As many know I'm not a DIYer. Many excuses as to why but none worthy. About 6 weeks ago I noticed the hammock sock pictured in the DIY forum and made by Unsponsored in the UK. I PM'ed him and asked for a PayPal link, he responded by asking for my physical address. The day before the Mt. Rogers hang a parcel from Royal Mail arrived.
I had intended to use a Warbonnet system for the hang but at the Usharrie hang I had become curious about a Wallcreeper and its use as generic peapod. Since I knew what a Yeti could do I chose to use the Wallcreeper and a Speer PeaPod on this trip--once the hammock sock was in hand I could sense that another match in heaven existed.
The sock Unsponsored sent perfectly fit the length of the double peapod system, the only thing I needed to remember (which I didn't at first) is there is a tapered end; ToneJones helped me correct the error quickly without having to take everything down and start over).
With the Wallcreeper around the Speer 8.5 and the Speer PeaPod wrapped around the Wallcreeper; the Unsponsored Sock is bunched at the foot end; once in the hammock you simply reach down and pull the sock up as far as you want.....the taper prevents you from pulling too far....after pulling there was about 4-6 inches of PeaPod exposed on the end (in the future Unsponsored my add some line you can tie off further up the support line to hold the tapered end in place. That six inches that was exposed did have a light layer of ice on it which I'm thinking was from condensation falling inside the tarp because the entire hammock rig was well within the tarp/beaks.
Most of the first night found me asleep with only the sock fully over me; I'd not fully zipped the Wallcreeper or fully velcroed the PeaPod...after I woke at 0300 to water snow did I fully close both pods when I got back in.
The second night (much colder) I fully enclosed pods and sock.
Things to note, the sock fits length AND the radius of BOTH pods with varying amounts of space-obviously not so much space at the tapered end (but it was not compressing insulation ther); plenty of space over the body and head area.
I cannot tell how much more warmth the sock gives; surely it provides as much if not more than the tarp. At the shelter the thermo read 9.6, inside the tarp I was at 16-17F, and we know tents usually give 10F and my tarp/beaks were fully to the ground....so a wild guess is that a sock will give another 5-8F.
If you were not using a 2 pod system (the Wallcreeper and Speer PeaPod) then you would have a whole lot of space between the hammock/top quilt/underquilt and the sock.....it would drape on the rig minimizing air space.
For now at 5.2 (ish) ounces if I'm using a PeaPod or Wallcreeper or the two together I can see no reason not to carry the sock. I will continue to explore just how many degrees with various combinations as the seasos progress.
Luckily I have one of the original Speer PeaPods that is the lightweight sewn through model. It would be great to use it and the sock in the warmer seasons for a major weight savings. Only time and experimentation will tell if 'warmer seasons' include below freezing.
Lastly a huge thank you to Unsponsored for allowing me to beta test this sock! His generosity heart felt and greatly appreciated.
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Originally Posted by MacEntyre
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