Help me with my sleep system...

[Peter_pan]

Try eating something that will stay the night with you , like hard cheese before retiring... Also as mentioned, warm up before turning in, jumping jacks running in place for a minute or two (obviously stop well before the sweat flows point).

Do not breath into your insulation (possible risk w/ pea pod)

Install your insulation and shake it out well before use... This allows it to attain full loft.

Come to the MAHHA at Gathland state park in MD next weekend...Will be 70+ of us there to a review and assist/council.

Pan

[Les Rust]

+1 on eating something right before retiring. Stoking the internal furnace is a good move after you've been out all day. I find that something with a higher fat content helps to keep me warm--there's a reason that eskimos eat whale blubber--it fuels the body with extra calories and warmth.

[HappyCamper]

I found having a complete set of dry sleeping clothes including underwear is a big help in keeping warm. I also sleep cold and used to bundle up with everything in my pack and still slept cold. I think because i would sweat and then chill. Then I started experimenting in the backyard with the less is more concept and found that it works. Trust in the down! But make sure your underquilt is sealed up tight against the hammock with no leaks. Ask someone to check it when you are in the hammock. I also warm up my hammock with a hot water bottle 20 min before getting in. I still will use a very thin pad along with my underquilt to keep cold spots at bay. Lots of techniques. Just have to experiment and find the ones that work for you.

[Demeter]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Pan, I would love some "professional assessment" of my set up!!! I have never hung with someone else who uses quilts, so I'm probably not dialed in just right!

[Shug]

I think you had too much on your body and with all that insulation and pads and hot water bottles you got clammy and that will start to chill. Try wearing less and add clothing as you go if you get chilled.
Shug

[MDSH]

You need to raise your metabolism when sleeping at night. There are complex carbohydrates in our bodies (some sugars and fat) and they need simple sugars to get them started, like tender for a fire. So fruit and honey before bed would help. Metabolism requires water but you may be drinking too much before bed and hot water may not help. Are you physically fit? Exercise has benefits in every way, even if you merely walk a mile or two every day.

Mike

[sturgeon]

I recently found that when I used a thermarest with my incubator, the nice close fit of the incubator to the hammock was compromised by the stiffer thermarest, and a bit of a gap allowed some cold air in. Just something to think about. The incubator might have worked better by itself.

On another cold night when sleeping with my summer incubator I found it good to slip a really thin flexible eva pad in there (I was using it as a sit pad only up till then) that kind of molds to the hammock and your body, and does away with any cold spots where the down is thin, etc...

As well, think about a UQ protector, it can shield the UQ from warmth-stealing winds.

Hope this helps. I too am a cold sleeper.

[Mule]

I recently found that when I used a thermarest with my incubator, the nice close fit of the incubator to the hammock was compromised by the stiffer thermarest, and a bit of a gap allowed some cold air in. Just something to think about. The incubator might have worked better by itself.

On another cold night when sleeping with my summer incubator I found it good to slip a really thin flexible eva pad in there (I was using it as a sit pad only up till then) that kind of molds to the hammock and your body, and does away with any cold spots where the down is thin, etc...

As well, think about a UQ protector, it can shield the UQ from warmth-stealing winds.

Hope this helps. I too am a cold sleeper.

I agree here. Once the down takes my body heat I can feel it coming back at me if I lay still. That won't happen if you have too many layers between you and the down. I find it better to put a layer that won't collapse the down over the down, like and undercover and over-cover with a breathing space, and keep my head out of the quilts. Also a bug net helps a lot and doesn't hinder the air so much as to cause condensation. Just my $.02.

[BillyBob58]

I Sleep COLD!!! This week, at 35 degrees with mountain snow, no wind, I had what I thought was adequate equipment but still had to work to keep warm.

20 * incubator uq, old thermarest 3/4 (~50*) on bottom, 20* down bag for TQ. I wore wool mid-weight top and bottoms with polartec fleece over, then down sweater over the top. I drank a lot of hot tea ( that I had to deal with at 2am), and used two hot water bottles.

Thanks to Angry sparrow, I have a peapod on the way. I am thinking of the peapod with the incubator for 8" of hot down lovin on my backside. Should keep me toasty to 20* easily. ( and no snide comments about how you could go down to -200 with this set up! :-)

Up top, I am thinking of a burrow or a sniveller to meet the top down of the pod for a total down thickness of 5-6 inches.

Will this keep me warm ( as a cold sleeper) to 10 degrees?

What TQ would you recommend.?

You are a tough case if you were cold at 35F with a 20F UQ PLUS a TR pad. You have my sympathy!

I recently found that when I used a thermarest with my incubator, the nice close fit of the incubator to the hammock was compromised by the stiffer thermarest, and a bit of a gap allowed some cold air in. Just something to think about. The incubator might have worked better by itself.
..........

Definitely something to consider! For most UQs, fit is most of the ball game.

When do you double up your peapod with another quilt? Temps below 30*?

I just have generalized coldness all the time. I drink hot tea year round, and will heat up a cup whenever we stop for a break on the trail. We ski a lot, and I am comfortable in the snow, but I am moving the whole time.

To clarify, just after getting in is when i am usually most chilled. I use hot water bottles and that really helps! I was sleeping wonderfully by 11pm, and toasty at 3am, which was the coldest time of the night. I am just thinking that I was ok with my set up at that temp with a lot of work (hot water bottles, hot beverages right before bed), and want to know what other cold sleepers do to take it below 30*....

Now I am a little confused. Is this the same trip? You were cold or toasty?

Any way, with light quilts to fill gaps on top, I think the PeaPod is going to be your salvation. The more narrow your hammock, or the lower the "walls", the better it will work.

But 1st, before you started winter hanging, did you cold weather camp on the ground? Did you freeze with your pads and 20F sleeping bag used on the ground?

If it turns out you were OK at these temps or lower on the ground, that will tell us a lot. It tells us that this is as much hammock related as it is your super cold nature.

And indeed, hammocks and quilts can be tricky devils in the cold. A less than perfect, draft free fit for TQ or UQ can leave you freezing at 50F in 20*F quilts! On top of that, if wind is getting to your quilts, that can make a 20F quilt inadequate at 40F.

Drafts. That's the main warmth destroyer. I had big problems with this during my noob days, though I have mostly solved those issues now. If your UQ is not snug against your back or on the ends, cold air will sink to the bottom and fill any gap. Or if their are little creases in the bottom of your hammock, even if your UQ is snug against your legs, cold air can use those creases like a highway to sink to the lowest part.

A bag used as a TQ or an actual TQ can let air in around the neck or on the sides, if you fail to be tucked perfectly. Your PeaPod will not be very prone to these problems at all. Drafts are nearly non-existent unless you open things up on purpose for venting.

In the meantime, until your pod is with you and you are used to setting it up correctly, get inside your bag, cinch the neck collar and close the bags hood over your hat and jacket hood! You might find that makes you 20*F warmer. It certainly made that much difference to me in the early days, when I would give up trying to be warm enough and finally just get in my bag! I have gone from uncomfortably cool to toasty warm in minutes. If you have trouble getting in your bag, just stand up and put your feet in and pull the hood over your head and partly zip up and then sit down/lay down.

You say it is a 20F bag: what brand and what type insulation?

When you get the Pea Pod, adjust it just tight enough to barely touch your back but not tight enough to compress the loft. Cinch the pod tightly on the ends of the hammock! Make sure a lot of the down is not pushed to the ends, but under you, move it around as needed. Or, leave it looser with a gap under you, and fill the gap with your down jacket and/or a space blanket right under your hammock. Use the smallest possible vent hole ( 1/4" ) right at your face. Lay your sleeping bag over you, quilt style, with your feet in the foot box, and close the pod mostly or even all the way over the bag. There will still be some ventilation around the Velcro, but watch for condensation. I have never had any condensation problems yet, but it is possibility for sure.

Lastly, learn Vapor barrier theory and, as a last resort consider VB clothing from Stephenson's Warmlight, worn right against your skin.

Good luck Oh Popsicle and keep us posted on how you are doing. Winter is on the way!

[japaddler]

The peapod will probably be a good thing. I've found in a Hammock even the slightest breeze, if it gets to you, can rob some serious heat.

For me, in the cold temps, I really cinch the UQ so no heat escapes there. I also button down the TQ around the neck.

I don't seem to have the same issues on the ground and I believe that is because there is slightly more heat retention due to the tent and, the primary reason, is due to the lack of breeze stealing my precious heat!