sleeping bag gets wet, the tiny feathers inside just clump together and are no longer fluffy. They don’t trap warm air any more. Wet down or feathers won’t keep you warm again until they dry out completely. So if you are out in extreme conditions some place in the wild, such as mountain or snow camping, you could die of cold before your wet sleeping bag gets a chance to dry out.
Some sleeping bags use a mixture of feathers and down. The more feathers in the mix, the cheaper (and less effective) that sleeping bag will be. If you want a genuine down bag, read the label very carefully to learn what’s in it, and do buy a good brand.
But if you can’t afford the best, and many of us can’t, a good synthetic sleeping bag will be better than a cheap bag filled with some inferior down and feather mixture.
Synthetic-fill sleeping bags can keep you warm whether they are wet or dry, which is their big plus. They are cheaper than most down bags as well… and that is another plus. The down side (ooh, sorry for the pun) for synthetic bags is that they are heavier and bulkier than down sleeping bags. That’s fine of you’re car camping or in an a RV or a camping trailer (a caravan); but if you’re backpacking, then a down bag will almost certainly be your bag of choice.
Sleeping bags are manufactured in several basic shapes, with minor variants of course. The warmest and most efficient kind is the “mummy” shaped sleeping bag, which is wide for the body and narrower for the legs. The bottom of the bag gets taller to accommodate your feet, and there is usually an adjustable padded hood to prevent heat loss from your head, and sometimes a draft excluder that adds extra insulation around your shoulder area.
The cheaper and less efficient sleep bags are straight rectangular shape and have no hood. Neither do they taper for the feet. The zip can be completely undone and the sleeping bag opened up like a duvet or eiderdown.
A rectangular sleeping bag can be used that way on a normal bed, with or without bedsheets, in the home or camper trailer (caravan). Or else two of these rectangular bags can be zipped together to make a double sleeping bag for a couple. You will also find there are ready-made double or twin sleeping bags, as well as children’s sleeping bags.
Just make sure the sleeping bag you decide on is going to be warm enough for the job, since a tent can get really cold at night – even in summer.
The ground below sucks away your body heat even through the tent floor or ground sheet. So a foam sleeping pad, camping cot or air mattress is a must. If you don’t have those, fold an extra blanket underneath your sleeping bag or lay out several layers of newspapers. They are a great insulator as long as they’re not wet.
I suggest you learn to hang your sleeping bag out on a washing line to air every day after getting up. This way the dampness from your sweat at night will have a chance to evaporate, and the bag will smell sweeter. Just remember to bring the bag indoors by lunchtime, or if it is likely to rain!
Sleeping bags also need to be washed (by hand, in the bath) and hung on a line to dry once every year or two.
Now it is time to think about a sleeping bag liner.