Got cold last night!

[lostinthewuds]

Howdy gang! I haven't had the time to get into my hammock as of late. Last night a buddy and I got out for a quick over nighter. The temp was a low of 30*F. I've stayed out on colder nights. I did loan my WalMart blue foam ground mat to my buddy, but I still had my full length reflectix under insulation.
However, I just about froze last night, ok, I guess froze may be an overstatement, but I just couldn't get warm. I don't know what the reason was, the set up was identical down to the clothing, the time prior to last night was 26*F and I was fine. At 6 am this morning I actually had to get out of the hammock and rekindle the fire to warm my feet they were so cold.

Just curious, if you all may have any sage wisdom for me, I;m at a loss as to the reason for my misery last night.

pax,
lost

[Junebugdawn]

I am no expert at sleeping warmly as I have been cold most nights, so far...in the process of building a down UQ to rectify this! Anyway, recently I read some tips on staying warm. One that I thought was interesting and may apply to you was to get warm before climbing into your hammock. It suggested even doing some jumping jacks or other exercises to warm up. The idea was that if you are cold going into the hammock, it is very hard to get warmed up once in. However, if you go to bed warm, you'll stay warm. Not sure if this works, but I'm sure going to try it in a couple of weeks.

[BillyBob58]

No sage here, but did you have your pad at 26F, but did not this time? If so, that's probably the key.

[BrianWillan]

From what I understand, Reflectix is a radiant barrier, not insulation. It is designed to reflect radiant heat or cold just like a mylar space blanket.

Cheers

Brian

[Roadrunnr72]

Maybe the difference was something you ate, or rather didn't eat this time. If you didn't have a good meal and something to keep the internal fire going, could be the difference......RR

[DuctTape]

In my experience the reflectix would not have been enough for me at that temp. Just a few degrees too cold. Just a couple of small things would have been enough to make it ok... Hanging a poncho under your hammock and/or a small pad for your butt/kidney area. Even an extra sock strategically placed will be the difference between being cold and toasty. All that said, I would generally be much warmer with the ccf instead. A neat thing to try is different combinations of the poncho, ccf, reflectix, etc... to see how they best work for you in concert with each other. If you get it right, the combination will be better than the sum of the parts. Best part is all the testing means you are sleeping in a hammock!

[Shug]

I think you were cold because you did not use the pad and the reflectix only.You needed that pad in those temps.
Eat well. Have a hot drink. Cover your head.
Shug

[lostinthewuds]

Thanks all. Looks kind of like a consensus on the CCF pad. Guess I need to find friends that have their own gear, but beggars can't be choosers.
As for the meal, I like to eat like well when I camp so I don't think that was it. Shug I do indeed have a hat and a sleeping bag that is mummy style to cover my head. I guess I need to bite the bullet and buy some down and make an under quilt. Thanks again for all the input.

pax,
lost

[mbiraman]

From what I understand, Reflectix is a radiant barrier, not insulation. It is designed to reflect radiant heat or cold just like a mylar space blanket.

Cheers

Brian

What he said.