Need ideas for cheap yet effective insulation.

[Birdofprey]

I'm probably the only one here who uses a survival tube as an underquilt, nevertheless I strongly recommend it. It's cheap (approx. $35), it'll keep you nice and warm (it reflects most of your body heat back to you), it's lightweight (about a pound), and it's easy to set up: just open the tube so it's like a blanket, tie one end around the head end of your hammock...and place some shock cord in the foot end. If you have a HH, just push the shock cord end forward a bit and enter your hammock. The only drawback is that the material will tear if scraped against something. I've considered gluing some silnylon to the outside, but there's really no need, since I'm careful with it. I use a 2nd tube as a topcover (creating a cocoon) for when the temperature drops below 45. I buy the tubes at www.ps-med.com, but more info is at the manufacturer at www.blizzardsurvival.com. I've posted a few pictures of the tubes in my gallery.

[MacEntyre]

Wow, you folks come up with a new material to try every week!

Birdofprey, are you using two of them as a hammock sock?

That's what this pic looks like:

[rigidpsycho]

You could check your local Army surplus store and get a military poncho and liner probably for real cheap and make you an underquilt like this one http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ead.php?t=1928. I t can be good down to at least 50 degrees.

[Peter_pan]

Domromer, et al,

This is the time of year that smart shoppers check off line with the various gear manufacturers for unadvertsed bargains.... When new colors are introduced, or if there are minor design changes preveous demo models are sometimes available at up to 50 percent off.

Pan

[Birdofprey]

MacEntyre,
My design has evolved over the past year (I'm constantly trying to simplify this whole cocoon idea). It's not a sock, because there's a separate bottom half (one tube) and a separate top half (the other tube). To prevent separation of the two halves by wind etc., I now clip the two halves together along the perimeter (I found some strong frog-shaped clips at Ace Hardware that won't damage the tubes). The great thing about the tubes is that they reflect most of your body heat back toward you. A sleeping bag used as an UQ won't do that. This gives me a 20+ degree spread (ie. when it's 30 outside, it'll be at least 50 inside the cocoon). There are small openings at each end of the hammock (where the two tubes don't quite line up). But this is a good thing, because it allows enough ventilation to prevent condensation build-up.

[Boghog1]

http://www.idigear.com/insultex.php This looks interesting I wonder what the cost would be per yard

* 1 layer of Insultex™ protects a person to –25º C (-13º F)
* 1 square yard of insultex™ is 0.021 inches thick and weighs 0.42 oz.
* 8.8 oz. of insultex™ can float approx. 287 lbs. of body weight
* Insultex™ has a melting point of 194°F
* Insultex™ material can be sewn and/or laminated
* Multiple layers of Insultex™ can be used to provide practically unlimited levels of insulation

[Alter Id]

http://www.idigear.com/insultex.php This looks interesting I wonder what the cost would be per yard

They do sell a multi use product at the same place that looks like a piece of gear I want. http://www.idigear.com/nballinone.php At $89.99 it might be out of the range of a "cheap" insulator.