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  1. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Elmira, NY
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    I use a NeoairXlite, and I don't know about you but my shoulders always get cold. And that's with the 25" wide one. I supplement it with a Thermarest folding Zlite cut in half. It's the perfect size to wrap around the Xlite and keep your shoulders warm.

    I'm continuing on my AT hike next spring and may switch to this system instead of an underquilt. I never had to go to ground in 550 miles but if I had an air mattress I would have considered sleeping in a shelter during a couple of downpours. It's a heavier system but it gives you more options.

    Miguel

  2. #12
    HangingOut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Central Cascades, WA
    Hammock
    WBBB XL custom 1.1 single.
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    Cuben HG w/doors
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    Quote Originally Posted by Miguel View Post
    I use a NeoairXlite, and I don't know about you but my shoulders always get cold. And that's with the 25" wide one. I supplement it with a Thermarest folding Zlite cut in half. It's the perfect size to wrap around the Xlite and keep your shoulders warm.

    I'm continuing on my AT hike next spring and may switch to this system instead of an underquilt. I never had to go to ground in 550 miles but if I had an air mattress I would have considered sleeping in a shelter during a couple of downpours. It's a heavier system but it gives you more options.

    Miguel
    Oh so true. And the Zlite could be used for a ground pad to keep your Xlite from getting damaged.

  3. #13
    Senior Member peripatew's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Eugene, OR
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    WBBB 1.1 dbl
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    Quote Originally Posted by HangingOut View Post
    If you are going to be on the PCT you will get rained on and the sil stuff will absorb water and get heavy (not to mention stretching). Replace it with Cuben.
    Interesting. I haven't heard this about cuban tarps. How long of a trip in the rain until that really matters do you think? What makes the cuban not absorb the water? Does cuban stretch with temperature change overnight like silnylon does?

  4. #14
    Senior Member Black Wolf's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Merritt Island, Fla.
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    One of Eight
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    Cuban Baby !!
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    Quote Originally Posted by peripatew View Post
    Interesting. I haven't heard this about cuban tarps. How long of a trip in the rain until that really matters do you think? What makes the cuban not absorb the water? Does cuban stretch with temperature change overnight like silnylon does?
    Cuben Fiber is a laminated fabric constructed from Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene. It doesn't really stretch at all from either being wet or temp changes ..

    Another area to reduce weight is your pack itself .. there are Cuben Fiber packs as well
    "The wise man questions others wisdom because he questions his own, the foolish man because it is different from his own." Leo Stein

  5. #15
    Senior Member peripatew's Avatar
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    Nov 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by Black Wolf View Post
    Cuben Fiber is a laminated fabric constructed from Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene. It doesn't really stretch at all from either being wet or temp changes ..

    Another area to reduce weight is your pack itself .. there are Cuben Fiber packs as well
    Awesome. I had oversimplified it as just being an alternative material that was lighter. Thanks for the wisdom.

  6. #16
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Lubbock, TX
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    Hennessy
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    Si Nylon Hex
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    My sil Nylon hex tarp and sil poncho served very well on the AT, kept me very dry both by day with poncho and by night with the tarp. They both dry fast when the sun comes out. Cuben works even better in that it does not stretch when wet and is of course lighter in weight and quite a lot more expensive. I am pretty much set on a new cuben tarp and cuben Packa or poncho for my hike.
    Thanks to all of the replies I have some new things to consider. I will try a night on an old Zrest on the floor of my house, if I can tolerate it I can carry something very lightweight for ground sleeping and continue with my existing hammock and one of my underquilts. The idea of the new hammock was so that I could place a pad between the two layers on the 1.1 dbl instead of the underquilt, and this might be a retrograde move.
    If I use my present hammock I can switch to the lighter Nest UQ and 40 deg topquilt when I get to about Tahoe then back to Mt Washington4 with either my 20 deg WM bag or a new perhaps 0 deg topquilt at Cascade Locks. (as you can tell I dont like to be cold at night)
    As for my other gear, I switched my very lightweight Luxury Lite pack for a somewhat heavier (4lbs) Deuter in Mass on my AT hike and I was very happy with the change.
    I have a carbon fiber Expedition bear cannister which I purchased for my two JMT hikes and I will use this throught the Sierras, right now its my intent to carry 11 days of freeze dried food out of Kennedy Meadows to go directly to Muir Trail Ranch. I also have an 8 oz ice axe and Kahtoola microspikes for the Sierras which I may or may not need depending upon the winters snowpack so my pack will be heavy for the first half of the Sierras..
    I intend to use my Ti Zip stove until fire bans cause me to switch to my Caldera alcohol stove. Stoveless is not a consideration for me, I really enjoy hot nutritious meals on the trail and several hot drinks throughout the day (my trail name is Hot Drinks).
    I have purchased a Sawyer squeeze filter, I have used Aqua Mira drops for the last several years but unfortunately after my AT hike I suffered from Ocular Toxoplasmosis, perhaps from the hike perhaps not but it turns out the Aqua Mira does not kill the T Gondii parasite that causes this. I know its rare but it almost cost me my eyesight so I will filter from now on.
    I only carry one Kleen Canteen so that I can be totally confident that I can fill it with boiling water for a hot water bottle and it absolutely won't leak. I will use MSR bladders and gatorade bottles for the rest of my water.
    My clothing is well dialed in for me and is quite minimal and lightweight. I hike in trail runners.
    Again thanks for the input, the ideas certainly give me a few more things to think about.
    By the way I will journal on Trailjournals under Hot Drinks, its already underway, I did likewise for my 2011 AT hike.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Dos's Avatar
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    Oct 2011
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    Daytona Beach
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    nice to read of your dialings-in.
    will follow your Trail Journal.

    Dos
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

    AT '12. AT '14. FT '15. CA '15.

  8. #18
    Senior Member
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    Elmira, NY
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    Quote Originally Posted by Miguel View Post
    I use a NeoairXlite, and I don't know about you but my shoulders always get cold. And that's with the 25" wide one. I supplement it with a Thermarest folding Zlite cut in half. It's the perfect size to wrap around the Xlite and keep your shoulders warm.

    I'm continuing on my AT hike next spring and may switch to this system instead of an underquilt. I never had to go to ground in 550 miles but if I had an air mattress I would have considered sleeping in a shelter during a couple of downpours. It's a heavier system but it gives you more options.

    Miguel
    I take that back.....my full length UQ weighs 1lb 9oz. The large Neoair Xlite and the half Zlite together weigh 1lb 6oz so I would actually be saving 3 oz!

    I know a shorter UQ would weigh less but I'm just a full length kinda guy be it UQs, pads, or mattresses.

    BTW...a regular size NeoXlite only weighs 12oz.....small weighs 10oz. Not a bad way to go especially on a really long hike where going to ground or sheltering becomes a greater possibility.

    Miguel

  9. #19
    Senior Member Moondoggy's Avatar
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    Aug 2011
    Location
    Radford,Va.
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    DDCamping/HennessySafari
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    Replace your stove with a alcohol stove and that will help I use a 3/4 leangth thermarest in case I have to go to ground. It gives me extra warmth in the hammock also! You can make a insultex sock to go over your air pad that will give you 20°some more warmth if you use 4 layers of insultex. Your pack might be weight also! I use a BG Gorilla pack it still has an internal frame but the whole pack only weighs 1.5 lbs. I hope this helps!
    High ground is dry ground!
    Moondoggy

  10. #20
    Senior Member
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    Sep 2010
    Location
    Left Coast
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    Quote Originally Posted by RichardD View Post
    I will try a night on an old Zrest on the floor of my house, if I can tolerate it I can carry something very lightweight for ground sleeping and continue with my existing hammock and one of my underquilts.
    Just a thought but you could mail your hammock kit ahead to Kennedy Meadows and carry your ground kit (shudder) until then. Send the ground kit back (or burn it ) there.
    Last edited by Law Dawg (ret); 11-29-2012 at 14:27.

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