River Guide Gear

[Greyhound]

So I have a buddy who is going through River Guide school this june, and needs a new sleeping bag, among other things. His criteria are similer to my earlier thread, in that the school says he needs a 35 degree bag. He obviously doesn't need to be as weight concious with something for rafting, and moisture may play a bigger role. So what do you guys think would be a good bag, and should it be down or synthetic? My first reaction was that synthetic made more sense on a river, but they tend to keep things dry pretty well on those things, so down might be worth the investment. But like me, he is also a recent college kid, with a limited budget.
Thanks for any input,
Greyhound

[GreatDivide14]

On a river, the only really important benefit I see in down is longevity. My old TNF Snowshoe (Polarguard 3D) was once rated to 0*, and well under a decade later, it's chilly in the 40's. That's probably partly because emergency preparations for Christmas visits to North Dakota left it crammed in the stuff sack for weeks at a time each year, but still, it went flat in a hurry. Down bags have been known to go on for thirty years or better. Still, synthetic is a whole lot cheaper, and for now, I don't see any reason to get a big, cheap, overweight synthetic off the bargain rack. It's probably what I'd do if I was sticking to river rafting.

[Greyhound]

So, just to clarify, are you saying yes to synthetic or no for river rafting?
I have a MH 2nd dimension synthetic (3d, before delta), and I've had it stuffed rarely, loose most of the time, and it already seems to be deflating. for a 15 degree bag, it seems like it only has 3-4 inches of loft, so I am sceptical of synthetic too.

[Jay H]

OK, if we are assuming rafting and the the space is a little more available than in a kayak, a syntetic polarguard 3D or so would work. Fairly inexensive and for a +35F bag, it wont be terribly big. You can typically find decent bargains on syntetic bags at Sierratradingpost.com too...

Jay

[Greyhound]

So if my buddy gets a job as a guide, working on the river day in and day out, the bag would spend a lot of time compressed in the drybags, meaning synthetic would die an earlier death, I think I am going to steer him towards down, thanks for the advice though.

[walt walkabout]

The big difference between down and synthetic is, which works when damp. Not soaking wet but the damp your going to get on a river trip. Synthetic wins hands down, pun intended. Your buddy should try to get Polarguard or similar type with as waterproof a covering as possible. Synthetic works when wet where down doesn't.
Just my opinion.
Walt

[Greyhound]

Well, like I was saying all along, synthetic... yeah. The guy at REI had spent a couple summers as a guide himself, and talked us into synthetic, and my friend ended up with the new MH 2nd dimension 15 deg, so he has a warmer bag if he wants to use it outside of rafting. It will be versitile with a full length zip, expanding second zipper, and delta fill. Thanks for all the imput.