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skanskan
Dec 2, 2012, 8:41 PM
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Hello
I have a good down jacket since 7 years ago. The last time I got it cleaned in a specialized shop I found that it lost half of the down filling, but unfortunately I didn't check it at that moment.
It's specially in bad condition at the shoulder and higher back areas because I used it with a backpack.
I would like to repair it myself by adding new down.
Is it advisable to perform small cuts in the inner side (of every affected section), fill it, and sew it?
Or this (sewing with a home machine) would tear the fabric?, Is it better to try to unsew existing sewings?
Where can I buy 850+ down filling?
I've found some at Amazon but they sell 3 pounds of bad quality down for $90+shipping but I only need less than 1 pound, maybe 1/2 pound is enough. I couldn't find it at eBay.
regards
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milesenoell
Dec 2, 2012, 8:50 PM
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Down is just really expensive. Thru-Hiker sells it in small amounts for repairs like yours, but at 10 bucks an ounce it doesn't offer big savings.
http://thru-hiker.com/materials/insulation.php
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skanskan
Dec 2, 2012, 9:12 PM
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milesenoell wrote: Down is just really expensive. Thru-Hiker sells it in small amounts for repairs like yours, but at 10 bucks an ounce it doesn't offer big savings. http://thru-hiker.com/materials/insulation.php
Thanks, I'll see there.
I think I'll have enough with 100g
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skanskan
Dec 2, 2012, 9:30 PM
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I've seen that they sell 3 pounds for $30+shipping. That's much cheaper than I expected.
Is it truly 900+ down?
I guess I have enough with half a pound.
If I put more I guess I won't get more isolation ??
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milesenoell
Dec 2, 2012, 10:53 PM
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Some discussion on 900 fill down
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=6114
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sween345
Dec 3, 2012, 12:38 AM
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Skan,
Read it again. It's $3 an ounce.
(This post was edited by sween345 on Dec 3, 2012, 12:38 AM)
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skanskan
Dec 3, 2012, 12:38 AM
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Oh, I'm wrong it's not $10 per pound but $10 per ounce. And they have told me that they don't ship to my country, Spain.
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skanskan
Dec 4, 2012, 2:25 PM
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Hi
I think I'm going to buy 3oz of down from extremtextil.de (because Thru-Hiker doesn't ship down to Spain).
I will also buy a seam grip or adhesive from the same shop, to add extra protection.
Which one do you advise me? (definitions from their site).
Seam Sure (liquid): water-based urethan-seam-sealer. For seamsealing of lightweight, waterproof synthetic fabrics. Dryes as clear, flexible and durabel film. For heavy-weight-fabrics like Cordura 500den please use Seamgrip
Silnet (liquid): ideal for seamsealing of siliconcoated fabrics. Waterproof, elastic and UV-proof.
Repair-Tape, Tenacious Tape, McNett: UV-resistant, transparent tape for easy and fast repairs of tears in fabrics. Not suitable for very smooth surfaces like silicon-coated fabrics!
Gore-Tex repair kit: Self-adhesive repair patches for Gore-Tex fabric. The patches stick very good and last for several washings. Also work great on non-gore-tex-fabrics.
I've ruled out products that need to be ironed because I'm afraid of burning the jacket.
The question is... only adhesive or adhesive and tape/fabric?, and what brand?.
Regards
I've also seen that some people uses a glue called E6000, cheaper and flexible.
(This post was edited by skanskan on Dec 4, 2012, 2:59 PM)
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jktinst
Dec 6, 2012, 4:26 PM
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You’d get better feedback to this kind of question from backpacking.net’s do-it-yourself forum.
Your initial post is not very clear. Even a poorly-done cleaning should not have made the jacket "lose its down filling", unless you can see a hole through which the down obviously escaped and even then, that would affect one or two compartments at most, not the whole jacket. A poorly-done cleaning & rinsing would have left the down clumped together with soap residue. A well-done cleaning and rinsing with a poorly-done drying would also have left the down clumped together from drying out in a clumped state (though not as badly as the residue). Both of these methods would make it look like you’ve lost down but all you’ve really lost is the loft of the down. You may be able to get that loft back by completing a proper washing/rinsing/drying much better than by adding new down. If the clumping is due to soap residue, the new down you add will also end up getting gummed up with it and pretty soon your jacket will look like you never added any down at all.
I’ve washed grey goose down sleeping bags at home several times with no loss of loft whatsoever. I have a front-loading washer with a reasonably large drum and the same goes for the drier. I use a very mild soap (Woolite, Zero, or such like) and the most delicate wash cycle possible, rinse at least 3 times with the gentlest/shortest spinning possible. It’s essential to keep rinsing until there is absolutely no suds or cloudiness left in the rinse water; you basically should be able to drink it. The drying must be done by tumbling in a relatively large dryer applying the lowest drying heat setting for very short periods (few minutes) between longer periods of no-heat air-drying (20-30 minutes). Adding clean tennis balls in the dryer facilitates the "unclumping" of the down as it dries.
If I were you, I’d start by asking exactly what method that "specialized shop" used. Hopefully, that will let you determine if it is a case of poor washing/rinsing or one of good washing/rinsing but poor drying. In the latter case, a simple spell of air-drying with tennis balls may do the trick to restore the loft. Otherwise, you should do a proper wash/rinse first. You should only use a tumbling washer (front or top-loading), never a top-loading washer with an oscillating/spinning element in the middle of the drum. Tumbing washers are pretty standard in Europe whereas oscillating ones used to be much more common in N-America. Relatively large tumbling dryers are not so common in Europe.
It’s always a bit hard to gauge how much soap to use but you essentially want the smallest amount that will produce a bit of suds throughout the cycle. You don’t want lots of suds left at the end of the wash cycle but you don’t want them to disappear half-way through the cycle either. If the item has already been washed, a very small amount of new soap should be plenty to remove the dry residue left behind.
If it should turn out that you really do need to add down, cutting holes into your jacket, intending to patch them up with adhesive patches or sealant is a really bad idea! You should plan instead on undoing and redoing seams as much as possible. If you don’t have a sewing machine, find a friend or relative who does. It should be quite straightforward to identify which was the last seam sewn at the factory to close up the compartments on the jacket’s body after they’ve been filled with down. It may be one (or either) of the seams between the liner and the zipper or a seam top-stitched on a folded edge of liner fabric somewhere near the zipper. You should then shake the down to the opposite end of the compartments and "rip" or "unpick" the closing seam with a proper seam ripper, taking care not to damage the fabric. If this also loosens the zipper from the outer shell, pin those two together as you rip.
Manipulating high-quality down is a lot of fun. Even carefully transferring it by the fistful directly from its shipping bag to the jacket’s compartments will still leave a lot of down flying around you. Wear cotton clothing (no static electricity). Work in the middle of a large, clean rug (catches the down where it lands) in a room with no drafts and with no-one walking around you. Picking up the spilled down can be done with a vacuum cleaner by covering the hose with a couple of layers of no-see-um netting. You could ask extremtextil to throw in a couple of small cuts of this fabric with your down order. If you explain that you need it to help manipulate the down, they may give them for free. It’s quite amazing to see these large volumes of fluffed-out down get sucked into a tiny wad that you can pick between two fingers from the surface of the netting! The vacuum can also be applied through the outside of the jacket’s compartments to suck the down away from the opening, which will allow you to pin and sew it closed without catching too much stuff in the seam.
But, hopefully, a proper wash/rinse/dry will do the trick for you!
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skanskan
Dec 6, 2012, 6:00 PM
Post #10 of 10
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Several months ago I tried to dry it again, with the tennis balls, as some people told me, but it didn't work. Anyway I can't notice any kind of clumped/sticky down ball inside, some compartments are just empty.
I've ordered 3.5oz of down. I expect to receive it in a few days.
Thank you for your advises. I'll try to unsew the sewing from the zipper area.
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