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Thread: Starting out!

  1. #1
    Member CanadaEast's Avatar
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    Starting out!

    Hello all.

    First time poster, long time reader. I'd like to thank....well I'm not sure who exactly...I suppose everybody who has posted on this web site. Thanks to the stories I sent out for a HH and tried it out straight away. Lack of experience should've resulted in catastrophy but the results were very encouraging. I don't want to bore you all with the details but here's a quick sinopsis.

    I set it up with temperatures going to 5 degrees F. I didn't want to get into to much right away so instead of using the supershelter I just laid a 45 degree bag underneath me and brought in my -5 degree mummy bag. Not realising that it would be difficult to get in the bag once in the hammock. Another thing I didn't realise is the higher up the tarp is, the more heat you lose. Anyway I was only able to cover half of myself with the sleeping bag and used my coat to cover the other half, fully expecting to bail once I got to cold and that I would run to the house. To my great suprise I woke up about 5 hrs later. That's when I realised how comfy these thing are. However as mentionned before about the tarp, I set it up a bit to high and while the rest of me was quite warm, my face was half frozen.

    I then went to the house around 5 am with a frozen face but totally excited about the hammock. Heck if it works that well when poorly setup, its gonna be great once I get the hang of it (no pun intended....actually...pun was intended).
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  2. #2
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    That's great.

    When it gets to down to freezing I cover my face and breath through a bandanna or my fleece neck gaiter. Not only will my face get cold but cold dry air will give me a sore throat sometimes. What I breath through does get wet, but it means I'm breathing moist air.
    Youngblood AT2000

  3. #3
    Senior Member headchange4u's Avatar
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    Welcome to the forum CanadaEast.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett



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  4. #4
    slowhike's Avatar
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    yep, sounds like you're hooked now
    welcome to HF. ...tim
    I too will something make and joy in it's making

  5. #5
    Member CanadaEast's Avatar
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    that's a good idea if I wake up to that kind of situation again....I'll probably start using the overcover until the warm weather hits.

    By the way...does anybody have any idea what the best way would be to get into a mummy bag once inside the hammock? I thought about rolling it up, getting in the hammock, and rolling it back out once inside...but I'm not sure how I would then place it underneath me.
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  6. #6
    Peter_pan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CanadaEast View Post
    that's a good idea if I wake up to that kind of situation again....I'll probably start using the overcover until the warm weather hits.

    By the way...does anybody have any idea what the best way would be to get into a mummy bag once inside the hammock? I thought about rolling it up, getting in the hammock, and rolling it back out once inside...but I'm not sure how I would then place it underneath me.
    Canada East,

    Welcome to the hanging gang...

    Once your bottom is adequately insulated the best use of the sleeping bag is as a quilt.... throw it over you and tuck the sides.... Plenty warm... super easy....Give it a try.

    Pan
    Ounces to Grams.

    www.jacksrbetter.com ... Largest supplier of camping quilts and under quilts...Home of the Original Nest Under Quilt, and Bear Mountain Bridge Hammock. 800 595 0413

  7. #7
    Member CanadaEast's Avatar
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    Thanks for the welcome and advice everybody

    Pan...I've read quite a bit about people using quilts and it definately a good idea for ease of use...I'll be using one during the warmer months. But if it gets really cold, I'd like to be able to use the mummy bag as I can't always bring alot of insulation for the bottom when hiking. I have an undercover but I'm not sure if that would be sufficient underneath with just a quilt above me.

    Am I making any sense?
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  8. #8
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    HI C.E., Welcome to the world of hammocking! But, what a start! Do I understand you to say it got down to 5 degrees F ( not C, but F?) and you only had a 45* bag laid under you as a pad? Not even used as an UQ, but just layed under you? And the only problem you had was a frozen face 5 hours later?

    Wow, that is incredible, unless I am missing something. You might be a rookie, but you take the coveted "Neo" award for "person closest to having antifreeze for blood"! And you didn't even bother with the Super Shelter, correct? Even with the SS used correctly, you would have set a new record if you could have gone to 5*. I think the High 20s is about my limit with the basic SS with one pad and space blanket, and I thought that was pretty darn good results. But that just shows the dif in a Canadian's thick blood and a wimpy MS fellow!

    But with just a bag under you in the hammock, your weight should have flattened all of the loft, losing all or most of the insulation value, which was theoretically only 45* worth to start with. Was you (under) bag synthetic? I have found that you do get a little bit of insulation with those under you, since they will not compress near as much as down. But they still compress a lot, and most insulation is lost. Plus, I guess you would have had both layers(top + bottom) under you, and that would have helped, at least if it was not a down bag. But I'm really surprised it was not your butt that was freezing instead of your face!

    Any way, great start! Search these forums for " Super Shelter or SS or HHSS",etc. for tips on using your SS. Just make sure that once you are in there, you have zero gap between the pad and space blanket ( highly recommended) and your back.
    Last edited by BillyBob58; 04-19-2008 at 08:35.

  9. #9
    Member CanadaEast's Avatar
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    Ha...thanks BB...I've seen alot of posts regarding Neo ( ). I thought myself far more wimpy (or is it wimpier). I did use a converter online for celcius to farenheit. Night temps were -15 celcius, bag underneath me was for plus 7 C, and my mummy bag is for -20 so if the conversion site was right then....

    Since I could only cover half of myself with the mummy bag most of it stayed underneath me so that would probably explain the extra warmth underneath. I was well clothed as I'd rather remove stuff than wish I had brought more.

    by the way thanks for the tip, I'll use the search option.

    Oh..just a side note...In true hammock style, the only place I could hang in the trees in the woods had a rather large puddle underneath me. When I got up I went to put on my boots and they were frozen into the ice....Just thought that was a funny anecdot....annectdo...annecd...err ..situation.
    MY TOP 3
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    2. My Pocket Rocket Stove
    1. My HH Ultralite with SS

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