Question about backpacking with all those quilts...

[CanadaEast]

[QUOTE=mataharihiker;59255]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....

[CanadaEast]

Oops..screwed up the "Quote" part of that. Oh well....

[BillyBob58]

[QUOTE=CanadaEast;59371]

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....

I don't need anything if it is going to be above 70*. 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.

[bear bag hanger]

For winter hikes I carry a Nunatak Arc Alpine, JRB nosniverler UQ, a 3/8" closed cell pad (for shelter use) and a Claytor Expedition hammock. Plus all my other stuff. I have a 50 liter (about 3,000 -3,100 cu in) ULA Artic pack from BackpackingLight.com. I don't use stuff sacks or anything else for the quilts. I've tried snake skins, but like some other people mentioned, they don't really help me a lot.

I've experimented with rolling up the sleeping quilt and UQ with the hammock, but it seems to make it much more difficult to pack than packing them all separately. I generally put the sleeping quilt and UQ in the bottom and then the hammock on top, then everything else on top of that. If the pad is dry (rarely a problem), it goes in first, but unrolled, sort of like using it for support, but my pack doesn't really need the support. It's just easier to do it that way, plus I get a little padding for all my other gear.

Don't seem to have much trouble getting it all in.

[NCPatrick]

I use a blackbishop sack, which holds my hammock, quilt, and bug bivvy (summer) or hammock sock (winter). In winter I can also fit my underquilt (compressed in its own bag) into the bb sack too. I'm using the ULA Circuit 3750 cubes year round (so far, anyway -- I haven't had it a year yet). I roll up a CCF pad and attach it outside the pack. Tarp is in snakeskins in an outer pocket of the pack. So far this is working pretty well.

[winger]

My two JRB quilts (ORM and Nest), stuffed together into a compressible stuff sack, takes up no more room than most of my sleeping bags. My HH goes into snakeskins, then at the top of my ULA catalyst pack, the tarp goes into stuff sack on the outside of the pack.
BTW, my JRB WS2 arrived yesterday, will be trying it out tomorrow night! Hopefully I'll be able to just leave it attached to the HH and it'll fit fine inside the snakeskins. I also keep the HH OUTERCOVER attached, I just move it aside when the weather is warm.

[Hector]

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.

[Redtail]

I have a Puritan-Bennett GoodKnight 420G from cpap.com and a 16aH 14.8V Li-Ion battery pack from batteryspace.com. The battery pack weighs about 3 lb. The whole rig adds about 5 lb to my backpack but the extra energy from a good night's sleep is worth it, IMHO.

I get 3 full nights out of my pack and might get 4 before I have to find a way to charge it. Results will vary depending on your pressure setting. Of course, I don't use a humidifier when I'm camping so that helps extend the battery life dramatically.

CPAP.com has similar battery packs and they had a calculator on their website which will give you an estimate of the number of hours you'll get from their battery with your pressure setting.

As for my setup, I put my GK and the battery in separate mesh ditty bags that fit each rather snuggly. The bag openings are tied tight around the battery pack power connector, and CPAP air hose respectively. Each ditty bag has another small carabiner threaded through the mesh at the bottom corner of the ditty bag.

I have an unmodified HH Explorer Deluxe. I've put a small carabiner through the loop at the head end of the HH ridge line and clip both the battery pack and the CPAP ditty bags to it.

I still have to figure out what to do about winter camping with a CPAP. Below 0C (32F) I have condensation problems and I expect that getting down to -10C I might need a way to preheat the air coming in, maybe with some kind of air hose sock and a bunch of chemical foot/hand warmers...

Thanks for all that CPAP info! I need to look into that, I didn't know they had portable ones that light. I use one at home but in the woods I have to set up far away from everyone because of my snoring. In addition to appearing anti-social I just don't sleep well w/o the CPAP.

As far as packing goes I think I do pretty much the same as Happy Camper except I use a big trash compactor bag that lines the whole pack and 2 climashield quilts. I just put them in the bottom (no stuff sacks), and if I'm carrying extra stuff I just compress them down more. Either way I always have a "full" pack.

[Peter_pan]

[QUOTE=BillyBob58;59374]

I don't need anything if it is going to be above 70*. 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.

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

[BillyBob58]

[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

Yep, like I said: "But people vary greatly" and "Below about 65*, I'm probably going to need a little bit of insulation". But, I won't need much at 65* or above.

I have a friend who seems to need a lot less underneath than I do, and we are both more cold sensitive than we used to be as young men. So I didn't realize I was "Neo" like. I'm pretty darn sure I could not approach 8* with a 3/8" pad like Neo did ( though he might have had it doubled up- but even then I don't think I could approach 8*).

I didn't realize I was all THAT warm blooded, but maybe I am. But my usual problems camping in the summer is sweating and being miserable in a tent when the lows only make it down to 75 or so, even sometimes in the mountains ( Smokies). That's when I really enjoy the cooler sleep of the hammock, with no pad. But that's just me. Each should determine their own requirements with back yard experiments, if possible.