Project "hope not to freeze my but off next weekend" almost complete

Well, I don't have the money for nice down stuff right now so I've been using poncho liners. They make wonderful top and bottom quilts especially since we car camp. However I didn't think they'd cut it for next weekend up in Iron Mountain, MI. Fortunately I was thinking ahead since it's now forecast to be lows in the upper 20's.

Anyway, down to the important stuff. I decide to beef up our top quilts with some fleece. Found some stuff that I believe is 400 wt and made another top quilt to go inside the PLTQ. I've been told that they don't always like to stay together so we're fixing that problem by putting a couple of buttons on the fleece and holes in the PL to keep them together.

Now the million dollar question is if this modification will be enough to stay nice and toasty. Also have some Insul-Bright coming to slide into the PLUQ, not sure if I'll actually have it by next weekend though.

Here's some pics of the mostly finished products.

heres a tip:

at the first santee fall sprawl i had a 3/4 UQ and a PL as a tq but the temps dropped to around 40* at night. I did also have with me a mummy bag (that didnt fit...more on this in a bit) but i was FREEZING.

what i ended up doing was throwing the PL over the ridgeline on my hammock, i tied the center ties to the RL and then the corners of the PL i tied together, leaving the middle side ones loose to drape. it helped to the point i didnt need anything to cover up with, and only tucked my feet into the sleeping bag to help keep those warm.

with the sides loose, youd get in and out a little more carefully and since the PL didnt reach all the way to the ends of the hammock, i had natural venting. worked like a charm. might help the topside at least.

I'll have to keep that in mind. Not quite sure how well that'll work now that we sowed foot boxes into the PL. We're taking sleeping bags a backup. I've used my bag with no UQ into the lower 20's pretty comfortably. It'll be more of a question what the bottom end of this setup will be.

I've successfully used a poncho liner combo with supplemental insulation down as low as 25 F (total gear list in post) without a pad.

I've survived as low as 21 F, but I was cold that night. Not deathly cold, but cold enough that I didn't sleep more'n five or six hours. The only difference between the two times is that, on the 21 F night, I left my hoodie and thick socks at home.

I'm a pretty warm sleeper, though, so take those temps with a grain of salt. For the mythical "standard sleeper", I'd say my set up on the 25 F night would work down to about 30 F or so comfortably.

Hope it helps!

when asked this question my answer is..... how much is your life worth :eek:

heheh to get back to your question , no... i wouldn't trust that setup down into the 20's but thats just me

you might be ok... i stress OK with the TQ but the UQ no you will be cold
might try an undercover and a pad along with it for extra warmth and a backup plan if it's too cold

but take a pad and some type of undercover that you can add if your cold
PLUQ are different for everyone but the general temp rating is the 50's for a PLUQ lower if you add in IX or some type of insulation but not by much .. all depends on the user

Looks like my insul-bright will get here in enough time to grab it and run out the door to go hang. I think I'll put one layer in between the layers of my hammock and the other in UQ.

On another front, the buttons are done to hold my TQ together.

+1 on the backup pad!

Top covers make a big difference for me!

John

Well, I didn't freeze. I'd say with a couple minor changes this setup would be good for the lower 30's. If I had some fleece or something similar on and would have had the UQ rigged up right I would have been great. I think it was right about freezing since there was a dusting of snow when I got up.

I ended up switching to my sleep system after waking up cool after 3 hours. Found out how much difference having the bivy on makes. My feet caught a little of the wind and were pretty cool in the morning.

The insul-bright is great stuff that you don't have to worry about compressing. Could feel where the piece by my feet ended.

If youre unsure about how well your system works, I suggest taking extra stuff. Even a half windshield cover as a sleeping pad, just to protect your torso and head would be better than nothing. Or maybe an emergency Mylar blanket to put between your UQ and your hammock bottom. I made a synthetic UQ and used it into the 40s with my 20* bag. It felt very good, but I still take a Mylar thing just in case, and I have a fleece liner/sheet for my bag.
I froze on my first hammock trip, it got below 40 and I only had a hammock and sleeping bag, no UQ or anything. I shivered half the night.