I am posting this to share our lessons learned and also to share our fun. Please comment and add your wisdom.
I've been waiting for an opportunity to hammock camp outside with my son (12) for awhile. You know how hard it can be to match up work schedules, weather, and equipment. Well I finally got the chance last night. I figured we would get the added bonus of a few meteors as well.
My son and I each set up our DIY hammocks and bugnets just as the sun was starting to set. I lit a campfire down in the garden (our informal firepit) to help set the mood while we talked about the hammocks. I told him we would probably have to add our blue pads sometime overnight and I reminded him to feel free to go back inside if he got too chilly.
We watched the fire burn down until we were sleepy and it was fully dark.
He chose a sleeping bag with a broken zipper and a huge pillow. I grabbed a fleece jacket for a pillow and a light fleece blanket. We were dressed in normal flannel sleep wear and I had fleece slippers with leather treads. Temps were expected to get as low as 60 with clear skies.
"That pillow is too big son," I said. "Naw. It was fine last time I slept in the hammock and it is my favorite." Okeedokey... guess he will see.
My last task before climbing in was to set up my small folding camp table under my hammock and put the blasted ratsin-fratsin-CPAP- ball and chain-I have to sleep with every night on it. I've slept in the hammock using it before but that was in the basement and without a bugnet.
We climbed into our hammocks and pulled the bugnet holes back under us- our bugnets use Fronkey's elastic holed bottom plan. Then I reached back out and down to retrieve the mask and hose. I pulled this in and ran it up to my ridgeline organizer. I had my NiteEyez LED ballcap in there and the back of the cap has a convenient velcro adjusting loop that let me secure the hose to it so I wasn't feeling the weight of the hose overnight.
Settled back and .....ahhhhhh. Now I will admit that it was difficult to see much in the way of stars with the amount of light pollution we have in our area and with noseeum netting but we were out under the open sky nonetheless and we were together. What a great setup.
Those of you who are experienced hammock campers know what is coming next. Feel free to read on anyway.
With no watch and no phone, I had no idea what time it was when I woke up but I knew it was time to add insulation. I told my son we would have to do this because it was too warm when we went to bed to do it then. I was just getting chilled- top and bottom, but not too badly. I knew it would continue so it was time to go through the drudgery and contortions to get out and get what I needed. Then I noticed the bug net was wet. Not dripping wet but more nearly saturated. I knew it was dew forming on us and that the amount of it was probably caused by my decision not to use a tarp (y'all chime in anytime with information on that if I am right). I also noticed that condensation was forming inside my cpap hose and would occasionally drip into the mask area.
So I gradually extracted myself from the hammock, managing to rub up against everything that was wet of course, and then trudged up the yard into the basement. That was enough to soak my slippers through with the collected dew on the grass. I returned with my sleeping bag and further soaked my slippers. Then I piled everything inside the bug net and squeezed in myself.
After going through the normal contortions and gymnastics, I was nicely wrapped in my old broken-zippered sleeping bag. Then I noticed my wet feet were getting cold and the once-pleasant coolness of the hammock fabric was now not helping any. I kicked off the slippers and hoped my feet would not get cold. Then I twisted and turned until I had the light fleece blanket under me. That't the ticket! Warmth and comfort returned.
My son was still asleep and hadn't moved so I figured he was OK.
I decided to totally pull the sleeping bag up over my head and around my shoulders and then I pulled the fleece of the jacket/pillow over the other way sealing me inside. I sometimes totally cover myself and burrow into the covers in my normal bed which used to surprise my wife who couldn't figure out why I didn't run out of air. The CPAP acts like a snorkle. Wonderful idea for indoors. Not so great idea when the air is cold outside. I realized all I was doing was pumping cool air into my warm cocoon. So I adapted my snuggle into something more like a mummy bag so my face was exposed and that did the trick.
Surprisingly, I fell asleep relatively quickly. As I was drifting off I remembered I forgot to pee while I was up. Too bad! I'm not going through that again unless I cant stand it.
Next thing I know I am hot. Oh great. Now I have to much insulation. This hammock thing is really going to take some getting used to. I pop the sleeping bag back off my face since I had apparently burrowed back down inside sometime overnight and I was nearly blinded by the sun shining directly into my face. I had slept right through the dawn, the birds, and the barking dog two doors down that usually wakes us up, and now the sun was heating up my black sleeping bag. I thought I had only been asleep for a short time.
But I was still VERY comfortable, had no back pain, was very well rested and bug bite free, and very happy that nothing failed overnight and that we succeeded in our first dual camp out. I lay there for some time longer just enjoying myself before I looked over and discovered I was alone. Oh well. He was there when I got up overnight so he probably had enough time in the hammock to realize I was right about the pillow, the pad, and the sleeping bag.
We critiqued our experiences over breakfast. He learned that a giant pillow is not comfortable and that it touches everything and soaks up condensation. It also likes to fall out of the hammock. Who-d-thunkit? He also agreed that a pad is important for insulation and that we needed to do something to keep our sleeping bags inside the hammock. I learned many practical lessons on how to do things and how much I really want better equipment. That will come in good time.
Here is a photo of our setup last night. We are hanging from the old playset I built the kids years ago. I've adapted it to allow for hammock hanging- since it is used for nothing else. You will see my bug net is far too short for my hammock. It fit my original DIY but my new DIY hammock is quite a bit longer and I will have to adapt the net. I did not find out about that until dark and I was not going to do anything about it then unless I had to.
I want to thank my new friends here at Hammock Forums for their support and for all the information I have gotten here. I don't think I would have been able to do this without you and if I did, I certainly would not have enjoyed it as much.
I told my son that I want us to do this at least one more time before we go to the Hot Springs September Hang in NC in mid September. That way we will be pretty tuned up and ready for it.
This experience also reinforced my resolve to get the remaining materials for underquilts and to start my silnylon tarp project. I also got right to sewing after breakfast working on some adaptations on our sleeping bags. I bought a zipper repair kit and fixed both bags, then I sewed a button and loop on each bag about 2 feet from the bottom at the zipper. This will allow us to leave the top part of the bag unzipped, not put stress on the zipper, and allows the remaining zipped part of the bag to form a foot box.
The adapted sleeping bags will have to do for awhile until I have to resources to make top quilts.
Some of the lessons learned so far-
-special purpose insulation (TQ, UQ, etc) is better than making do.
-now I know why lots of folks in some of the videos I've watched have Crocks attached to their packs. camp shoes.
-various clothing layers, including socks, are as important when you are in the hammock as they are when you are out enjoying the outdoors.
-a tarp may be a necessity and having only one large tarp might not be the best plan.
-picking other people's brains and watching their videos is nice, but nothing beats seeing it in real life and chatting with fellow hammockers.
-having an assortment of soft shackles, continuous loops, and other line-based equipment is a good idea.
-do your real-world testing close to home and with a convenient backup plan in place.
Thanks again for your inspiration and for your support. Feel free to add your two cents
-Sarge
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