Has anyone used under quilts.com gore-tex hammock sock? Is it worth the money? I just ordered the WB Superfly. i thought the sock might be a fun accessory to have in the winter. Do you still need a tarp for wind protection?
Has anyone used under quilts.com gore-tex hammock sock? Is it worth the money? I just ordered the WB Superfly. i thought the sock might be a fun accessory to have in the winter. Do you still need a tarp for wind protection?
OK -- so the whole idea of a sock is to provide wind protection -- and retain a bit of stale (warm!) air inside the sock to increase temp by 15F to 20F above outside temp.
The idea of using Gore-Tex as the sock material is to eliminate need for a separate tarp. So the sock would provide both wind protection and additional warmth, while also protecting you from rain.
Major downsides of that approach:
- No protected place to put your stuff (e.g., your boots, your gear)
- Gore-Tex not really that breathable -- I'm thinking that if you close it up completely (like you can with most hammock socks), you'll die of asphyxiation.
Below zero, I'd guess that you'll get a lot of condensation on the GoreTex that will freeze up the pores. There's a reason for using cotton in very cold temps.
"I go because it irons out the wrinkles in my soul." -- Sigurd Olson
This is how I set up my Superfly in cold weather. If you cinch it down to the ground, and even better when the edges are below the snow with the doors shut, you basically have an enclosed space. This shot I had set up as close to the shelter as possible to block very high winds (the wind gusts sounded like waves all night). 12° and woke up too hot under a 20° burrow with 0° incubator and had to strip to single layer. The Superfly is close to touching the hammock ridgeline with very little space between the sides of the hammock and the tarp holding some warmth above you.
By setting up the Superfly in tent mode it acts like a sock. At one hang the low was 2° and snowing which covered the side air gaps and my water bottle on the ground did not freeze.
Sorry to derail, but I just can't read this without commenting. Sealing up a tent with snow is a dangerous thing to do. Ventilation has to be sure, no matter how much snow banks up. Snow absorbs carbon dioxide, so you can run out of oxygen without waking up.Originally Posted by Wlb007
I love the unimproved works of God. - Horace Kephart
Not being a doctor I can't comment with much expertise but I believe you are thinking carbon monoxide which would be dangerous in an enclosed space while cooking and such and can knock you out. I am guessing carbon dioxide, which you breath out, should wake you up gasping when over concentrated if you weren't drunk. Kind of like staying under water too long it would be painful. Please research this, do not take my guess as fact. Only way to find out if you could block that much oxygen transfer in an 11' long 5x5x5 or so space w sil nylon would be to have it metered but I doubt it.
Gortex is really heavy I would not want a sock make from it.
The WB travel sock is one of the best socks out there.
I believe it's made from 1.0 or 1.1 breathable ripstop.
I am fairly new to, what is to me, an world with a new generation of hammocks. Back "in my day" hammocks were simple things, usually made from nets and I am just now getting back into them so I bow to superior knowledge and experience in most things hammock.
About Gore-tex, however, I think I have ya'll beat and can contribute some to this conversation.
You see, I was a young paratrooper, with A Co, 1/501st AIR of the 6th Infantry Division (Arcitc Light) back in 1990 when the US Army field tested this new fangled stuff called "Gore-tex." We also tested Polypropolene, two new generations of MRE's, a crapload of ground pads, several kins of sleeping bags, and some things ya'll don't need to know about.
They took away our tried and true, Korean war vintage, Mohair parkas and handed us paper thin "gore-tex." There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the ranks over it. The same things I am seeing here, BTW, about it being "air tight" and "freezing with condensation." We also complained about it being so thin that it would provide no insulation. When we returned from the evaluation exercise they told us we had to turn in all of our to-be-tested-gear. We lined up and dropped everything off, except the polypro and the Gore-tex. The guys from Nateck labs got snippy about it, we pointed out that we had guns and they didn't. Thus, A Co. 1/501 AIR became the first unit in the US Army to officially be issued Gore-tex and polypro. Those labrats didn't even stop to think that we did not even have ammunition!! LOL
At anyrate, Gore-tex is VERY breathable, though we did recomend, and the Army followed through with, a ventallation zipper under each armpit for periods of physical exertion. If you are not going to be roadmarching with a 120 pound pack on yoru back, you should not have a problem. I have used, for years a gore-tex bivy sack and routinely zip and snap it all the way closed when it is cold out. If it gets stuffy, I open a snap or two, no problem. I also find the Gore-tex much lighter than most, if not all, equivilant materials. I am sorry, but I have used gore-tex in some of the most demanding conditions on earth and I have to say, other than the price being a pretty high, it is hands down the best thing on the market.
This is an interesting thread.
I have a double layer Thermoactive bivy bag, which weighs about the same as a WB sock...about 10 old fashioned oz.
I have been looking at ideas of splitting it up the base and creating something similar to the HH cover, it even has a face hole vent with the zip curving up to the hole to provide adjustable venting.
But the thought has just now occurred........if I needed something like that in crisp cold conditions...why wouldn't I just put the bivy bag inside the hammock along with my quilt. ?
One of the main reason for a sock is to protect the underquilt helping to hold in heat.
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