I have several sleeping bags. Some are synthetic and some are down. All, however, need to be stored "loose" rather than in their stuff sacks to retain their loft.

This is fine for bags left at home but what about the car trunk? I have yet to find a satisfactory bag that can be stored in a stuff sack but retains its loft.

My current trunk bag is a cheap Walmart 60 degree bag that is HUGE in the stuff sack.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
Conway Yee

I have a sleeping bag in my SUV - in its stuff sack. I'm not worrying about whatever marginal degradation is caused by not being stored loose.

If anyone knows, I'd be interested. There are other ways to compensate -- long underwear, down booties, Smartwool socks and all the other possible fleece layers. And chemical warmers.

I also keep all those things in my SUV.


.

The bag that stays with my vehicle is one of my older bags, not my very best. I keep it in a stuff sacks that is fairly large so it is not tightly compressed. I actually make use of this bag about on every five years or so and it has worked just fine. Generally when venturing out in extreme conditions, I have appropriate gear and I don't need to utilize my "every day bag."

That's pretty much my experience as well.
My bag is Quallofil one I bought 30 years ago for an x-c motorcycle trip. I use it as a base-bag/blanket with another bag when car camping.

Not my best bag but I don't feel bad about cooking it in the car in the summer heat.

I have sleeping bags that have been stored in their stuffsacks for decades. And I still get over toasty when sleeping in them. There may be some degradation in loft, but shake the thing to fluff it up and put on a pair of dry socks before bed and the difference in compressed vs. uncompressed storage is probably pretty minimal. I am not talking about a compression stuff sack for storage. Just a regular stuffsack, or a compression sack that has the straps loose so it goes to its maximum size.

If I had a $500 down bag I might be more careful. But I don't. All my bags are $150 max, and most are significantly cheaper than that.

Take a flannel sheet, sew it into a bag, and use that as a sleeping bag liner. That will probably add more warm than storing the sleeping bag compressed would ever take away.

This one's been a few times at ETS. I'll repeat what I've said before- get a Wiggy's bag! They can be compressed for years and return to 90% loft with just a good shake. I have three of them and probably won't ever buy another brand unless they change the excellent construction of their bags or I need something lighter than they offer. I don't keep a bag in my truck for driving around town but I always have one along if I'm leaving town, at least in cooler seasons. In SD there's no chance of July getting cold unless we get another ice age!

If you're worried about loft, just store two sleeping bags in the car. New USGI patrol bags are $35 bucks. I just bought one, great quality.

It depends on the vehicle but I have always kept either an inexpensive rectangular bag or microfiber fleece blanket, depending on the seasons, that blended in with the car's interior.

Hatchback / SUV:
Unzipped the bag and used it as a blanket to cover the cargo area. A quick glance inside and it looks like the rug. I have stored small odds and ends under the bag / blanket and kept things hidden. Putting groceries and such on top of the bag / blanket has never damaged them.
I will sometimes drape a blanket over the back seat which keeps it handy and protects the seat from dogs or messy passengers.

Cars with a trunk:
If the car has fold down rear seats I'll drape it as above. If not I'll just put it in an extra big stuff sack or fold it loose in the trunk. As long as it's not too compressed you should be fine.

Either way I'll take it out once a month or so and shake it. I've been doing this for many years and haven't had a problem with loft. Dark colors have faded in the SUV but it took a few years.

I spotted an old Woods down-polyfil blend bag in the local second hand shop yesterday. That sucker is flatter than a pancake. (It's more like a crepe.) At first glance, it looked more like a tarp than a sleeping bag. The outer shell is in fantastic shape, and looks like it provides a good vapour barrier for the fill. For $10, I'll try to restore the loft and, if that fails, it should make a good ground sheet. Either way, it's too heavy for anything other than car or backyard camping so it's destined for a home in the back of my Jeep.

Ditto!