Definitely hanging your tarp low and close to your hammock and then staking the sides down as close to ground level as you can and orienting your hammock and tarp set up so that the tarp is blocking the brunt of the wind will go a long ways towards keeping you warmer. Also, if you're on a tight budget, adding a SnugPak underquilt on in addition to your pad will help a lot for very little money. (I picked up a SnugPak UQ on sale a year or so back for $35 and free shipping. Without a pad it took me down to the mid-thirties comfortably. With it and a pad together, I was comfortable even lower. The SnugPak UQ is cheaper than an UQ Protectir and will block more wind than a regular UQP can. BUT it is too bulky and heavy to be ideal for hiking with...but fine for car camping!)
Finally, for top insulation, I'd recommend you DIY a synthetic top quilt. I have zero sewing skills, but have recently DIY'd first a summer UQ (tired of lugging my warm but BULKY SnugPak UQ when hiking) and that turned out so well and worked so beautifully that I quickly tackled a summer topquilt and then a winter modification for the summer topquilt. My winter version has kept me toasty down to 18 degrees so far. I haven't gotten to test it any lower than that yet. My top quilt was relatively inexpensive to make. I bought fabric remnants (calendared Hyper D for the inner shell and Argon for the outer shell--2 yards of each--and used Apex Climashield inside).
This breakdown from
http://RipStopByTheRoll.com was very helpful to me when planning out my topquilt build.
IMG_5014.jpg
I used 2 yards of 2.5 oz Climashield for my summer topquilt. And, because I'm short, I only needed 1 yard of CS 5.0 and 2 more yards of Hyper D (uncalendared) to make the winter insert that turns my summer topquilt into a winter topquilt. RipStopByTheRoll sells remnants, which can save you a few bucks. If you're already ordering fabric from RipStop, might as well throw in the Climashield too. But, if you are ONLY ordering Climashield, you're better off ordering it from
http://dutchwaregear.com because you'll save quite a bit on the shipping there. (Dutch's site is also where you'll find Argon.) BOTH these vendors are awesome. Dutch's other site,
http://makeyourgear.com has detailed instructions for DIYing an underquilt. I followed his plans to a T and wound up with an excellent underquilt. I then just took what I had learned following his underquilt plans step by step and adapted it to a topquilt...making it longer and wider and making a drawcord foot box using the same kind of channels his free plans had taught me how to make.
Good luck! Four season camping on a tight budget is definitely do-able. And DIYing is addictive!
Edit: LOL! MilitaryHiker, I just now looked at your equipment listing in the margin of your post. Looks like you're already an old hand at DIYing!
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