Several pad questions for upcoming cold hang

[ALD]

I have had my ENO doublenest for a while but not in the cold. So i am trying to prepare for a short hike/fish trip and overnight hang. Location northeast ga mts. in Nov. I am expecting low to mid 30's.

I am playing around with a DIY old sleeping bag underquilt conversion I will take. But I am putting no reliance on it. I have one of those old wide therm-a-rest at 2/3 lenght for sholders to knees and a narrow 2/3 lenght for feet I have a old 20degree mummy bag I will use as a quilt. Assuming the "underquilt" does not work at all. Am I going to freeze my butt off?

I went to wally world today to see what pads they had and they had nothing for camping. They did have a 25'' by 77'' blue yoga mat. Anyone ever tried one as a hammock pad?

Therm-a-rest has a CCF pad with a R2.4 rating 25'' wide forgot lenght anyone tried this one or one similar? Temp range?

Any help would be great I just do not want to be a couple miles in the woods miserable. Thanks,

[jloden]

This past weekend at the MAHHA hang we had temps in the 40s and I found myself a tad cold with just a pad (tried a 1/4" EVA pad the first night, and a 1/2" blue wal-mart pad the second). Not enough to freeze, but I wasn't toasty. For temps in the 30s I would definitely have needed more under-insulation. A thicker pad (or both pads together), additional clothing, an UQ or even something simple like a garlington taco would have done it.

I wouldn't discount the sleeping bag UQ, many folks on the forum have done exactly that and reported good results. If Vagabond sees this thread maybe he can chime in, he was using an old sleeping bag as an UQ at MAHHA. If you have that AND the pad, I'd be surprised if you have trouble staying warm. Best thing to do is give it a try in the backyard or suitable location in advance, where you can bail out if it's too cold.

As far as the yoga pad, I have indeed used one of those in my hammock, but on our patio and not in the field - way too heavy to backpack. It was one of the 1/2" thick spongy foam ones, and it was actually quite comfortable... the flex in it lets it conform to your body. It kept me warm at 45 degrees with my JRB TQ.

Other thoughts:

• The sleeping bag will add insulation underneath you if you get inside it, especially if it's synthetic since it won't compress as much as down. It's not as effective as an UQ but I can vouch for the fact that laying on top of the extra layer will still help.
  
• You can pick up a truck or car windshield reflector at Wal-Mart for 8 or 9 bucks that's reflective foil covered bubble wrap. Weighs about 8oz if I remember right, and it will reflect some heat as well as adding another layer of insulation. Not the warmest for the weight but it's readily available and cheap.
  
• Bring extra layers - you can always sleep in more clothes, including rain gear as a pseudo vapor barrier to trap in more heat. Don't forget nice warm socks and a hat!
  
• Hot water bottle, hot drink before bed, and/or some hand warmers can help bring your body temp up and keep you warm longer.
  
• Tarp - pitch your tarp to keep as much wind off you as possible. I'm pretty sure the wind was blowing in the ends of my tarp this past weekend, and making it colder than it should have been.

I'm sure there's other options folks can add, hope some of that helps!

-Jay

[Redwood Guy]

Howdie,

If your desire from the pad is warmth (rather than just using it to wind-break) than give the Exped a consideration.

http://www.exped.com/exped/web/exped...E?opendocument

At an r-rating of 5.8 it has the highest r-rating of any pad out there (at least that I have found) thanks to the use of internal goose down (and we all here at HF love down, right!)

It may not be as light weight as that wallmart blue light special, but if you are spending money to buy top of the line gear - and again, desire to use a pad for warmth rather than a good quality UQ - than this is probably a very good way to go.

[lattie11581]

I have had my ENO doublenest for a while but not in the cold. So i am trying to prepare for a short hike/fish trip and overnight hang. Location northeast ga mts. in Nov. I am expecting low to mid 30's.

I am playing around with a DIY old sleeping bag underquilt conversion I will take. But I am putting no reliance on it. I have one of those old wide therm-a-rest at 2/3 lenght for sholders to knees and a narrow 2/3 lenght for feet I have a old 20degree mummy bag I will use as a quilt. Assuming the "underquilt" does not work at all.

Any help would be great I just do not want to be a couple miles in the woods miserable. Thanks,

I made an UQ out of my old North Face 20* mummy bag. On top I have a big Agnes 30* synthetic sleeping bag and down to ~40* I still had to unzip my bag..to vent. I had a piece of blue Wally world CCF under my feet. Only sleeping in a T-shirt. I'll be going up to Tug Hill NY for some hiking and hunting end of October. I'll let you know how it worked out. Calling for first snowfall next week

[ALD]

Thanks for the info. I may be going to pick up a thicker pad and try to make some wind blockers for the sides.

[Doctari]

Somewhere here at HF is a how to on making a Pad extender designed (No longer carried by) Ed Speer of Speer hammocks. It utilizes a CCF Pad & some extra CCF pieces to make a pad that fits the hammock, reducing cold spots with 4 "wings" strategically placed.

I can get to 30 with a SPE, but that is just me, you may need more / less. Mine is now retired & actually no longer usable as a sleep pad (Cozys, sit pads, etc.)

[ALD]

Thanks everyone of the info. I had a large thermarest for shoulder to knee then a small one from knee down. With a old coleman peak mummy bag I was warm at a recorded 27 degrees last night