Cold weather test #3

[Lonely Raven]

I'm posting from my back yard now via smart phone. Tonight is cold weather gear test #3.

Expected temps 18F before wind chill factor.16mph winds (really whipping me around)

Gear being tested:

DIY 11x10 cat-cut tarp.
"loaner" Grizz Bridge
Winter Incubator
Winter Black Mamba long/wide
Eddie Bauer packable throw (as a pillow)


Wish me luck!

[millarky]

Go Raven Go!


I should be doing the same...but it is to cold

[Mister Dark]

Good gear list - looks like you should be fine. Be sure to post the results!

[TNRat]

So how did it go and where are the pics?

[Buffalo Skipper]

So how did it go and where are the pics?

What he said....

[TNRat]

I am hesitant about specifying pics concerning the kilt.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I am hesitant about specifying pics concerning the kilt.

Not so! Kilts are the bomb.

It's 9am and we still haven't heard from Lonely Raven. Maybe he didn't survive it...

[BillyBob58]

So how did it go and where are the pics?

Right, want to see how that quilt worked on a bridge hammock. Some quilts that fit a gathered end perfectly might not fit a bridge so well, without gaps. ( MW4 is obvious exception)

[Lonely Raven]

OK, sorry so late to respond. I'm on vacation this week, so after sleeping till 6am in the hammock, I came into the house for natures call, and slept for another 3 hours. I've been up for a little bit, making coffee, and I went outside to take some photos. I'm downloading them now (I used my Nikon rather than slumming it with the camera phone) and I'll have an update soon.

The short version: it was an adventurous night - I'm glad I tested this setup in the yard before going out in the woods!

[Lonely Raven]

Alright! I finally got the photos uploaded.

Clothing used was quite simple (I even took a photo of my goofy self - something I've never done for a forum before). I wore my polypro PJ's, Wigwam everyday socks, Acorn "down" slippers, Mountain Hardware Gore Windbreaker, and Mad Bomber hat. I also brought a pair of Gore-Tex ski gloves, but it's impossible to do anything with them on.

Part of this test was to see if I could setup the Grizz Bridge in the cold, and to spend my first night in the Grizz Bridge. I got this well used Bridge hammock from the Professor to see if it would help with my knee issues. I love my Warbonnet Blackbird, but even the slight curvature hurts my (damaged) knees quite a bit. I'm a side sleeper, so the curvature bends my knees sideways = not good.

It was 21F when I setup around 11pm last night. I setup the tarp first, then the bridge, then I had to throw in my pillow(s), book(s), phone with charger, and my Winter Black Mamba to help settle the bridge in the 16mph+ winds, then I put the Winter Incubator on it.

Overall Setup



Closeup of Mamba inside holding the bridge down



It's difficult to setup a tarp on the deck due to not being able to put tent stakes down. I originally took some 1/4" bolts and screwed them in between the boards, then tied the tarp down in "windbreak" or "winter" mode. Pretty much a steep A frame setup. Problem #1, the bridge is much wider than my Blackbird, and the extension poles on the bridge were rubbing on the tarp. I didn't notice this right away, but as soon as the wind start blowing, pressing the tarp in and causing the hammock to swing, I could hear through the material of the bridge, zip-zip, zip-zip, zip-zip. I just couldn't sleep with that for fear of waking up in the morning with friction tears in the tarp from the hammock poles. Just as I was about hop out and adjust the tarp higher, *snap* the (frozen) Figure 9 on the tarp ridge line snapped! Granted, this was one of the plastic Figure 9 from the Nite Ize guy line set...but they've never been an issue in 32F+ weather. The stress of the wind, and the freezing cold made it brittle, and it snapped in half! So I had to run into the house and grab a #2 (metal) Figure 9 'biner and reset the tarp. I also raised the tarp sides so they wouldn't be rubbed to death by the hammock poles. Pretty much zero wind protection at that point, the tarp acted more like a wing than a windbreak. But at least it kept the ice-rain off of me that hit around 3am.

So once I got that tarp situated, I hopped back into the hammock and got re-situated. All this down surrounding me quickly warmed up...which brought problem #2. CBS - Cold Butt Syndrome. Though since I was on my side, it was more like cold thigh syndrome.

It's nothing against the Winter Incubator, it's a great piece of gear...but all that down and the long length cause the under quilt to sag in the middle (Shug mentioned having the same issue with his Winter Yeti). It didn't help that wind whipping up and under the tarp would tug on the quilt, further pulling it away from the hammock and letting the heat out, and cold air in. You can see the sag in this photo:



The solution, was to simply loop some shock cord with a cord lock through each side of the quilt (using provided grosgrain loops), and attaching the cord to the hammock ridge line using a Nite Ize #2 S-biner. I found that having the right side of the hammock looped through the S Biner and back to to the right side held up better than going right side to left side of quilt. I think it distributes the pull better. So I used two shock cords, one through two loops on the right side, and one through two loops on the left side, all going through one S-Biner on the ridge line.

Here is a close up crop of the photo above, showing the shock cords. (My Nikon photos are so much nicer than camera phone - no?). It was so cold last night, you can see that the charging cord for my phone froze stiff! (I was charging it in the hammock since I use it as my alarm clock - and communications in case I freeze to the hammock and need help! )



Once I got all that situated (bridge, tarp, under-quilt, top-quilt and pillows), I quickly fell sleep. I didn't even crack open the books I brought out. I must have jumped in and out of the hammock a half dozen times tweaking and adjust and fixing the above mentioned issues. All in the sub-freezing temps. I woke up around 6am and checked the temps on my REI thermometer that records the overnight high and low.



A high of 42.8F (when I had it hanging around my neck outside) and a low of 16.7F. That's a new low record for me. No where near what Shug's done, but he's in a completely different league from a newbie such as myself.