Steve, that is a deal. Can always use some more DP Poppers. Send me your address and I will send you mine. I am planning on taking the pontoon kickboat this weekend and see if I can stir anything up.
Steve, that is a deal. Can always use some more DP Poppers. Send me your address and I will send you mine. I am planning on taking the pontoon kickboat this weekend and see if I can stir anything up.
Just got in from a night out...
A night out in my hammock to give the TQ a proper test drive. Only made it to 50 but I was perfectly warm...not much of a test really for what is supposed to be a 40 degree bag but still a great excuse to go sleep outside in a hammock...
Took the big reg TQ out for a better test last night. Temperature made it down to 32-33 (although my mini-thermometer said mid 20s - I don't quite believe it).
Insulation, in addition to the TQ, consisted of a sew-em-up PLUQ, mid-weight thermals and heavy socks.
For the most part I stayed fairly warm...not toasty but comfortable. By early morning my feet were getting cold. Should be able to remedy that with a pair of insulated booties and/or a piece of CCF beneath my feet. Also had a little bit of a draft sneak in around my shoulders after I pushed the quilt back to be able to move Alex the Cat. Definitely not a teeth chattering, shivering cold, night ruining just more of a nuisance.
All in all I was pretty pleased. The TQ did about as well as I expected and the PLUQ did a little better.
To make the evening a bit more fun, it was the first night I've been able to camp, even just in the back yard, with both of my daughters, We had a pretty good time. Here's a link to a little blog piece I put together this morning...
http://popperblog.dppoppers.com/?p=878
Steve,
In your hammock it appears like a normal sleeping bag. No zipper of course. What are the benefits of doing it this way?
I have the exact same bag, in blue, that I slept in last winter in my hammock. I experienced two problems. First, the zipper kept working its way down the side and I was coming out of the bag. Second, the bag kept wanting to come out of the hammock.
I'm assuming that your modifications solve both of those problems.
Chris
Chris,
There's still a lot of bulk there even though I tapered the bag a bit at the bottom. I left it on the bulky side since I like to be able to wrap it around my sides and shoulders and I like a roomy footbox (and being a quilt for car camping and not backpacking, weight and bulk don't matter).
I'm going to remove the ties and sew the bottom portion of the side up about 24 inches and make the footbox permanent. That solves the unzipping problem (I also believe you could temporarily solve the zipper problem with a large safety pin put in across the zipper below the pull).
Since it pretty bulky it still wants to flop out of the hammock a little before I get settled but once my feet are in the footbox and I have it tucked in around me...no problems.
Sewed up the bottom 24 inches on the sides and cut off the ties last night and took it out for another backyard overnighter. Overnight low was about 40 according to my little zipper-pull thermometer. I added a pair of insulated booties and a fleece jacket over my lightweight thermal shirt to my clothing and was toasty to start and was quite comfortable when I woke up this morning.
"Do or do not, there is no try." -- Yoda
Thanks John. Its been a fun project.
I know now that I can make each my girls a pretty decent TQ for about $25 (using a smaller, lighter Coleman 40 deg bag) that might actually be small and light enough to stuff in a backpack for a weekend trip. Combine that with a Sew-Up PLUQ and they have pretty decent insulation for about $50 each...of course I could make them each a TQ and full length UQ set from 3 oz Climashield and get them in about the same temperature range for about $30 more each...
Decisions, decisions....
I found KID sized mummy bags at Sport Chalet or Sport's Authority that were rated to 30-degrees (if I recall) that were relatively cheap... (ok, it was a spend $100, get $25 off coupon)
The bag was quite warm and a LOT lighter than those coleman bags. If your kids are small, 1 adult bag could equal 2 TQ's...
I have found that their temp ratings are generous... Either that, or they're rated for in a tent on a good pad, measuring outside air temp...
"Do or do not, there is no try." -- Yoda
Fortunately or unfortunately, they're not that little anymore. Oldest is 18 and about 2 inches shorter than me, youngest is 14, about the same height as her sister but a little bit stockier - they need adult-size stuff now days for the most part. I'll probably end up making quilts of some sort for them after Christmas. If I can get them down to 40-45 degrees they'll be fine...I'm the one that likes to sleep outside when its cold. Besides, they dig stuff that dad makes more than store-bought stuff - we raised 'em right!
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