Montbell UL down parka = Auxillary UQ!

[SwinginIt]

I was out this weekend trying to find myself a hidden fishing spot and made an amazing discovery. The Montbell UL down parka is naturally designed to be used as an auxillary UQ. Friday night the temps dropped to just below the limit of my WL SSUQ (awesome UQ by the way) and the cold started to seep through a bit so i laid my jacket under me in the hammock which provided just enough to keep me warm the rest of the night. Unfortunately it was not comfortable and was a PITA to have to re-situate every time I got up to water the trees. The next morning I got to thinking, it sure would be nice if I could hang the jacket under me. Then I realized that the jacket has shock cord around the waist and at the hood for cinching them up, so I took it to my hammock to check it out.

Sure enough everything on the jacket is perfectly positioned and it is pretty much the exact same length as my UQ. I just looped the shock cord on the jacket over the cordlocks at the corners of the UQ and voila! It fit perfect. I tied a small loop in each corner of the jacket shock cord to stretch the jacket out a bit to snug it up to the UQ then cinched the waist and hood to get a good seal. I swear it seems like it was made for this, everything sealed up perfectly. Last night I had the hood at the head end of my hammock but I think will work better at the foot end because that is the end I get drafts from sometimes and the hood fills the end in nicely so I think it will prevent any drafts. I don't know just how much this adds to the temp limit because unfortunately it only got down to 45* last night which is the limit of my UQ and I didn't start to feel the cold the night before until it dropped below 45*. I did stay very toasty last night though. I also stuffed the ends of the sleeves into the pockets which added a bit more insulation along the sides of the setup.

I plan to see if it's also compatible with my Phincubator and my Hudson River. The Phincubator has d-rings midway down so it may work, I'll just need something to attach it with (Dutch to the rescue!). And a couple shock cord loops should make it work with the HR. I'm also gonna see if I can attach it from the foot end of the SSUQ to the end of the hammock to form a full length UQ. Talk about the ultimate piece of multi-use gear!

[loghangin]

Very Cool! Now we need more info Pics of the set up please? Link to exact model of parka? Thanks!

[SwinginIt]

This is the jacket, mine is a Large. http://www.montbell.us/products/disp...01156&gen_cd=1

I think pretty much any jacket with a hood cinch and a waist cinch that has the cords at the corners of the jacket by the zipper instead of on the sides will work. I'll get some pics up later.

[loghangin]

Thanks. I've been in the market for a good down jacket anyway, so this is as good a place as any to start. Would you review the jacket positively as a whole?

[bonboy]

Very cool. I've thought about using my down jacket as an under quilt but it seemed a bit small and too fiddly to get a proper fit so I just use it as a top quilt.

[OregonBushcraft]

Ahh... the versatility of hammocking. Awesome find!