New here, but...

[Kerry]

Grand Trunks UL hammock, 12 oz OR'
Grand Trunks Nano 7, 7 oz - smaller hammock, more $$
Paps Smurf bug sock, 5 oz - mydiygear.com

Cuben tarp, 5-7 oz depending on your needs
- zpacks, hammockgear,mountainlaurel designs.... all 3 make great cuben tarps.

At most you are at 24oz, or 1lb 8 oz set up here.

Your TQ can be the same whether you are in a tent or a hammock.

UQ - for 40F temps
tttrailgear has a 3/4 IX UQ @ 12 oz,
hammockgear has a 3/4 UQ @ 11.5 oz

for colder temps this will, of course, go up in weight. I've gone from April to October, 1/2 the year, with a GT Ultralight, 3/4 IX UQ, IX TQ, and cuben tarp just fine. Very light, no hipbelt used on my pack, no problem. I've been known to cover 16 miles before lunch with such a light load.

Comfortable sleep, as the body heals while resting, is very important. Can't see where the slight difference in weight would be worth the less comfortable sleep. Too each their own.

That's the issue: the tarp and quilt CAN'T be the same for 2 people when sharing gear, or, at least, I haven't found a good way to do so without being squished together constantly-- really, NONE of the sleep/shelter system can very realistically be shared, unless you don't mind excessive weight or cramped quarters.

Still, I'm captivated by the comfort of hammocks (now that the Nest has solved the cold butt issue), and I'll have to see what I can come up with/tollerate. But, after spending over $1,500 on the 2 of us just to get a useable hammock setup (hammocks, better tarps, and down under and over quilts * 2), I won't be purchasing anything else (i.e. lighter hammocks and tarps), especially when my ground setup cost a total of $278, and weighs les s that half of the hammocks *2-- NOT a slight difference.

[MAD777]

Welcome! I came from the same ultralight thinking as you. With a hammock setup my summer skin-out weight is less than 11 pounds and my winter skin out weight is barely over 15 pounds if I don't need crampons or snowshoes. For the good night's sleep that I get and not feeling a bit stiff in the morning - it's worth it!

[Kerry]

That's a heckuva good skin-out! How many days of food and fuel does that include?

My (midewestern summer) skin-out (which I define as everything worn, and carried, including food and fuel, and a typical volume of water for the area hiked) is 24ish pounds or so, with 6 days food/fuel, 2L water. I don't think I can hit 11!

It looks like that if me and my wife are going to stick with hammocks, I'll have to do something a lot lighter than the Hennesy ULBs and JRB Nests. The difference is 9 pounds (for 2 complete setups, including ham., tarp and all inulation) vs 4.3 pounds for our 2 person groundling setup, including tarp, bugnet, and all insulation. Not very interested in spending more money right now. 'Course, I might be able to sell my current setups to help finance something different.

[LisaJ5227]

Welcome! I came from the same ultralight thinking as you. With a hammock setup my summer skin-out weight is less than 11 pounds and my winter skin out weight is barely over 15 pounds if I don't need crampons or snowshoes. For the good night's sleep that I get and not feeling a bit stiff in the morning - it's worth it!


My thoughts exactly, not getting a good nights rest kinda sours the hike a bit.

[Kerry]

Just to be sure we're on the same page, by skin-out, you mean everything for the trip including food, fuel, and water on the scale, and you naked (but not on the scale, of course!), the weight is 11 pounds, right? That's impressive!

I can't figure out how I can get a skin-out weight that low, even with my current ground setup, (never mind my current hammock) which is pretty light at 4.5ish pounds for a complete 2 person setup, including full bug protection ground pads and 2 person synthetic 45deg quilt. While my base weight with my ground setup is 7ish pounds for everything minus food, fuel and water, by the time I add 6 days of food and 2 or 3 liters of water (good water sources are tough to find on my local trails, owing to farm and industrial runoff, so it's common to carry 2 to 3 liters between good sources, often nearly all day), I end up at about 24ish pounds (skin-out). Even if I went with a Cuben tarp, Cuben bug net, and down instead of synthetic quilt, I'd still be 21ish pounds. With my current Hennesy ULB's and JRB top and bottom isnulation, I'd be at 28ish pounds.

How do you get your skin-out so low? What food does that include? What's your hammock setup??