I recently bought tomswyer222’s Exped Downmat 9 Deluxe mat for cold weather tent camping (yes, I know, boo hiss) and intend it to be a car camping mat because of its weight. But I couldn’t resist immediately putting it in my HH Backpacker.
Exped Downmat 9 Deluxe Specs
Size: 26"W x 76"L
Weight: 2 lbs. 13 oz.
Thickness: 3-1/2"
I thought some Hennessy people w/zipper mods might like to see how it fits in the Backpacker. See pics.
When I first inflated the mat, the length seemed so long I didn’t even know if it would fit, but it did! I spent about 2 hours on it last night in 38 degree weather with a down REI sleeping bag used as a quilt. My backside stayed warm enough so I’m interested in trying a full night real soon.
Perkolady and I were wondering whether the mat would raise me up too high in hammock and make me feel tippy or like I was gonna spill out, but I didn’t have that feeling at all. You can see from the pictures that the mat fits in nicely with hammock material rising above the mat on both sides. Although with the netting zipped up I'm certainly closer to it, but not enough to bug me.
The one issue I immediately noticed was that even though I’d put the mat in at the A-sym angle for a flatter lay, as I moved around in the hammock the mat would slip into the center line position and I’d feel that knee pressure. I usually sleep with something under my knees anyway so not that big a deal, but it’s definitely more pronounced. I’m wondering if there’s some way I can keep it from slipping.
I'm also going to try sleeping with it uninflated to see how much the down still insulates me so I know how warm it will be if it ever leaks or fails when camping. I'm wondering if anyone else with an Exped has tried this and what their experience was?
Anyway, the initial playing around with the mat proved positive, so I’m going to keep experimenting with it and am interested to see what the comfort level will be with a full cold night spent in the hammock.
HC
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