The Accurate Reloading Forums
Sleeping bags for the Artic or Alaska
25 November 2017, 02:48
AtkinsonSleeping bags for the Artic or Alaska
I have two 1950ish Eddie Bauer oversize sleeping bags Ive used for years, (they have 6 lbs of down in them) back when Bauer purchased down from wild geese nests collected by Eskimos for Bauer bags..These were damn expensive bags at about $500 back then, and they are still the best bags I've used in cold country. they are in great shape even though I seldom use them anymore as they are too warm for Idaho..The inside is clean as I used the wool liner in them but the outside needs cleaning.
So my question is how do you clean these bags without ruining the down and compacting it?
I also have two old Eddie Bauer jackets...Bauer today has gone mod and leaning towards the metro gang of liberals..what a shame.
Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120
rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
25 November 2017, 04:51
DonW28Send them to rainypass.com/down-services. $35 per bag plus return shipping. They do great work.
Don
Trust only those who stand to lose as much as you do when things go wrong.
25 November 2017, 05:58
raamwMost down clothing can be washed gentle cycle and low temperature fluff tumble dry. I have had friends who will throw a couple baseballs in the dry cycle to massage the item
NRA Life Member, ILL Rifle Assoc Life Member, Navy
25 November 2017, 08:35
medvedquote:
Originally posted by raamw:
Most down clothing can be washed gentle cycle and low temperature fluff tumble dry. I have had friends who will throw a couple baseballs in the dry cycle to massage the item
tennis balls work great for the cleaning. to dry them hang them no machine to dry down.
25 November 2017, 20:27
AtkinsonDonW28,
Thanks, I think I'll give the a try..
Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120
rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
25 November 2017, 20:44
TomPMy wife washes my down vest, but doesn't put it in the dryer. She hangs it on a chair in the back yard to air-dry.
TomP
Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right, when wrong to be put right.
Carl Schurz (1829 - 1906)
25 November 2017, 23:48
medvedquote:
Originally posted by TomP:
My wife washes my down vest, but doesn't put it in the dryer. She hangs it on a chair in the back yard to air-dry.
the way to do it.
26 November 2017, 19:47
butchlochey i still have one of those bags gentle soap in the bathtub and hang it out over the lines on a windy day
28 November 2017, 20:14
AtkinsonI hand wash jackets and vests but these bed rolls are huge and thick, the heaviest ever made. I would lhave to go to town to self clean them..and as they are the best ever made I would prefer to have them done professionally. I also have a Woods bag..These bags are actually too hot for Idaho in the dead of winter, in a wall tent, that folks keep burning at night.. I probably should sell them and buy a lighter bag..But Im pretty proud of them as they don't make like this anymore.
Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120
rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
02 December 2017, 07:08
Colin MastersHeartstrings are tough. Clean the bags and buy a marmot that you can abuse like a synthetic stocked rifle.
02 December 2017, 16:13
Bill/OregonShame about Eddie Bauer having gone urban/liberal on us so many years ago. I remember when the Seattle store actually sold guns.
There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.
– John Green, author
07 December 2017, 01:03
AtkinsonI should sell or trade at least one of these bags off, Have not used them for more than 15 years now..
Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120
rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
07 December 2017, 05:57
squeezenhopeRay, I also have a Woods three star. Not many of us around that know what that is. Like you I have not used it in years, but it is still in great shape.
12 December 2017, 06:56
~Arctic~The Woods Three Star was the "medium" weight, good for most winters, and the Five Star was the true heavy duty "Arctic" weight. I've slept in snowbanks with a 5 Star at minus 50 and been comfortable, but they're too hot for 0 degrees!
Still see some come up now and then on For Sale sites.
A stranger is a friend we haven't met
12 December 2017, 22:55
AtkinsonArtic,
I have a 3 star and a 5 star and two eddie Bauer bags, but at my present age, I won't be out in below zero weather...The bags you have seen for sale sold for how much or what were they priced..
I am thinking, I should sell three of mine or trade them for guns..but don't know where to start, guy at Bauer told me they would have to charge a $1000 today, they sold for $375 in the 1950s..Apparantly back then they purchased Polar goose down collected by the Eskimos from the nesting areas..interesting bit of history from days gone by..
Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120
rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
16 December 2017, 01:36
Fury01Best example of "content marketing" I have seen in a while. Brilliant!
"The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights."
~George Washington - 1789
06 January 2018, 07:31
~Arctic~Last time I saw a 5 Star for sale they were asking $800.
A stranger is a friend we haven't met
06 January 2018, 09:00
larryshoresI just bought a minus 25 bag today. Just shy of $1,000.
11 January 2018, 04:52
RedlanderTransition to Wiggy's bags, you'll never regret it.
If you are going to carry a big stick, you've got to whack someone with it at least every once in while.
14 January 2018, 01:27
Anjinquote:
Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Shame about Eddie Bauer having gone urban/liberal on us so many years ago. I remember when the Seattle store actually sold guns.
And it stocked really nice guns, too.
Norm
Norman Solberg
International lawyer back in the US after 25 years and, having met a few of the bad guys and governments here and around the world, now focusing on private trusts that protect wealth from them. NRA Life Member for 50 years, NRA Endowment Member from 2014, NRA Patron from 2016.
03 February 2018, 10:16
AtkinsonI have one Eddie Bauer oversize monster left for sale at $750 plus shipping. I am keeping the 3 star double size just in case.
Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120
rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
03 February 2018, 17:42
p dog shooterquote:
Transition to Wiggy's bags, you'll never regret it.
My brother used a Wiggly while skiing to the North pole he said it worked really well.
03 February 2018, 22:48
MacD37Gentlemen, I was the owner of a EB down filled bag that I had used in New Mexico, and Colorado mountains in the dead of winter, and swore by them.
Then a group of friends and I decided to do a float trip down the Mulchatna River in Alaska in September to hunt Caribou and/or Moose. There were four of us and we had three four man tents , and we rented three inflatables for the float, and had . Looked like a lot of fun. At least we thought it would be all fun .
Before we left an old hand at hunting Alaska that worked in my department at American Airlines asked, when I told him about our plan, he asked if we had good sleeping bags, to which I replied yes, we all have EB down bags, to which he replied, “Don’t take a down filled bag to Alaska in September, because it reins constantly, and everything will be soaked in in one day and you will freeze in that feather filled bag. Then he said go buy a quality low temp bag with QUALAFILL because it can get as wet as the down but will retain it’s warmth even when wet! ” . That old man was sure right! It didn’t stop raining for twelve days. The river got out of banks and we didn’t get dry till we got back to Texas. Another float couple was swept into a log jam, and were drowned, and we didn’t even see a caribou, or moose as we spent all the twelve days fighting the river! However our sleeping bags stayed warm.
I still have that QUALAFILL bag today twenty years later and it is the best bag I have ever owned, and the down bag is used by my grand kids when we hunt or fish in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, but it will never go to Alaska in September !
.....................................................................
....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1
DRSS Charter member
"If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982
Hands of Old Elmer Keith
08 February 2018, 06:03
AtkinsonMac,
Your right and its smart to have a cowboy canvas treated tarp over any bag, mine has pockets on all sides, I can go hunt anywhere with the bag with all the pockets filled , and clothes in the bag also, for about two weeks. Same with down jackets, but Ive owned and used my down jackets all over the world, because Jack O'Conner told me too and he did also, and I always have rain gear..
When wool or anything else is soaking wet it ain't warm and you will freeze in extreme cold, that's an old wives tale, Im a wool person and misty weather is fine but fall in the river, get soaked in a rain storm in 0 weather and its all over but the sad singing, that's when you build a fire, strip off to the skin and dry out those clothes and keep turning the body around warming both sides of your hide. Your guides advise isn't wrong, its just opinion on his part and it works Im sure, but so does down if one uses his head..
Ray Atkinson
Atkinson Hunting Adventures
10 Ward Lane,
Filer, Idaho, 83328
208-731-4120
rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com
08 February 2018, 19:31
AnotherAZWriterquote:
Originally posted by MacD37:
Gentlemen, I was the owner of a EB down filled bag that I had used in New Mexico, and Colorado mountains in the dead of winter, and swore by them.
Then a group of friends and I decided to do a float trip down the Mulchatna River in Alaska in September to hunt Caribou and/or Moose. There were four of us and we had three four man tents , and we rented three inflatables for the float, and had . Looked like a lot of fun. At least we thought it would be all fun .
Before we left an old hand at hunting Alaska that worked in my department at American Airlines asked, when I told him about our plan, he asked if we had good sleeping bags, to which I replied yes, we all have EB down bags, to which he replied, “Don’t take a down filled bag to Alaska in September, because it reins constantly, and everything will be soaked in in one day and you will freeze in that feather filled bag. Then he said go buy a quality low temp bag with QUALAFILL because it can get as wet as the down but will retain it’s warmth even when wet! ” . That old man was sure right! It didn’t stop raining for twelve days. The river got out of banks and we didn’t get dry till we got back to Texas. Another float couple was swept into a log jam, and were drowned, and we didn’t even see a caribou, or moose as we spent all the twelve days fighting the river! However our sleeping bags stayed warm.
I still have that QUALAFILL bag today twenty years later and it is the best bag I have ever owned, and the down bag is used by my grand kids when we hunt or fish in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, but it will never go to Alaska in September !
.....................................................................
Totally agree Mac; I love down when I backpack the Grand Canyon or know it will be below freezing, but in Alaska it is synthetic all the way.
10 February 2018, 11:48
Cold Trigger FingerI've had great success with both. Down and synthetic fill.
But each shines best in their respective environs.
For Sept on the Mul. Or anywhere its damp/wet cool to cold. Definately qualofil.
For winter in the Interior or arctic. Definately down ! Down thrives in conditions that are dry but cold.
Phil Shoemaker : "I went to a .30-06 on a fine old Mauser action. That worked successfully for a few years until a wounded, vindictive brown bear taught me that precise bullet placement is not always possible in thick alders, at spitting distances and when time is measured in split seconds. Lucky to come out of that lesson alive, I decided to look for a more suitable rifle."