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  1. #1
    Senior Member Cuffs's Avatar
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    Just had to mention this (useless info)

    There were 4 of us that did 60+ miles in GSMNP this past week and I was the only hanger! (yea for me!)

    I was using a borrowed older model KAQ UQ that was great. On our last night, after a day and 1/2 of rain, the winds grew fierce and the temp dropped drastically. Fearing that I would not be warm enough, I took the opportunity to share a tent to avoid hypo-thermia. OH what a pain in the back that one night was! I tossed/turned alllll night, and it was not because of the weather. I am glad and proud to be a hammocker, but I have to work on my cold weather set up!
    Get busy living, or get busy dying.

  2. #2
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    I don't know how cold it got, but you might have been OK in that KAQ, assuming you had a good tarp. I've heard good things abou it. Did you have a pad you could have added? I hope you did for your night back down with the ground dwellers!

  3. #3
    Senior Member Cuffs's Avatar
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    Call me chicken, but I had to do it. I have to be warm to sleep! I had my Montbell 15*, Ridgerest and KAQ. Yea, I probably would have been ok, but I just didnt want to wake up middle of the night begging to be let into a tent!
    Get busy living, or get busy dying.

  4. #4
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    winter/cold weather camping with a hammock is something you do need to work up to - I'll admit that early on in my hammocking life I did basically the same thing - not so much because of the cold but because of the strong wind and I did not have the best of tarps at the time.

  5. #5
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cuffs View Post
    Call me chicken, but I had to do it. I have to be warm to sleep! I had my Montbell 15*, Ridgerest and KAQ. Yea, I probably would have been ok, but I just didnt want to wake up middle of the night begging to be let into a tent!
    Yep, my guess is I would have been OK below 20 with that set up, probably well below if wind was reasonably controlled. Of course, as I say that, I am used to some fairly good additional wind block with the SS undercover. But, you need to find these things out for yourself first, and that's what backyard and car camping are for, with easy safe bailout options available.

    But I bet when you realized how bad your back felt, you wished you had taken the gamble!

  6. #6
    Senior Member Cuffs's Avatar
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    the winds were steady at probably 10mph and gusts around 15 to 20!

    I have not practiced at home setting up under these conditions, so, again, just didnt want to chance it. But, I do know what I need to practice!!
    Get busy living, or get busy dying.

  7. #7
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cuffs View Post
    the winds were steady at probably 10mph and gusts around 15 to 20!

    I have not practiced at home setting up under these conditions, so, again, just didnt want to chance it. But, I do know what I need to practice!!

    FWIW, as you practice at home for fall/winter/spring trips, it might help you to know how other folks do with various set ups. Just to give you a starting point reference. Of course, as I'm sure you know, one person varies greatly from another in cold tolerance. And the same person varies from one night to the next according to many variables.

    With that in mind, according to info about the Speer SPE, some "observed" comfort levels for a 5/8" CCP ( appx. same as Ridgerest) is 37*. So I guess that would be about high 40s for some folks and hi 20s or lower for a very few few others. I have found the 37* rating about right for me with a RidgeRest in an SPE with wally world CCF pad cut up and placed in the side wings.

    I think JustJeff was comfortable to at least about 36*, and the designer to about 28*, in the KAQ by itself. No doubt adding a Ridgerest to the KAQ would have given them another 20-25* warmth.

    http://www.kickassquilts.com/Tests.html

    Have fun with your upcoming testing!

  8. #8
    Member Egads's Avatar
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    Cuffs,

    You may recall when we met at Springer last year. I had just survived my first gusty mid-upper 30* night in a hammock. I had only a fleece bag, a pad, wool sweater & stocking cap.

    I have learned many lessons since then. One of which is that discomfort is a strong motivator to change.

    Another is to lower your hammock close to the ground so that only your bum touches. Fill the voids between the hammock and ground with leaves & duff for natural insulation. I've done this twice and slept well.

    Great gear used properly makes a big difference.

    Egads

  9. #9
    Senior Member Doctari's Avatar
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    In your defence, I am slowly understanding the "temps we can stand" between northerners & southerners. I'm from the midwest, & my work partner is from southern Fla, What I sleep in comfortabley & what he freezes in is remarkable. temps I'm comfy in my OLD 35 degree bag & loosly hung KAQ, he "freezes" in his -20 degree bag. SO, you may have made a good decision going into a tent with someone else.
    He has been a transplanted northerner for over 5 years.

    Give a few at home tries to determine what you can stand, it will all work out! Perhaps next time you get a chance, hang in your hammock till you cannot stand it, then bail to a warm place.

    Doctari.
    When you have a backpack on, no matter where you are, you’re home.
    PAIN is INEVITABLE. MISERY is OPTIONAL.

  10. #10
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    That 37 degrees for a 5/8ths pad sounds about right. My coldest hang yest was last March in the low thirties and really windy. I had a Jardine Alpine top quilt, balaclava and two quarter in. Oware pads. I was wearing hiking pants and a LS tee shirt. I could just feel a hint of cold coming through those pads but it wasn't a show stopper. My daughter was cold in my Rock Wren KAQ combo, she had the stock tarp and I had a Macat Deluxe and I think she was getting a lot of convection. The sides of that Macat hanging down really help in the wind, it is worth the weight. My daughter has a proper tarp now.

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