Question about backpacking with all those quilts...

[stoikurt]

I tend to need something below me to ward off the chill even on warm nights into the upper 70's. I use my JRB Nest with the windows open. I use the Sportsmans Guide Guide Gear Ultralight sleeping bag, which I cut down and modified it into a top quilt, for temps in the upper 50's and up. It's pretty small and compacts very nicely. The UQ, OQ and hammock all fit nicely in my BB Bag, so once the hammock is hung my bedding is ready.

I think it was HC4U that has directions for modifying the GG Sleeping Bag. I haven't checked to see if those bags are still available but they are just right for something light on top.

"My bad, it was Hammock Engineer, here's the article."
HE's article.

[stoikurt]

Just checked. The rectangle UL bag is still available for $29.95 plus shipping at Sportsman's Guide.

[CanadaEast]

Here in the very humid summer south, you're fine without insulation to 70°, fine with only fleece under you to maybe 65°, then you need a pad. When in doubt, bring a torso-length piece of pad. I see by your name you're in Canada, though. Dude, bring at least 1" of CCF and 8" of down on every trip.

..you know we've got a summer season here right?? Just kidding

It does get quite warm in the summer months (June to the end of September here on the east coast) into the high 90's at times. The idea of the hammock was reducing weight so I don't want to have to lug extra gear when its around 70 degrees at night.

[Hector]

> ..you know we've got a summer season here right??

I've heard those rumors, but I don't much buy 'em. I've read Robert Service. Call me Sam McGee.

> It does get quite warm in the summer months (June to
> the end of September here on the east coast) into the
> high 90's at times.

I was in Cody, Wyoming one late July. It was 90 F and I was wearing a light jacket (no insulation), waiting for a light to change to cross the street. Local guy walked up to me and said, "Aren't you hot in that?" I couldn't help laughing. It was 103F in the shade with a dew point near 80 when I left home a week earlier (had been hovering around the century mark for weeks, with Gulf humidity almost like a fog). There's hot and there's hot. Our private joke was that if it got a little warm in Wyoming, wait five minutes in the shade and it'd go away.

The second day of this same trip, I stopped in the morning for gas at a station in a corn field in Nebraska. Nothing but corn and this little station that looked like a relic from "The Grapes of Wrath." The owner came out of the garage in oily coveralls wiping his hands on a red rag to pump the gas himself. "Gonna be hot, 90 degrees today," he said. That was thirteen degrees cooler than it had been where we were yesterday.

Of course, someone described to me how winters are so much warmer in Cody than the rest of Wyoming because of winds down out of the mountains, talking about temperatures and the amount of snow received, and I darn near fainted clean away from the horror. I'm just a southern boy, we don't quite understand those things, but we know they can kill you.

I had told my wife and daughter to bring coats with them on that trip. They didn't, because they thought I was crazy suggesting it could actually get cold at night in the summer. They just brought their light jackets. So I was the only one who could stay up after dark, when the temps dropped. Nice and quiet, lots of stars.

"Cold" front came through last night, dropping our temperatures into the 70s for today. From June to September you can count the "cold" fronts that come through here on one hand with fingers left over. Some years, all of 'em. That's when I abandon the Ouachitas for the Ozarks, which are maybe a degree or two cooler. At night, that degree or two cooler can be just enough to let you sleep comfortably. Or, more and more as I get older, just stay in the air conditioning in the city until the heat breaks.

Humidity, of course, is a big factor. There's a mountain of difference between a crisp 70 degree fall afternoon with little humidity when a jacket feels good and a sultry 70 degree southern night when the dew point has been reached and sweat can't evaporate and not a breath of a breeze is to be found and naked ain't enough. We get like three months of the latter and all too precious few of the former.

[gnome]

I made a cuben hammock use a down underquilt &a down over quilt, I flip the under quilt along withe the overquilt into the hammock. using small velcro dots I roll the cuben hammock over the 2 quilts which in effect snakeskins it! then I stuff it into my cuben pack which is a big sack! the whole thing is very light waterproof and works great. It is difficult to explain , but it is a well integrated system.. the gnome of blue island

[Wentworth]

I'd love to see some pics of that system

[Grinder]

Dear Canada East,

Averages are just that. 15 years ago, I went to northern Michigan. We brought tee shirts and shorts and jeans type cloths,

A norther (they call it "the 'something' Clipper") came through and over night temps went to 39 degrees one night. Sure didn't feel like summer.

We had to go to garage sales to buy sweat shirts and jackets at affordable prices

Miles of Smiles
Tom
Be prepared, that

[BillyBob58]

CanadaEast response to MH:

As for underquilts...unless it is above 80 I need padding underneath to stay warm so I'd have to always carry an underquilt...QUOTE]

A newby question here...but does everybody feels this way? What I mean is do you need to bring insulation for underneath you even if its 70 degrees outside? I know some are warm and some are cold sleepers...but when I go out later this summer I wouldn't want to be caught unprepared so I'm curious as to what most people think is the point that they no longer need insulation for underneath....

To which I replied:

I don't need anything if it is going to be above 70*. ( Edit for emphasis) Much above that and I actually need the cooling effect of the hammock to be comfortable. Below about 65*, I'm probably going to need a little bit of insulation. But people vary greatly.

To which Pan replied:

[QUOTE=Peter_pan;59452]

BB58, et al,

Lets be fair to the newbs..... your rating scale is second only to Neo's.....

After 20 minutes to cool down most folks will need some form of bottom insulation even at 75 degrees.... this is expecially true if using the bag as a quilt or a quilt....and 65 degrees can be down right cool for most...probably even sleep robbing.

YMMV.... but I believe this is a decent statement of "average".

Pan

Pan's response to me got me thinking. For one thing, am I really that much more of a warm sleeper than the average Joe? I don't really think so. The average Jane ( like my wife ), maybe or probably.

BUT Now it has occurred to me that most of my experience lying around in a hammock above 70*F has been in the daytime. Which means the Sun is usually out. Usually under a tarp and I find that it is always much warmer under a tarp if the Sun is shining down on it, even without considering the benefits of blocking the wind. All of this could effect my perceived warmth underneath.

So as the Sun was setting last night, at 71* with an intermittent brisk breeze. I had on the thinnest possible cotton tee shirt, I ventured out. With no tarp so zero wind block. After I had been in there about 30 or 40 minutes, it was down to about 68*.

Ironically and unusual, I actually felt the coolest on top, when a breeze would hit me. As I lay there and the temp continued to drop, my back was not exactly comfortable. At 71* I seemed OK, but barely. The main problem was the wind. When it was still, I was fine. When it would gust, I was on the verge of uncomfortable. Again, it was more my bare arms that were uncomfortable, more than my back, but both were a tad uncomfortable in the wind, especially as it neared 68*F. As the Sun went down I called it quits, still BARELY OK at 68*. But I don't think I could have made it through the night comfortably at 68* with no more clothing than I had. At 71 or 72*, with adequate wind blockage, probably so.

So my previous statement of needing nothing ABOVE 70*F is just barely correct, FOR ME. At 71* or for sure a few degrees warmer, I still think I would be A-OK. But, inability to block the wind, or being wet or if your shirt was wet from sweat, these could all make a did and throw these limits up 5 or 10*, so that needs to be considered, as well as individual variability.

Of course, on the plus side, this test got no aid whatsoever from clothing or tarps or sleeping bags. With a tarp to block the wind chill and even minimal fleece clothing or long johns, or especially a summer weight synthetic bag- I think I would be just fine at 71* or maybe a tad lower( my wife, however, would probably be shivering). I say synthetic because I have noticed a small amount of additional warmth on my back when I crawl into my synthetic bag, as opposed to using it as a quilt. I'm guessing that probably would not apply to down which is a lot more compressible.

[CanadaEast]

ok..better safe than sorry then for the 1st few hikes...essentially I started hiking last year with a 7lb tent and I've been trying to spare my back. I'm not and don't wish to be an ultralight backpacker. I like being as comfortable as possible when setting up for the night. That being said I got the hammock with the idea of comfort in mind but I'm also trying to save some weight off my back and ideally room in my pack. Packing an underquilt will take some space in the pack but I'd rather be prepared...as I said...Newbie question.

[NoBucks]

Resurrecting an old post, although it's not that old.

My hammock is still in the piles-of-fabric-in-my-office stage, but reading about how much room quilts and underquilts take up, I'm wondering.

I'm making a quilt to replace my sleeping bag, but even then I'm wondering how much more room that's going to take over my compact bag.

Just to refresh memories or reintroduce myself, I'm planning on using it with my kayak, which is a skin on frame, so packing space is already at a premium, and there is no such thing as waterproof storage in a skinboat other than drybags.

So, in terms of inches, how small can I pack up a quilt and an underquilt? I'm guessing that a compression sack is not advisable, since the quilts would lose loft.

Is an underquilt a necessity, or will a foam ground pad between a double bottomed hammock do the trick?