If you're going to encounter wet conditions and don't stuff a down bag in a garbage bag inside its stuff sack, you're likely government trained (ie, a moron)
Love it!
Sleeping bags so encapsulated also float like a cork, a theory I have proven.
A question I've mulled is not only whether it is possible to keep a down bag dry, but how much effort are we willing to expend doing it? Our primary goal is to hunt, not merely to keep the bag dry. A close second question is how much margin for error does it leave us if I find myself a moron with a wet bag?
We can all offer scenarios. This fall I started a hunt in light rain, bivvied in it, and hiked up six miles of switchbacks on day two in falling snow. Camped the second night in 8 inches of snow which piled to 16 inches in the open on the third day. Then it started raining and was still raining when I drove home from the trailhead after dark on day five. It had been alternating rain and snow almost constantly for a month. Humidity was 100%. Tree rain and falling snow were much worse than rain or snow in the open. My previous time in those conditions high winds were blasting soppy falling snow into every crevice and swirling mist into every pore and loft of anything outside of a sealed plastic bag. In our small shelter it was impossible to come in out of the rain/snow and not bring considerable water into the shelter.
How much effort I.e. how big and heavy a shelter are we willing to carry to keep the sleeping bag dry?
I have also proven more than once that a wet synthetic bag provides insulating warmth even when wet through, especially if you like saunas.
Should you be blessed with wonderful solid freezing temps, you can then crack the ice out of the inside of the sleeping bag. btdt
I still owe you a moose, Brad, and enjoy your pictorials. To each his own but in my coastal hunt conditions a down bag is not worth the effort and risk of its admittedly lighter starting weight. We on the moron end of the spectrum need some margins for when things do not go as planned.
