Well, my UQ arrived a little while ago. I got my sock in just a few days ago. I tried sleeping with just the uq the other night.
Well here's a little back story, when I first got it I was messing with it,adjusting it, tightening it and loosening it and all that, trying to get to foot end to seal correctly, well one time I adjusted it too tight, when I went to sit in my hammock, the uq started to tear, all my fault, everything is made very well, high quality stuff!! I had it too tight, and when I went to sit in my hammock I somehow put all my weight directly on the uq. But I was afraid it would tear further, so rather than risk it, I took it to a friend (ricegravy) and he put a stitch or 2 in it to make sure it wouldn't rip any further.
So after getting it back it was rather warm out, and work got in the way, but finally I had a chance to try it out. So without any adjusting anything at all, I just hooked it on my hammock and jumped in and hoped for the best.
Well for starters, the uq was too high in my hammock, when i was in the right position I was warm as toast, but when i would slide down, a gap would open up in the end and I would immediately feel the cold on my back.
I finally got up off my lazy back and made an adjustment and got back in. Still something wasn't right, everything was warm except my upper back. I still think it wasn't sealing up on the end, kinda hard to tell in the middle of the night all by yourself. Well about 6:30am I decided that it was going to work, I was just gonna need to make some adjustments in the daylight, with some help, while not sleepy. I checked the thermometer on the way in the house, it was only 49 degrees.
Well, my sock came in so time for round 2!! I made some adjustments on the uq, I still need another person to help me!! I put the sock on, took a guess as to what seemed right and waited for bed time!
When I got out to my hammock I realized that I had left the tarp pulled back and everything was soaking wet from very heavy dew. And though I know the sock isn't designed to be water proof, I am pleased to report that it is water resistant enough to keep everything inside safe from heavy dew!!
On my way out I checked the thermometer, 47, already this hang was starting out cooler than the last one ended. I wore the same clothing and used the same sleeping bag as a topquilt. After only a few minutes I noticed how much warmer I was on top, last time I had a balaclava on to keep my face warm, didn't need it this time, the sock kept everything within the hammock nice and warm.
But then I began to notice that my backside was cold. After some investigating I realized that the sock was very tight against my back. So I climbed out and made some adjustments. I was a little shocked by how cold it was when I threw the seep back to get out, it was at least 15 degrees warmer in the sock vs outside, nice!!
Anyways, the adjustment worked, I fell asleep shortly thereafter, I woke up several hours later cold, but my back was still toasty, I had used the same sleeping bag that I had used several days before, but I was colder this time and I didn't have enough insulation on top. But the sock and quilt worked great, I decided to head in the house after this, it was around 6 am, I checked the temp, it was 42 degrees.
I am now very confident that with everything adjusted correctly and with the right insulation on top I can get to and probably below freezing with just the sock and uq, and I still have another ix insert and many other options of things I could put inside the sock for extra insulation.
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